Visiting Petersburg

WScott

Corporal
Joined
May 6, 2021
I will be spending two (2) days in the Petersburg Va. area to visit the battlefield. I would like to use my time effectively and would like some fee back / suggestions on what is best to see. I do want to see the eastern front and some of the fortifications in Petersburg.

Questions: Is the Tredagar Iron Works worth the visit or is my time better spent else where?
If I go to Tredagar is photography in the museum allowed.
Should I spend one day at the Appomattox Court House
Are there any key sites that are considered a “Must” in Petersburg.
Any suggestions on accommodations.

This will probably be the last “Civil War tour” I can take so your thoughts and feedback are appreciated!
 
If you are spending 2 days, then I would recommend, definitely, that you see Appomattox. That is a MUST SEE in my opinion. But then you're leaving one day for Petersburg, which is barely enough time. You might be able to drive the lines and get out of your car to take some photos, but that's it. There is A LOT to the Petersburg lines.

However, if you want to spend two days doing just Petersburg, I'd say that's enough for a good dose of everything.

Things I saw that really stood out:
-Grant's HQ at City Point
-The Crater
-Pamplin Historical Park (This is a privately owned park that contains part of the "breakthrough" in the lines. It has some good outdoor exhibits, including a reconstructed trench, which is most excellent)
-Five Forks

There is also a lot of earthworks still standing, and Fort Stedman is still standing as well.

It really depends on how much you want to stop and check out the miles and miles of earthworks which are still standing. And there may very well be important sights I'm forgetting or never learned about.

But even just stopping to do all the sights on my list is a lot for one day. I did it and was rushing most of the time.

Also, lunch at Dixie Restaurant in Petersburg.

P.S.-I was underwhelmed at Tredegar. I believe I took photographs, but you may just want to call ahead and ask. Not that you asked, but I would rather go to Hollywood Cemetery again rather than Tredegar.
 
If you’re “ranging” from Petersburg to Appomattox, you’re in range to visit Cold Harbor, and also not far from the Fredericksburg battlefields, butI would include Cold Harbor.
 
If you’re “ranging” from Petersburg to Appomattox, you’re in range to visit Cold Harbor, and also not far from the Fredericksburg battlefields, butI would include Cold Harbor.

I’d love to see Cold Harbour next time I’m in Richmond. There is just too much to do in the area in one visit & when the peninsula is taken in then it would take at least a fortnight. I’ve always found Cold Harbour one of the more tragic battles of the war along with the Wilderness. The story of the Connecticut heavy artillery is a sad one along with many others im sure. A must visit battlefield.
 
There were so many battles around Petersburg across such a wide area, it’s a full day at minimum.

Just off the top of my head, there’s the Ream’s Station battlefield trail, the Hatcher’s Run trail, the Breakthrough Trail that connects to Pamplin, the White Oak Trail. Plus Stedman and the Crater, Five Forks, Fort Gregg, and what little there is of Globe Tavern.
 
A few years back we spent five days in that area and wish we had stayed longer, that's another trip in the waiting.

It’s an unbelievable part of the country for history. The civil war sites are endless then the revolutionary battlefields ,Jamestown , colonial Williamsburg aswell. I rarely get to the US so I tend to try to clock up the number of states which leads to missing out on certain sites but I could go to Virginia alone for a vaccination and be very content.
 
I’ve been planning a trip to Petersburg to Appomattox and was thinking 3 days. 2 days may give you time for the Eastern and western front of Petersburg and Pamplin. Think it also depends on what you are doing at each site, just drive bus, photography, trail walking? There are a number of walking trails on the battlefield.
 
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