Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

After our visit of the Stonewall Jackson Shrine we headed back to Noelle's brother's house to get Parker and pack the rest of our stuff into the car. We then hit the road headed south towards Tennessee. We drove through Richmond and were making really good time when I realized that we would probably have time to visit Appomattox Court House National Historic Park. And so, that's just what we did.

We pulled into the parking lot there and fed Sierra her lunch on a blanket in the grass. It was pleasant experience, but unfortunately it looked like rain by the time she had finished. We packed up the blanket in a drizzle and headed into the historic site to check things out. Our first stop was the surrender house where Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant.

We couldn't both go in at the same time since we had Parker and so we took turns. Noelle and Sierra went in first. While they checked out the surrender house I walked around with Parker a bit to check out the sites. I found the headstone of the grave belonging to Fayette Meeks.

By the time I finished exploring it was my turn to check out the surrender house. Noelle, Sierra and Parker waited outside for me.

The home was simply decorated, but interesting. Of particular interest was the room where Lee and Grant met to discuss the terms of surrender.

After the surrender house we strolled the grounds of the rest of the "town" of Appomattox Court House. The site was really interesting and there was much more to it than I had imagined. There were a few old law offices

and houses.

There was also an old tavern

with an interpreter playing the banjo on the porch.

Sierra enjoyed the music and seemed intrigued. Interestingly, the banjo player struck up a conversation about Andrew Johnson.

From the tavern we walked to the outskirts of town to the first meeting site of Grant and Lee.

While I would have enjoyed spending more time exploring, we decided at that point that we had better head back to the car. We planned to get as far as Roanoke and with Sierra we wanted to make sure we wouldn't get into a hotel too late.