5-18-2017 On to Virginia

If you ride, you know how it is. Mother Nature can be a *itch, and the forecast for Virginia took a turn for the worst, predicted rain, thunder storms, possible hail & tornado activity beginning this evening. So, we called our Houston friends and sadly cancelled our meeting with them, and headed for Appomattix, to see the place where General Lee (CSA) surrendered to General Grant (USA), thus effectively ending the War Between the States.

Appomattix has some old restored buildings, and some buildings built to period specific standards using old photos. Much history here.

There was no place for the trike/sign photo as the sign for the Site was on the busy highway, but there was a beautiful entrance from the parking lot. Yup, you must walk for a tour of the place, but it was worth the extra couple of pills it cost me.  :-)

At the base of the Flag pole is a layout exhibit depicting the existing buildings

The Visitor Center was within the old Courthouse. Knowledgable Rangers and an upstairs small museum told a lot of history. But the NPS needs to add a few lights around their exhibits, many are hard to see, and read the accompanying cards.

An old CSA stars & bars battle flag. All the battle flags I saw were square, not oblong like the reproductions displayed today.

A reproduction of General Lee's farewell to his troops. (remember to click on the pic for the larger version)

A short distance away was the Cloverhill Tavern, complete with personnel dressed in period specific clothing.

The kitchen building for the Tavern

A Lawyers office

You gotta go somewhere:

And every town must have a general store. Meek's Store

Store goods for sale (for the period)

and a place for overflow goods, and a printing room

Gotta have a stable

No town would be complete without a county jail

And the home of the richest man in Appomattix, McLean, where Generals Lee & Grant met to hash out the terms of surrender of the Confederate Army

The history of the house and signing. Click to enlarge for read-ability.

The signing room, and artist's rendering of the participants

The McLean home was an interesting place, period specific of course. Some photos of the homestead

The slaves dining area

The formal owner's dining area

The kitchen was located in a separate building

The slave's quarters, and sparse furnishings

left room

right room

We left Appomattox for Waynesboro, VA for our last stop in the state. We will do that NP tomorrow.

Todays miles,  377