Civil War Trail

Hollywood Cemetery is a large, sprawling cemetery located at 412 South Cherry Street in Richmond, Virginia. Characterized by rolling hills and winding paths overlooking the James River, it is the resting place of two United States Presidents, James Monroe and John Tyler, as well as the only Confederate States President, Jefferson Davis. It is also the resting place of 25 Confederate generals, more than any other cemetery in the country. Included are George Pickett and J.E.B. Stuart.

Hollywood Cemetery was opened in 1849, constructed on land known as "Harvie's Woods" that was once owned by William Byrd II. It was designed in the rural garden style, with its name, "Hollywood," coming from the holly trees dotting the hills of the property.

In 1869, a 90-foot (27 m) high granite pyramid was built as a memorial to the more than 18,000 enlisted men of the Confederate Army buried in the cemetery.

Hollywood Cemetery is one of Richmond's major tourist attractions. There are many local legends surrounding certain tombs and grave sites in the cemetery, including one about a little girl and the black iron statue of a dog standing watch over her grave. Other notable legends rely on ghosts haunting the many mausoleums. One of the most well-known of these is the legend of the Richmond Vampire.

A place rich in history, legend, and gothic landscape, Hollywood Cemetery is also frequented by many of the local students attending Virginia Commonwealth University.

The White House of the Confederacy is a gray stuccoed neoclassical mansion built in 1818 by John Brockenbrough, who was president of the Bank of Virginia. Designed by Robert Mills, Brockenbrough’s private residence was built in early nineteenth century Richmond's affluent Shockoe Hill neighborhood (later known as the Court End District), and was two blocks north of the Virginia State Capitol. Among his neighbors were U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall, Aaron Burr, defense attorney John Wickham, and future U.S. Senator Benjamin Watkins Leigh.

Sold by the Brockenbrough family in 1844, the house passed through a succession of wealthy families throughout the antebellum period, including U.S. Congressman and future Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon. Just prior to the American Civil War, Lewis Dabney Crenshaw purchased the house and added a third floor. He sold the home to the City of Richmond, which in turn rented it to the Confederate government as its Executive Mansion.

Jefferson Davis, his wife Varina, and their children moved into the house in August 1861, and lived there for the remainder of the war. Davis suffered from recurring bouts with malaria, facial neuralgia, cataracts (in his left eye), unhealed wounds from the Mexican War (bone spurs in his heel), and insomnia. Consequently, President Davis maintained an at-home office on the second floor of the White House. This was an unusual practice at that time – the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, was not added until the Theodore Roosevelt Administration. President Davis’ personal secretary, Colonel Burton Harrison, also lived in the house.

The Davis family was quite young during their stay at the White House of the Confederacy. When they moved in the First Family consisted of the President and First Lady, six year-old Margaret, four year-old Jefferson Davis, Jr., and two year-old Joseph. The two youngest Davis children, William and Varina Anne (“Winnie”), were born in the White House, in 1861 and 1864, respectively. Among their neighborhood playmates was George Smith Patton, whose father commanded the 22nd Virginia Infantry, and whose son commanded the U.S. Third Army in World War Two. Joseph Davis died in the spring of 1864, after a 15-foot fall from the railing on the White House’s east portico. Mrs. Davis’ mother and sister were occasional visitors to the Confederate executive mansion.

The house was abandoned during the evacuation of Richmond on April 2, 1865. Within twelve hours, soldiers from Major General Godfrey Weitzel’s XVIII Corps seized the former Confederate White House, intact. President Abraham Lincoln, who was in nearby City Point (now Hopewell, Virginia), traveled up the James River to tour the captured city, and visited Davis' former residence for about three hours - although the President only toured the first floor, feeling it would be improper to visit the more private second floor of another man's home. Admiral David Porter accompanied Lincoln during the visit to the former Confederate executive mansion. They held a number of meetings with local officials in the White House. Among them was Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Reid Anderson, who owned the Tredegar Iron Works.

During Reconstruction, the White House of the Confederacy served as the headquarters for Military District Number One (Virginia), and was occasionally used as the residence of the commanding officer of the Department of Virginia. Among those who served there were Major Generals Edward O.C. Ord, Alfred Terry, Henry Halleck, and Edward R.S. Canby. When Reconstruction ended in Virginia, (October 1870), the City of Richmond retook possession of the house, and subsequently used it as Richmond Central School, one of the first public schools in postwar Richmond.

When the City announced its plans to demolish the building to make way for a more modern school building in 1890, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society was formed with the sole purpose of saving the White House from destruction.

Richmond National Battlefield Park Civil War Center, in the Cause of Liberty, the Center's flagship exhibit, is housed in the 1861 Tredegar Gun Foundry. Upon entering the newly constructed pavilion, visitors begin their tour with “What Caused the Civil War?” an interactive film which orients your visit. As you continue through the exhibit, enjoy rotating artifacts, detailed timelines, unique hands-on activities, additional films, and more. Continue to move into the War years (1861-1865) and finish with the post-war “Legacies” section which helps to put our world today into perspective.

The exhibit presents the story of the Civil War, its causes, course, and its legacies from the viewpoints of Unionists, Confederates, and African Americans -- the war's three main participant groups. The Center's interpretive approach comes from a 2002 Center-sponsored symposium in which Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson was asked why the Confederates fought. "The central tragedy, the great irony of the war," he observed, "is that all three groups were fighting for the legacy of the American Revolution, but they profoundly disagreed about what that legacy was." The war was a matter of honor and principle for all three as each acted to uphold its own vision of America. Each remembered the war differently as well, and to this day the war means different things to different people.

Our interpretation traces all three stories and demonstrates how each group played a different role in the nation's central drama. The presentation weaves battles and leaders, guns and soldiers into the larger drama of how the war affected Northerners and Southerners, men and women, and blacks and whites. The dynamic interplay of three peoples at war changed America forever and created a vastly different country from the one that existed before the war. The exhibit shows how the war produced the basic structure and character of the United States we know today

Richmond National Battlefield Park commemorates more than 30 American Civil War sites around Richmond, Virginia. The park's preserved battlefields include Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines' Mill, Glendale, and Malvern Hill, all sites of battles during the 1862 Seven Days Battles, as well as the 1864 battles of Cold Harbor and New Market Heights, site of 14 Medals of Honor for United States Colored Troops. The park, which also includes Drewry's Bluff and Parker's Battery in Chesterfield County, and the Confederacy's largest wartime hospital, has its main visitor center at the Tredegar Iron Works and smaller visitor centers at Cold Harbor, Glendale, and Fort Harrison.

The national battlefield park was authorized on March 2, 1936. Today, over 68,000 people visit the park. As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966

Clover Hill Village is a six acre village where the history and heritage of Appomattox County comes to life. Enjoy a glimpse into daily life in the past (1840-1920) as you browse through the many historic buildings, including a log cabin, chapel, one room schoolhouse, working blacksmith shop, general store, and post office.

The Appomattox Courthouse is a courthouse in Appomattox, Virginia built in 1892. It is located in the middle of the state about three miles (5 km) northwest of the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, once known as Clover Hill - home of the original Old Appomattox Court House. The "new" Appomattox Courthouse is near the Appomattox Station and where the regional county government is located.

Before the Civil War, the railroad bypassed Clover Hill, now known as the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. As a result the population of Clover Hill, where the Old Appomattox Courthouse once stood, never grew much over 150 while Appomattox town grew to the thousands. When the courthouse at the village of Clover Hill burned for the second time in 1892, it was not rebuilt and a new courthouse was built in West Appomattox. That sealed the fate of the village of Clover Hill. The county seat was formally moved to the town of West Appomattox in 1894 and the word "West" was dropped in time making the name of the town just Appomattox, Virginia.

There is a marker at the site of the "new" Appomattox Court House explaining the difference between the "new" and "old" court houses.

The Sandusky House is a historic home located at Lynchburg, Virginia. It is a formal two-story, brick "I" house built about 1808, with a later addition. It was built for Charles Johnston, and is one of the earliest houses in the Lynchburg area to display the architectural details and refinements characteristic of Federal design. In 1864, during the Battle of Lynchburg, Sandusky served as Union headquarters. Among those quartered there were Gen. David Hunter and future Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley, who served on Hunter's staff. Other buildings on the property consist of two 20th-century tenant houses, one frame and one brick. It is currently operated by the Historic Sandusky Foundation as a house museum related to the Civil War.

The Lynchburg Courthouse is a historic courthouse building located at Lynchburg, Virginia. Built in 1855, it occupies a prominent position overlooking the steeply descending steps of Monument Terrace . The building is executed in stucco-over-brick on a granite ashlar basement and is an example of the Greek Revival. The building is capped by a shallow dome located over the intersection of the ridges. At the top of the dome is a small open belfry consisting of a circle of small Ionic columns supporting a hemispherical dome. The front of the court house has a three-bay Doric portico. It is now home to the Lynchburg Museum.

Natural Bridge, known by locals as Natty B, in Rockbridge County, Virginia is a geological formation in which Cedar Creek (a small tributary of the James River) has carved out a gorge in the mountainous limestone terrain, forming an arch 215 ft (66 m) high with a span of 90 ft (27 m). It consists of horizontal limestone strata, and is the remains of the roof of a cave or tunnel through which the creek once flowed. Natural Bridge has been designated a Virginia Historical Landmark and a National Historical Landmark.

The Natural Bridge was a sacred site of the Native American Monacan tribe, who believed it to be the site of a major victory over pursuing Powhatans centuries before the arrival of whites in Virginia. Some believe George Washington came to the site in 1750 as a young surveyor on behalf of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. To support claims that Washington surveyed the area, some tour guides claim the initials "G.W." on the wall of the bridge, 23 ft. up, were carved by the future president. Legend also has it that George Washington threw a rock from the bottom of Cedar Creek over the bridge. In 1927, a large stone was found, also engraved "G.W." and bearing a surveyor's cross, which historians accepted as proof that he indeed surveyed the bridge.

Thomas Jefferson purchased 157 acres (635,000 m²) of land including the Natural Bridge from King George III of England for 20 shillings in 1774. He called it "the most Sublime of nature's works". Jefferson built a two-room log cabin, with one room reserved for guests, beginning its use as a retreat. While President, in 1802, he surveyed the place with his own hands. It has been said that Jefferson was able to throw a stone from the ground below the bridge to the top. Many famous guests stayed here, including John Marshall, James Monroe, Henry Clay, Sam Houston, and Martin Van Buren.

Natural Bridge was one of the wonders of the new world that Europeans visited during the 18th and 19th centuries. Vacationing guests from all over the world took day trips from Natural Bridge on horseback or horse drawn carriages to explore the countryside. In 1833, a new owner erected the Forest Inn to accommodate the increasing number of

people. The bridge had considerable notoriety during the 19th century. Herman Melville alluded to the bridge in describing Moby-Dick: "But soon the fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia's Natural Bridge..." William Cullen Bryant, another American literary figure, said that Natural Bridge and Niagara Falls were the two most remarkable features of North America. During the 1880s Natural Bridge was a resort owned by Colonel Henry Parsons.

The Drama of Creation, a sound and light show depicting the seven days of creation as told in the Bible in the Book of Genesis, was inaugurated by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge in 1927. Phineas Stevens, a lighting engineer, designed and installed a system of lighting which at night shined on the Bridge and glen while music was played.

Today, in order to view the bridge from below, a ticket needed. The top of the bridge can be seen for free from U.S. Highway 11, which runs on top of it. However, fences on either side of the highway block the view of the canyon from the bridge.

Following the trail under the bridge, in addition to seeing it from its less-often-photographed side, the visitor can walk some distanc

e to the end of that trail, beyond which the remnant of the waterfall that helped to form the bridge can be seen.

Natural Bridge is also the name of a town in the vicinity of the bridge, located in Rockbridge County.

Although not on the same level as the Stonewall Jackson House in Lexington, this small museum does a good job of explaining the nine valley battles Stonewall Jackson commanded. It does so from the common soldier's perspective, using Civil War photographs, excerpts from diaries of local residents, and videos. Brochures outline a walking tour of the battlefield. Also on-site, Crystal Caverns are less commercialized than most others in the valley, with tours concentrating on the geology and history of the cave.

Arrive at Lee Chapel and Museum. Built in 1867 under the supervision of Robert E. Lee, this National Historic Landmark is the final resting place of General Lee and his family. They were buried beneath the Lee chapel, on what is now the Museum level. The famous statue of a resting General Lee is preserved In the Chapel. Lee’s office is also preserved in the Museum, much as he left it for the last time on September 28^th, 1870.

The Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia, also referred to as the Frontier Culture Museum, and formerly known as the Museum of American Frontier Culture, is a living history museum based in Staunton, Virginia. Its focus is on the agrarian history of the groups which emigrated to Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley from the 1600s through 1800s. Five farms comprise the museum: the German Farm, the Scots-Irish farm and blacksmith's shop, the English farm, the American Farm, and the soon-to-open Bowman House, an expansion of the American Farm.

The American Farm focuses on the mix of cultures achieved in 1800s America and is the house of a German immigrant. All the farms are composed of historic buildings which have been painstakingly disassembled, brought on site, and reassembled.

Manassas National Battlefield Park, located north of Manassas, Virginia, preserves the site of two major American Civil War battles: the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, and the Second Battle of Bull Run which was fought between August 28 and August 30, 1862 (also known as the First Battle of Manassas and the Second Battle of Manassas, respectively). The peaceful Virginia countryside bore witness to clashes between the armies of the North (Union) and South (Confederacy), and it was here that Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson acquired his nickname "Stonewall."

Today the National Battlefield Park provides the opportunity for visitors to explore the historic terrain where men fought and died for their beliefs more than a century ago. More than 900,000 people visit the battlefield each year. (In comparison, roughly 15 million people visit nearby Washington, DC, annually.

The 11 acres comprising the Mayfield Earthwork Fort is situated between the Buckhall and Russia Branch tributaries of the Occoquan River, its strategic high ground and water resources made its occupation advantageous.

Native Americans occupied the site as far back as 3,700 - 2,500 BC. Prehistoric artifacts uncovered on the site reflect a hunter / gatherer culture with extensive migration and trading connections.

European settlement began in 1740 when the land was patented to Peter Hamrick (or Hambrick) and became known as "Mayfield." In 1779 it was sold to Robert Hawson Hooe. The Hooes were an established Virginia family of considerable wealth and a long history of settlement in the lower Potomac region. The Hooe family shaped Mayfield into a bustling operation featuring a sizeable number of support buildings.

In 1861, the Hooe family was forced to abandon Mayfield temporarily, as Confederate soldiers under the command of General Beauregard undertook the work to defend the vital railroad lines at Manassas

Junction. During May and June 1861, Beauregard coordinated the construction of a ring of 12 defensive fortifications around the junction of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad and the Military Railroad to Centreville.

The construction was performed under the direction of Col. G. H. Terret, a Confederate engineer, using conscript slave labor and local troops. The forts were constructed of earth reinforced with log revetments, and were armed with naval guns captured from the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Confederate troops occupied the fort between June 1861 and March 1862. When the rebels withdrew to aid in the defense of Richmond, Union troops sporadically occupied the fort from March 1862 to November 1864.

During this occupation the fort site was characterized by large expanses of bare earth and grass. Soldier huts or tents appeared to be located in or nearby the fort. Archeological investigation indicated the fort featured embrasured parapet walls, a southern entrance, and three interior structures.

Today the site features eight Civil War Trail interpretive markers, the stone markers for the foundation of the Hooe mansion site Mayfield, the earthen remainder of the Civil War earthwork fortification, and a replica of the Quaker guns left by the Confederates to mask the removal of their artillery as part of their withdrawal to defend Richmond. The site is a frequent location of living history events to mark the anniversaries of the Battles of First and Second Manassas.

When the Civil War ended, the debris of the recent battles in Spotsylvania County remained a constant reminder of the tragic conflict that had swept over Spotsylvania Court House. Hundreds of Confederate sons lay in crudely marked graves scattered over the nearby battlefields. Local women concerned about these unattended plots formed the Spotsylvania Memorial Association. In 1866 they established a Confederate Cemetery on five acres of land a half mile northeast of the Court House.

The Association reburied nearly 600 soldiers in the new location. Most are identified and organized by state. A few remain unknown. Headstones provided by the Federal Government mark all of the graves. In the center of the cemetery is a granite shaft crowned by a stone Confederate soldier who silently stands watch over the dead. A roster of the known dead is now online. The Park staff is currently developing a data base that will include the names of every soldier who died in the Fredericksburg area as well as information about them. Eventually this data base will be online.

To reach the Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery, travel from the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center south on Lafayette Boulevard and Route 208 about 9 miles. Turn left, at a traffic light, onto Business Rt. 208 three-tenths of a mile after you pass Burnside Drive, the Spotsylvania Battlefield tour-road exit. After turning at the traffic light, follow Business 208 about three-tenths of a mile to the cemetery entrance, which is marked by a shrubbery-lined driveway. The cemetery is open daily.

For more information please contact Old Dominion Tours & Virginia Destinations Inc.