Dispatches From the Parks: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Happy National Park Week everyone! Today begins the annual event that celebrates National Parks for an entire week. April just happens to be quite the big month for celebration and anniversaries. For instance, April 9 was the anniversary of Robert E. Lee surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant and thus beginning the end of the American Civil War. This event took place at the McLean House, which is now part of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. I just happened to visit the park earlier this month. 

My father and I began our visit by driving through the park to the visitor center parking lot. The visitor center is a short walk from the parking lot and has a small museum that manages to fit a lot in. Not only does the museum give a great breakdown of why this site is important but also includes a lot of first hand artifacts from the events of these grounds. The visitor center also has an auditorium that plays the park video, but we arrived while the video was already in progress.

From the visitor center, I raced my way over to the McLean House, which is the crown jewel of the park. The building itself is a replica built with materials from the original, but you still do get a sense of awe of being on the same grounds as such a pivotal event in American history. The waysides in the building and in the structures on the property do a great job of explaining how the surrender took place and what life was like for some of the slaves who worked and lived here. I just wish it did a better job of explaining the lives of the McLeans, who infamously moved to this house from Manassas after the First Battle of Manassas (meaning they saw the beginning and ending of the war).

From the McLean House we carried on to the other buildings on the main property of the park (the park does extend way beyond the main property with quite a few hiking trails). These buildings included an office for a lawyer, a general store, a prison and, of course, the park gift shop (which is located separately from the visitor center). A lot of these are original buildings from the Civil War era, although none are as interesting as the McLean House. In fact, I had more fun trying to photograph the birds on the grounds, which included mockingbirds, bluebirds and sparrows.

The last highlight on the main property of the park that is a must do is at the edge of the main property: the site of Grant and Lee’s original meeting. This area is about a five-minute walk from the visitor center in the opposite direction of the McLean House, but it’s also the location of where the surrender ceremony took place so it’s just as important of a place in history as the McLean House. Waysides here explain what occurred during Grant and Lee’s meeting and Gettysburg hero, Joshua Chamberlain’s role in the surrender ceremony. It also provides a great view of the surrounding fields.

If you are a Civil War or American history buff, Appomattox Court House is a must visit.