DAY FOUR

On Monday we had one of our big breakfasts before heading out to Appomattox, location of the surrender of the Confederacy that ended the Civil War in 1865. We backtracked southward on US 11, VA 130 and US 501 (good twisties). At the James River Bridge we took VA 130 (Elon Road) which crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway and passes through Martins Store near Monroe before ending at US 29. Us 29 south and then US 460 took us to the town of Appomattox.

Our first stop was at a small roadside pull-off with historical markers. Here there was a small Confederate Cemetery where 19 soldiers are buried. There is one Union soldier and 18 Confederates who lost their lives in the final days of the war at Appomattox Station. One of those buried here is Jesse Hutchins of the Alabama Infantry. He enlisted three days after the beginning of the war and was killed less than 24 hours before it ended 1,454 days later. Giant magnolia trees in bloom keep the graveyard in cool shade.

The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, location of the historical signing of the surrender papers is located a few miles northeast of the town on VA 24. Today it is a part of the National Park Service. Admission is $4 per person and it is well worth it.

We passed on the movie and guided tour but browsed through the Visitor Center Museum which had some interesting artifacts. The items that had been found in archeological digs were interesting and included a gun and bayonet apparently discarded at the end of the battle.

There was also the stub of a pencil that Lee borrowed from another soldier to make corrections on the surrender terms. Lee made the corrections, twirled the pencil in his hand for a while and then handed it back to the man who gave it to him. There are also small slivers of an apple wood which are said to have come from a tree near the Appomattox River where Lee was resting when presented with Grant’s letter arranging a place to meet for surrender. The tree was supposedly cut down and chipped-up for souvenirs.

The buildings here have all been reconstructed and are not original but based on original designs. The most interesting building is the McLean House where the actual signing of the surrender papers took place. The original house was dismantled in the early 1890s with plans to reconstruct it at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition. That plan never came to reality and the dismantled home was left to the elements, vandals and souvenir hunters. The replica now sitting over the original foundation was opened in 1949 by the National Park Service. The original furniture has also been lost, most of it sold to the Union officers who were looking for keepsakes after the signing of the surrender.

One of the odd tidbits of history is that Wilmer McLean, the man who owned the McLean House at Appomattox, claimed, “The War began in my front yard and ended in my parlor.” The facts are that McLean lived in an estate located on Bull Run in Virginia in 1861. Both Confederate and Union lines were assembling nearby. On July 18 a Union shell was fired, hit the chimney of McLean’s house, dropped into the kitchen fireplace and exploded in a kettle of soup. After a number of skirmishes that followed McLean had seen enough of the disputes between north and south. He  relocated and purchased his Appomattox property in isolate southern Virginia. Four years later on April 9, 1865, Grant and Lee met in McLean’s parlor to end the war.

Although these basic facts are true, the actual first shot took place at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Confederate batteries opened fire on the Union occupied fort at 4:30 am on April 12, 1861. But McLean’s story is close enough to wonder at the coincidence.

Standing on the front porch of the McLean house we noted an odd looking tree standing alone in the grassy field just to the north. We learned this eastern cedar marked the gravesite of Lafayette Meeks who died of typhoid fever while serving the Union Army in 1861. The aged tree is striking with its grayish, oddly formed trunk and scraggly top. The lone grave in the shade of this unique tree stands in sharp contrast to the lines of graves we saw in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery and the Confederate Cemetery just 500 yards distant. They all speak to the futility of our Civil War.

We wandered around to the other buildings, the tavern guesthouse, the tavern kitchen (now the bookstore selling souvenirs), the jail, and the tavern where we met and talked with a Union soldier (part of the living history program). We were disappointed that the tavern no longer sold spirits.

We retreated to the shade of a tree in the parking lot and broke-out our picnic lunch as we discussed the impact of the tour and the hard times that our ancestors endured.
Back on VA 24 we stopped at the site of the old apple tree that was ravaged for keepsakes. A little farther down the road is where Lee headquarters were located. Making a U-turn we stopped at the location of Grant’s headquarter. All of these places today are peaceful, rolling hillsides. It is hard to imagine the terror of war that once played here.

We made a quick pass through the present town of Appomattox; nothing special here, just your typical small town almost forgotten because of the new US 460 Bypass.
Wanting to ride some twisties and get away from heat we plotted a course to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Motoring westward we bypassed Lynchburg and took US 221 west for about 8 miles before being directed by the GPS onto Cifax Road.

Along this route we passed large, expensive estates and houses. After passing through the Cifax crossroads we came to Otterville crossroads. Cifax and Otterville are areas named on the maps, but they are nothing more than stop signs at two crossroads. On Otterville Road the housing stepped down a notch or two which sometimes indicates the GPS was routing us onto a gravel road. The big FJR with two-up is heavy and not exactly like the KLRs we are used too, so rough gravel roads are not exactly welcome.

The road stayed paved all the way to VA 43. We noted on the GPS a couple of interesting roads that might be good for exploring on our KLRs next trip to the area. Mountain Trail Road/Suck Mountain Trail and Wheats Valley Road parallel each other and look like a couple of roads to explore. Wheats Valley Road is shown intersecting the BRP and is most likely a gravel road if it really exists. We have learned that some of the maps, especially on GPS units, will lead you to roads that are not really there.

Taking a couple of good turns and seeing a couple of deer on VA 43 we then hit the BRP. We checked-out the Peaks of Otter Campground which offers 92 tent sites and 52 RV/trailer sites right on the BRP. Large RV sites (35 foot and longer) are very limited, probably less than a dozen and most were taken. The rest of the RV section with smaller parking areas was unoccupied.

Just a short distance to the north is the Peaks of Otter Lodge which overlooks scenic Abbott Lake with views of Sharp Top Mountain in the distance. The Peaks of Otter take its name from the three mountains that surround the area; Sharp Top, Flat Top, and Harkening Hill. Rates are in the $115 a night range.

We had found some cooler weather and enjoyed a slow romp northward stopping at a few of the pull-offs for picts. The mountain laurel was plentiful and in full bloom with colors ranging from a very light pink to a darker hue.

After fifteen miles the GPS had us taking Petites Gap Road to the north to get back to the RV. It was gravel and we stopped to talk to a jeep that was just coming up the road. The driver said the road was bad in places from wash-outs in recent rains. It looked good from our viewpoint and the other option was an extra 20 miles or more.

So down the gravel road we went and found it to be in really good condition compared to some we have encountered. We made a quick stop and at a scenic corner so Nancy could Twitter or Tweeter …. whatever. Guess they could trace us from our posting in case we never made it home. It was pretty desolate up there and I wasn’t packing.

After about six miles we found pavement passing the Glenwood Furnace which dates to 1849. Much of the Confederate iron used in the Civil War for cannon was produced here. We then crossed the James River and took VA 130 and US 11 home seeing the Foam Henge and Enchanted Castle in Disrepair for the third time.

DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE
DAY FOUR
DAY FIVE