Because it was the annual anniversary of this surrender, we caught the end of a week-long series of events and presentations about the war in both the museum and at the Appomattox Court House grounds where the surrender actually occurred. We both found ourselves remembering small pieces from our long-ago school history lessons, but we definitely got a much more detailed experience.
While in the area, we also spent a day with former Austin friends, Bob and Karen Rasmussen. Funny enough, they took us to another historic site -- Thomas Jefferson's second home in Poplar Forest (west of Lynchburg VA). Besides being a cool place to tour, there was a craft beer festival going on to raise funds for the organization who is maintaining/restoring the site. Needless to say, we had to contribute to the cause and sample some of the special brews. Below is a picture of the 4 of us in front of Jefferson's house.
Our next RV park was in Louisa, VA, for a night to visit with a special cousin, Annie Gavan Tillack and her husband David. He is an avid (and successful) hunter and we were fortunate to drive away with a lovely chunk of venison bologna to fortify us for our next stop -- Washington D.C.
I can't say enough about our 9 days there. We were in Cherry Hill RV park which is specifically known for its D.C. proximity. It was easy to access the metro to go in to the city -- which we did almost every day. We even drove the car in several evenings... once with the bikes so we could ride all over the Mall and see the big monuments. We both lived in nearby towns as children and remembered bits and pieces of visits there, but to enjoy and appreciate the museums and history as adults is definitely something special too. I even got my picture taken with the cherry blossoms!
We decided to pace ourselves and not try to do more than 2 big things each day with one exception... the Holocaust Museum by itself was enough for one day. To continue our Civil War experience, we made it a point to go to Ford's Theater where President Lincoln was assassinated only 5 days after Lee surrendered to Grant in Appamatox. In fact, John Wilkes Booth's original plan was to just kidnap him and perhaps ransom him to end the war in the South's favor. The war surrender changed all of this and he went for a kill instead. We didn't get to do everything on our D.C. list, so we'll just have to come back!
I write this update from our next stop -- Dover, Pennsylvania. So far we have made day trips via car to Hershey (to visit the chocolate) and Gettysburg (to visit the battlefields). Though the exact spot where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address in 1863 isn't marked, we did get to see the railroad station where he arrived and see the house he slept in before that speech. The National Park Service has a fabulous museum, painted cyclorama, and movie about the 3 days of the battle. Before the invention of "moving pictures" to visually tell stories, Cycloramas were used. This one was opened to the public in 1883, is 27 feet tall and 359 feet in circumfirence, and is mounted in a circle so you can see the full battle scenes (and resulting devastation) in a full 360 degrees.
Not sure that we have any more Civil War history in any of our next stops. Guess we'll find out!
