Historic Tredegar in Richmond

After I decided I'd seen enough plantations we headed back to the city and spent a Sunday night in Richmond. We had a delicious brunch at a restaurant I can't remember the name of, but it was on a corner and right across the street from the Farmer's Market in the Shockoe district. The food was excellent, but my mimosa was disappointing...not the right mix, too much juice.

From there we headed to Historic Tredegar Iron Works which houses the American Civil War Center. It also is the welcome center for Richmond National Battlefield Park.

Although I wasn't allowed to take photos inside, I did scribble copious amounts of notes and if I could decipher my handwriting I'm sure they will prove most helpful. Here are some photos of the grounds. Wished I would have had more time to explore them further, and still kicking myself for not visiting the battlefield.

For more information on Tredegar's history click here.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the museum. It is laid out really well, and through videos, photos, interactive displays, letters, artifacts, etc., the Civil War story is presented from both "sides," before the beginning, and further than the end. I highly recommend it. Tredegar is located across the street from the James River. The shores of this branch certainly look different from the ones further south.

A Day in Buchanan

For years we've passed the "Visit Buchanan" sign when we drive home along I-81. For some reason, probably the beautiful weather and the urge to get the heck out of Roanoke, we decided Saturday was the day we would "visit Buchanan."

We drove along I-81 until exit 162 when we saw the sign for the city. We figured it would be like most of the cities down here, have a Main Street, and we would have no trouble finding it. It was a nice jaunt with beautiful mountain and valley scenery, cow pastures being the main view, and as I suspected, we soon found ourselves driving down Main Street.

 

It just so happened that the city was having some sort of Civil War day as evident by the folks lining the sidewalks dressed in Confederate and old-timey clothing.

I thought it was strange that Main Street was not closed to traffic, as most other cities I've been to during their Civil War type days always close the artery where the "events" are taking place. Since that wasn't the case here, we found a spot easily.

The first thing I noticed was there seemed to be more re-enactors than viewers, and I even joked to my husband, "Maybe nothing is going on here and this is just how the people dress."

When I saw this sign in one of the stores, I seriously began to wonder.

Well, it turns out it was some sort of Civil War re-enactment weekend, but nobody could tell us exactly what was happening, and when I asked a shopkeeper if there was a map or something, they said no but directed us towards the Civil War encampment down near the river.

Most of the tents were closed and I guess that was because the re-enactors were traipsing all around the town. The horses had no choice but to stay where they were, but they jumped every time a loud gunshot exploded.

Now, I've been to other Civil War themed city days and have found them interesting enough. Those events seemed more organized. and showed how the folks lived during that period, gave pertinent history, etc., and had tables where you could buy local goods, and not just confederate flag crap. That's primarily what they were selling here. Not interested in that one bit.

So I thought it would be nice to visit all the antique stores that Buchanan is "noted" for. Unfortunately, most of them were closed. Huh? You're having a Civil War type thing that I'm sure the town is holding to attract visitors, and you would think shops would want to welcome browsers and sell their wares. Even the couple of places that were open closed at noon. We walked into three different stores, and even the library that was having a book sale, and were told, "Sorry, we're closing." Crazy!

What was even crazier was what seemed to be the "theme" of this Civil War event...kill the Yankees.

As we were walking along the main drag the costumed folks were firing their guns shouting, "I got me a Yankee!" and then even paraded said dead Yankee in a coffin.

Another Yankee was accused of robbing a ham and all the women in town shouted to "Hang him!" They were dragging him to the bridge and I almost expected to see a lynching, but the fellow broke loose. When he escaped, they shot him in the back instead, and the crowd whooped and hollered. Maybe someone should have told the thief he was wearing a Confederate hat!

After we had enough of the Rebel Yells we took a walk to the swinging bridge that was also one of their landmarks.

 I took a couple of steps on it, but I guess the folks couldn't read the sign that said only 3 people at a time were allowed on it as they marched across it and it began to shake violently, so I took a page out the Confederate army's playbook and quickly retreated. I got a couple of nice shots at least.

We sought out a place to have lunch and passed up the BBQ joint after seeing the bare chested "cook" with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth work the outdoor bbq. Not a fan of ash-flavored pig. There was a joint next to it, and as we pondered if we should give it a shot or not, two Confederate ladies stepped in front of us and went in. We followed, and it was like the scene from that PeeWee Herman movie when he steps into that biker bar and everyone stops what they're doing and turns to look at him. Same thing, but this was a divier bar and the place was filled with cigarette smoke to boot. I thought it was illegal to smoke indoors in "restaurants" in Virginia. Since I had no intention of jumping on the bar and dancing to Tequila, I did an about-face just as the owner? was coming through the door. When I said it was too smoky in there she said we could eat outdoors. Umm, yeah, no, but thanks anyway.

I couldn't wait to get the heck out of this town. Pretty scenery, don't get me wrong, but it was creepy, and not creepy in a haunted way like I've found Fincastle to be. This was creepy in like a you're not from here, not welcome here, and make sure you don't stay until dark kind of way. I did find some humor in the bikers that took it upon themselves to disrupt this ridiculous "celebration" by riding up and down Main Street every once in a while, 30 strong. These were older fellows with Marines on their cuts and American flags flying proudly on their bikes. They were the only American flags (besides the one Union one near the horse's ass) I saw that day. When we got back to the car we found a flat tire. If I didn't know any better I'd say the town itself did it to fuck with the Yankees. My husband paid $1 for air and filled the tire and off we drove until we hit a restaurant along Route 11, well out of city bounds. When we finished a decent lunch we found the air had come out again so we put the donut tire on and drove home.

When I told my daughter about our day she said, "You should have told me before you went. I've been to Buchanan once, and will never go again." I told her about the slave sign I saw in the window and how I thought it was in poor taste, how offended I would be if I was a black person visiting their town, and remarked that come to think of it, I didn't see one black person there. She said, "I'm not surprised." You know what? Neither am I.

Y'all damn Yankees might have won the war, but we'll just keep re-enacting it the way we think it should have gone, and one day y'all see the south is gonna rise again.

Bulletproof at Appomatox Manor

Since we were heading to Richmond to drop my daughter at a friend's house my husband and I decided we could use a couple of days to ourselves. Unfortunately for him I saw the long weekend as an opportunity to conduct some more research for my upcoming book which would entail visiting plantations. I was able to convince him this was a good idea by promising him if I "learned" enough from Virginia plantations we could forgo the plan to head to South Carolina, and instead take a mini vacation later on someplace that had casinos and room service. He was all for that so off we went.

After careful research I narrowed down the plantation visits to four which were all along the James River about a half hour away from Richmond. Since there were no rooms in Charles Ciy, I thought we would stay in Hopewell which seemed to be a good location for our journey. Here's a shot of the James River in Hopewell.

The lady at the visitor center was very helpful and she handed us a map of local historical sites. General Grant's Headquarters at City Point sounded interesting, and since it was open until 5 we figured we could do that one before dinner. I had never heard of City Point and it wasn't on my original agenda, but I am so glad we sought it out.

Appomatox Manor at City Point

It was the least fanciest of all the sites we visited that weekend, but it was the cheapest, free, and most informative. Robert, a park employee was our guide and he ruined it for all the other guides we came in contact with.

After showing a brief film which explained the significance of City Point...the Union army captured it, and pretty much strangled the Confederate's supplies and reinforced the Union's when they took control of the James River.

Robert then proceeded to speak with the six of us present starting by saying "If you're looking for someone who is reading from a script, I'm not it. I'm going to tell it like it really is." And he did. He didn't sugar coat anything, and it was clear he was not a fan of the south seceding using a "patriot" banner. He told us for too long people have been taught about the Civil War by people using blinders, and we all should take our blinders off. He also said he wasn't afraid of speaking out as he was "Bulletproof." He had done his 30 years at Phillip Morris and for the last decade has been doing what he loves, talking history.

Apparently in the past he wound up on the front cover of a magazine after giving a tour of the house we were in, Appomatox Manor, and the powers that be didn't appreciate it, especially taking folks to the second floor. But he said he didn't care because we the people, we the taxpayers, "owned" this house and were entitled to visit the second floor, and anywhere else in the national park. After speaking with us a good half hour, well after the 5:00pm "closing time," he invited us upstairs to see "our" house. Here's a couple of shots...

 

I think Bulletproof's talk might have made one of the couples uncomfortable as they didn't wait around to see the house and grounds, but I really enjoyed his spiel. He was so real, and I think he knew I was interested in what he was saying as he seemed to be talking directly to me the entire time. Maybe it was because I was the only one who answered his questions. Afterwards he asked what part of New York I came from, and then told me he had relatives in Harlem and how he enjoyed his visits there, even riding the subway after midnight. Brave man!

For dinner we went to a place that was on the James River and specialized in seafood. After we had passed a couple of chemical plans lined along the James River whose smokestacks could be seen spewing clouds of whatever, I told my husband not to order the raw oysters, and boy was glad he listened to me. We both had stuffed flounder and it was too fishy, and just didn't taste fresh. The rest of the meal was terrible too, and I could only imagine what could have happened had we eaten raw oysters. The best part of the restaurant was the parking lot view...

Ms. Garmin brought us back to the hotel room, taking the ghetto route as she usually does. I couldn't explain why, but I felt such a heaviness to Hopewell that it made me sad when I was lying in bed. For a town with such a positive name, the vibe it emitted was anything but hope.

The next day I got into a conversation with someone at the hotel and they told me that Hopewell was wiped out by Indians back in the day. I wondered if that was the heaviness I felt. When we got home I Googled Hopewell, and between bus tragedies, chemical explosions and spills, and the highest rate of crime per capita in the state, plus a couple of other not so nice events, it's no wonder I felt the way I did about the town.

Rebel Yell

When I was living in Brooklyn, I can honestly say the Civil War never, ever came up in conversation. Here in Roanoke, Virginia, I am reminded of it practically every day in some way. With some of the derogatory comments I've experienced being a "Damn Yankee" and an "Eyetalian" at that, I think some folks feel like they're still fighting it. In New York, I can't remember ever hearing about Civil War re-enactments, but down here there's a whole cottage industry surrounding it.

Recently I was at Appomattox National Park, which houses the spot where Lee surrendered to Grant. Of course down here in the South, many don't like to call it "surrendering." I've had some folks tell me Lee just asked Grant to hold his sword. I laughed thinking it was a joke, but apparently to them it wasn't. I find it best to ignore those type of folks.

Anyway, during this visit to the South's surrender spot, ooops, I mean to "where the country was brought together" spot, they were having a Civil War re-enactment. Well, really more of an encampment, since there wasn't any battle waging going on, but a small demonstration.

The guys I spoke with were all pretty cool, although I think they could have stayed in character like the annoying people do at those Renassaince Festivals do. There was one little boy, but there weren't any women to be found, not even a wench. Oh wait, wrong time period.

The guys showed us where they slept, and what they ate, although I seriously doubted they held the hard biscuit in a ziplock bag. They showed us the ways they carried their guns and they even let us hold them...very heavy!

I found out some of these re-enactors travel all over the state and beyond participating in Civil War events with their "authentic" replica uniforms, equipment and rifles. I don't think there's a union, but there probably is some sort of organization you can contact if you're interested in participating. They did mention they are always looking for Union soldiers since no one wants to be one. Funny thing...no matter how many times they re-enact the war, the outcome is still the same.

That last shot was the Rebel Yell. Here's the Rebel Yell I prefer...

Civil War Homes Tour

On Saturday the "Ghost Gals" checked out the Civil War Homes Tour offered by Roanoke County. There were eleven different locations that could be viewed over a two day period. We toured seven in one day. I would have liked to visit them all but time ran out and didn't want to spend Mother's Day finishing up.



Besides the fronts of most of the homes being very similar in style, the other constant factor was this flute playing guy.



He was like Mary's Little Lamb...everywhere we went he was sure to follow. At first we thought there were different flautists at each location and when we realized it was the same guy it was sorta freaky.



I thought it was a nice tour. The owners of the homes we visited were gracious hosts for opening their houses to the public and the period dress costumes enhanced the experience.





I suggested a drinking game whereby every time "Yankees" was said we'd take a shot, "damn Yankees" warranted a double, but we didn't have any alcohol so that didn't fly.

The majority of the homes were beautiful inside...





...and the grounds magnificent.



I could well imagine someone gazing out the window looking towards the fields waiting for their loved one to come back from war.



I was drawn to the original structures where you could feel the past in the present. If you look closely, in between the bricks, you'll see a traveller's note dated July 24, 1887.



This is where the Black Horse Tavern, 1782, once stood.



As I was walking nearby I saw something sticking out of the ground and used my sneaker to dig away at it. I found this door hinge, which very well may be the original from the tavern door.



We handed it over to the owner who didn't seem as excited as I was to have found it. I also discovered shards of pottery where the tavern stood. If I owned that property I would definitely have an archaeological dig.

I was very happy we visited the Stoner House which Deedie Kagey owns.



I told Deedie, (second from the right) how much I loved her History of Roanoke County book and picked her brain a wee bit as part of research I'm undertaking for my next book. She was very helpful and showed me some old maps of Botetourt County.



Since it's been challenging to find out the answers to questions I have regarding black communities from the Civil War days and beyond, she suggested I visit the Hollins library or talk to the folks at the Harrison Museum. Deedie was such an informative guide and a truly nice person and she'll probably regret saying I should call her.

All in all it was a really nice day and a job well done by Roanoke County...