Visiting Redoubt Park, Williamsburg, Va....

[Bruce Vail]

Hello All,

I was in Williamsburg, Va., this week for a Thanksgiving feast with some of my favorite relatives,
and while there I took some time out for one of my not-so-secret passions -- visiting historic Civil War sites!

Now, neither my wife Carol, nor her sister Jenny, nor my brother-in-law Tim, have any real interest in these kinds of military sites -- but they will humor me if I am not too demanding. So I tried to go small scale (and off-the-beaten-path) for a short trip that would not drive them crazy with boredom. After consulting some old CWT posts, I led Carol and Jenny to Redoubt Park, a small, relatively new (established 2007) Williamsburg city reserve that contains some remnants of the Confederate line of fortifications from the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. It's quite near the more famous 'Bloody Ravine.'

The visit was pretty good. I didn't take any photos myself, but I pulled these excellent shots off the web:


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That's Redoubt #1. The park managers have constructed a neat cat walk so you can stroll around the main fortification there, and get a good feeling for the overall dimensions of the little fort, and its relation to the local topography.

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That's a view from the high point of Redoubt #1. It overlooks old Quarterpath Road, which connected some wharves down on the James River waterfront to the town of Williamsburg. The Confederates built the redoubt on this high point to prevent a flanking movement from the Yankees. (Today, the Rebel artillerymen would have easily demolished that new Harris Teeter grocery store lower down the Quarterpath Road!).

Here is a nice series of photos from Redoubt Park that I pulled off the net:

https://www.facebook.com/Civilwarbyfoot/photos/pcb.1127946233912744/1127942157246485/?type=3&theater

Anyway, I wanted to share this with all the good people at CWT. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Best,
Bruce

 

[bdtex]

Hello All,

I was in Williamsburg, Va., this week for a Thanksgiving feast with some of my favorite relatives,
and while there I took some time out for one of my favorite not-so-secret passions -- visiting historic Civil War sites!

Now, neither my wife Carol, nor her sister Jenny, nor my brother-in-law Tim, have any real interest in these kinds of military sites -- but they will humor me if I am not too demanding. So I tried to go small scale (and off-the-beaten-path) for a short trip that would not drive them crazy with boredom. After consulting some old CWT posts, I led them to Redoubt Park, a small, relatively new Williamsburg city reserve that contains some remnants of the Confederate line of fortifications from the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. It's quite near the more famous 'Bloody Ravine.'

The visit was pretty good. I didn't take any photos myself, but I pulled these excellent shots off the web:


Expired Image Removed

That's Redoubt #1. The park managers have constructed a neat cat walk so you can stroll around the main fortification there, and get a good feeling for the overall dimensions of the little fort, and its relation to the local topography.

Expired Image Removed

That's a view from the high point of Redoubt #1. It overlooks old Quarterpath Road, which connected some wharves down on the James River waterfront to the town of Williamsburg. The Confederates built the redoubt on this high point to prevent a flanking movement from the Yankees. (Today, the Rebel artillery men would have easily demolished the Harris Teeter grocery store down lower on the Quaterpath Road!).

Here is a nice series of photos from Redoubt Park that I pulled off the net:

https://www.facebook.com/Civilwarbyfoot/photos/pcb.1127946233912744/1127942157246485/?type=3&theater

Anyway, I wanted to share this with all the good people at CTW. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Best,
Bruce

I was in Williamsburg for 4 days in June 2014 and didn't even know that a CW battle had been fought there. Still kicking myself over that one. Had plenty of time one day I was there to hit the battlefield. Glad you got to visit there.

 

[bdtex]

It really is a nice town too. Was on the campus of William & Mary University while I was there. Went to Pierce's Pit BBQ while there too.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I was in Williamsburg for 4 days in June 2014 and didn't even know that a CW battle had been fought there. Still kicking myself over that one. Had plenty of time one day I was there to hit the battlefield. Glad you got to visit there.

Don't kick yourself. The CW Battle of Williamsburg is rightly obscure. There was no result of any consequence -- except for the dead men and their families.

Jenny has lived in the town for 20 years and was only vaguely aware of it. In that part of Virginia, you can't knock over a dog turd without uncovering a point of rich and bloody history

 

[Bruce Vail]

Civil War Trust always has great maps.

Redoubt No. 1 is at lower left. It's protecting the flank of the Confederate army as it retreats to Richmond.

 

[Bruce Vail]

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Thank you, Civil War Trails!

 

[Buckeye Bill]

We enjoyed our tour of the Battle of Williamsburg sites in 2013. We actually stayed the night in the Bloody Ravine at the Country Inn and Suites. The majority of Americans visit Colonial Williamsburg and do not have a clue an American Civil War battle was fought in and around the city of Williamsburg. The same thing can be said about Yorktown. Virginia is a gold mine for history buffs. They need to change their slogan to "Virginia is for HISTORY Lovers!"

Bill

 

[dlavin]

I stop there almost every year as a halfway point to the outer banks to play golf. Golden Horseshoe is a great golf course and where troops moved over the grounds. Anyway this year it was just my dad and I, and we got done playing golf and a bite to eat and he mentioned needing to get more steps to meet his fitness goal. So I to leave it to me where to go. And I drove him here. Its not much of a park, but we walked a trail and then the redoubts.

Been going there for 10 years and this was the first time i've stopped to take in CW.

 

[James_tiberous]

We enjoyed our tour of the Battle of Williamsburg sites in 2013. We actually stayed the night in the Bloody Ravine at the Country Inn and Suites. The majority of Americans visit Colonial Williamsburg and do not have a clue an American Civil War battle was fought in and around the city of Williamsburg. The same thing can be said about Yorktown. Virginia is a gold mine for history buffs. They need to change their slogan to "Virginia is for HISTORY Lovers!"

Bill

I was stationed at Langley AFB in Hampton and never really visited anything. I was very young and had just begun to study the war. Down at Yorktown there are still trenches and works but I never really checked them out. One of my future trips is to go and visit all the sites from the Peninsula campaign while I enjoy memories from the late 1980's of the area. Wonderful area for sure!

 

[Bruce Vail]

I stop there almost every year as a halfway point to the outer banks to play golf. Golden Horseshoe is a great golf course and where troops moved over the grounds. Anyway this year it was just my dad and I, and we got done playing golf and a bite to eat and he mentioned needing to get more steps to meet his fitness goal. So I to leave it to me where to go. And I drove him here. Its not much of a park, but we walked a trail and then the redoubts.

Been going there for 10 years and this was the first time i've stopped to take in CW.

Couple of years back we were down in Williamsburg and after eating way too much turkey we decided to take a nice nature walk just to clear our heads.

We stumbled on the site of the Battle of Greenspring Plantation from the Revolutionary War. I'd never heard of it before, even though I consider myself pretty well versed in Revolution history. What a treat!

http://www.campaign1776.org/battlefields/green-spring/?referrer=https://www.google.com/

 

[Bruce Vail]

I was stationed at Langley AFB in Hampton and never really visited anything. I was very young and had just begun to study the war. Down at Yorktown there are still trenches and works but I never really checked them out. One of my future trips is to go and visit all the sites from the Peninsula campaign while I enjoy memories from the late 1980's of the area. Wonderful area for sure!

Hah! It happens everywhere! I'd lived in NYC for about five years when an out-of-town relative came for a short visit. He couldn't believe I'd never bothered to visit the Statue of Liberty. We went the next day. It was great.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I stop there almost every year as a halfway point to the outer banks to play golf. Golden Horseshoe is a great golf course and where troops moved over the grounds. Anyway this year it was just my dad and I, and we got done playing golf and a bite to eat and he mentioned needing to get more steps to meet his fitness goal. So I to leave it to me where to go. And I drove him here. Its not much of a park, but we walked a trail and then the redoubts.

Been going there for 10 years and this was the first time i've stopped to take in CW.

The area around Redoubt #1 is heavily wooded, so you have to imagine back to 1862 when all the trees were cut down to make an effective field of fire.

One of the Golden Horseshoe golf greens is so close that a skilled Confederate rifleman could have picked off the modern duffers from that vantage point. You can see that clearly now that the leaves from the oaks and maples have fallen.

It's nice that you and your Dad had some golf time...I lost my Dad years ago...so treasure it while you can.

 

[dlavin]

Yep, if you play the Green Course at Golden Horseshoe, on one of the tee boxes is a marker describing the Battle of Williamsburg. I have a few photos of my dad teeing off with the marker in the foreground. He took the same of me. Knowing I was getting my picture taken, I promptly sliced the heck outta my drive...so much for being on Tour....

 

[Bruce Vail]

Yep, if you play the Green Course at Golden Horseshoe, on one of the tee boxes is a marker describing the Battle of Williamsburg. I have a few photos of my dad teeing off with the marker in the foreground. He took the same of me. Knowing I was getting my picture taken, I promptly sliced the heck outta my drive...so much for being on Tour....

Outer Banks has a great CW site at Fort Macon. They have modernized it and improved it in recent years.

http://www.ncparks.gov/fort-macon-state-park

I was there about 4-5 years ago at the height of the tourist season. It was great to see all the young kids scampering around -- and absorbing all the history.

 

[James_tiberous]

Outer Banks has a great CW site at Fort Macon. They have modernized it and improved it in recent years.

http://www.ncparks.gov/fort-macon-state-park

I was there about 4-5 years ago at the height of the tourist season. It was great to see all the young kids scampering around -- and absorbing all the history.

From your link:


Fort Macon State Park has multiple personalities as the site of a perfectly restored Civil War-era fort, a museum-quality coastal education center and an unspoiled shoreline for swimming, surf fishing and beachcombing. Nearly surrounded by water at the eastern tip of Bogue Banks, the park offers undisturbed natural beauty and opportunities to explore and learn about salt marshes, estuaries and dune fields. The fort—once a project of Robert E. Lee as a young army engineer—has a history as intricate and unique as the ecosystem. Cannon and musket demonstrations and guided tours are regular features, complementing extensive exhibits indoors and out. A bathhouse and handicapped-accessible beachside areas complete the recreational fare.




Sounds like a great place to visit

 

[Bruce Vail]

We enjoyed our tour of the Battle of Williamsburg sites in 2013. We actually stayed the night in the Bloody Ravine at the Country Inn and Suites. The majority of Americans visit Colonial Williamsburg and do not have a clue an American Civil War battle was fought in and around the city of Williamsburg. The same thing can be said about Yorktown. Virginia is a gold mine for history buffs. They need to change their slogan to "Virginia is for HISTORY Lovers!"

Bill

I looked on the local map and couldn't identify the precise site of the major fighting at the Bloody Ravine. We drove around there a little bit but I got confused by the modern roadways. It didn't seem to be well marked.

Do you know where it is exactly?

I'll be going back to Williamsburg before long, so I want to look for it again.

 

[Bruce Vail]

From your link:


Fort Macon State Park has multiple personalities as the site of a perfectly restored Civil War-era fort, a museum-quality coastal education center and an unspoiled shoreline for swimming, surf fishing and beachcombing. Nearly surrounded by water at the eastern tip of Bogue Banks, the park offers undisturbed natural beauty and opportunities to explore and learn about salt marshes, estuaries and dune fields. The fort—once a project of Robert E. Lee as a young army engineer—has a history as intricate and unique as the ecosystem. Cannon and musket demonstrations and guided tours are regular features, complementing extensive exhibits indoors and out. A bathhouse and handicapped-accessible beachside areas complete the recreational fare.




Sounds like a great place to visit

Yes, I think some of the funding for the modernization came from a desire to make it more accessible to small kids, older folk ,and wheel-chair people.

I first visited Ft. Macon some 25 years ago, and it was very different then. Now they have an air-conditioned visor center and modernized educational displays. In the older days it was a monument to Confederate Pride.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

I looked on the local map and couldn't identify the precise site of the major fighting at the Bloody Ravine. We drove around there a little bit but I got confused by the modern roadways. It didn't seem to be well marked.

Do you know where it is exactly?

I'll be going back to Williamsburg before long, so I want to look for it again.

* A Civil War Trails Marker "Bloody Ravine" is located in front of hotel.

Need anything else, just yell!!!

Bill

 

[Bruce Vail]

Oh, now I see!

Country Inn & Suites on Route 60 and then go down in the ditch behind. We probably drove by it 2 or 3 times without seeing the marker.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

Oh, now I see!

Country Inn & Suites on Route 60 and then go down in the ditch behind. We probably drove by it 2 or 3 times without seeing the marker.

The CWT marker is located on the hotel property. The marker faces US 60. There are a couple of Virginia State Historic Markers just west of this hotel marker. A good web site to locate markers : www.hmdb.org.

Bill