Pondering as we tour Appomattox Court National Historical Park…

Wow, we could not believe how much stuff we had taken from the RV to the downstairs apartment we stayed in once we began to move back into the RV.  It seemed to take forever to put everything back in its place. We started packing the night before and finally finished up in the morning. And good news, the RV started up just fine after sitting for so long and once it was fully packed we hit the road.

We drove a fairly long way the first day as we covered over 180 miles via small shouldlerless roads that years ago would have had me white knuckled but now are not a big deal whatsoever. Our first stop back on the road was at Parkview RV Park in Appomattox, VA.

I wanted to stop here to check out the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. The RV park we were stayed at was nearly within walking distance of the park but we drove over to the main entrance. There was no fee to enter and we had no problem finding parking near the main entrance.

With Covid-19 masks were required for entering any of the buildings and most buildings were open for touring except for the visitor’s center. There were a few people visiting the park with us but it was quite easy to socially distance ourselves the whole time we were there.

“On April 9, 1865, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia in the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia signaled the end of the nation's largest war.”

This park is a preserved 19th century village which is where the house of Wilmer McLean is located. It was in this house that the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union commander Ulysses S. Grant took place on April 9, 1865. This act is what effectively ended the American Civil War.

The village was at one time nothing more than a stagecoach stop along the Richmond-Lynchburg stage route in the early 1800’s In 1842 it became the county seat and developers were excited about the possibility of its future growth. However, in 1854 train depot stopped three miles west in Appomattox, Virginia and the area went into decline ever since. The park service did an amazing job resurrecting it.

The park is rather spacious and as we walked around looking at buildings built during the American Civil War we could only imagine what life was like during that tumultuous time in our history especially given the civil unrest our country is currently going through. To see both Union and Confederate soldiers buried side by side gives one hope that better times are certainly ahead of us…

NOTE: We are currently in Raleigh, NC probably until the end of September…