September 18, 2022

So Sunday morning we got up and had a bit of breakfast at the hotel before starting off for the day. Johnny wanted to see what Petersburg looked like so we took a drive downtown. Johnny knew that Petersburg had played an important tole in the Civil War, but I didn't know anything about it. I have since learned that it played a role in the Revolutionary War as well. It grew so much as a transportation and industrial hub that it was the second most important city in Virginia after Richmond before the Civil War. This caused its importance in the Civil War - the Unionists wanted to gain control of Petersburg to disrupt supply lines to the Confederate capital in Richmond. There was a 292 day siege of Petersburg by the Union Army that was finally able to force the Confederates to retreat. General Robert E Lee's forces were eventually surrounded, and he was forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Petersburg had an up and down history like so many of the places we have visited. It faced loss of industries; Jim Crow laws were instituted; white flight took place - just to name a few causes. The city had about a 73% majority of African-Americans in the 2020 census. It is trying to build on its historic past by renovating its many historic buildings. We loved the architecture - the run down and renovated - we would definitely return to spend more time here.

One of the new businesses

Coffee shop customer!

We loved these old buildings being converted into businesses, apartments, condos - some kept the original exteriors. I think this one says Robinson & Purdy Corp. - "Cotton & Tobacco" "Peanuts."

The old Coca-Cola Bottling Works now houses the Buttermilk Bake Shop. We decided to stop in. My sisters had been texting about buying or baking scones for the Queen's funeral so I was on the lookout for scones.

Vegan cookies - we bought one because my son Dan is vegan - Johnny ate it and said it was okay - he didn't remember it was vegan!

This was the closest I came to a scone with strawberry jam and clotted cream - fresh strawberries and whipped cream in a sugar donut.

Our purchase from the bakery - I believe they were my scone, turtle cupcake, strawberry short cake, chess pie, and a cherry cupcake. My scone was fabulous. Vickie said the turtle cup cake and chess pie were just as good. The others are still in the fridge.

Vickie has Barnhart relatives so she is taking a picture of the old Virginia Branch Barnhart Mercantile Co.

We headed on toward Appomattox Court House saying that we would definitely come again to Petersburg to see its progress.

J&V wanted to get some kind of frozen food to keep the desserts from the Butter Milk Bake Shop cool. We were looking for a good while for a grocery store or a supermarket - we were on back roads and never found out where people bought their groceries. We finally reached Crewe where there was a small market that included a butcher. It wasn't very big and some of the vegetables like cauliflower had dark spots on them. But Johnny and Vickie found a frozen package of Hush Puppies - they are a southern specialty I think - deep fried little cornmeal balls. They did the trick for the other goodies in the refrigerated bag. 

The market had gorgeous mums - and so many of them! They also had all types of pumpkins.

We arrived at the Appomattox Courthouse National Park. The temperature was in the high 80s by this time but not humid. Below is the Court House which houses the visitors center - the entrance is behind the staircase - you don't have to climb the stairs! It has lots of interesting information on the Civil War and a diorama of the park.

We walked over to the McLean House - Union General Ulysses S Grant was using it as his headquarters. We saw the room where Robert E Lee surrendered to Grant. We also saw Grant's bedroom and 2 dining rooms - one upstairs and a more formal one downstairs - the tables had china ware and scones!

The McLean House - the white small building is the well house where they obtained water. 

The upstairs table with blue china 

Pictures of the downstairs dining room - more formal - nicer china - and more scones!! We thought the scones were hysterical because of the text messages with my sisters about baking or buying them to watch the Queen's funeral the next day!

We also walked over to the outside kitchen on the left and slave quarters on the right below.

I was surprised - shocked really at a display in the slave quarters - that explained that 8.5 million Africans were sold into slavery and sent to the Americas!

Court Day was the first Thursday after the first Monday every month - it was during Court Day that Africans were auctioned off with cattle. That is so sickening.

Leaving Appomattox, we headed for Boone's Mill where Vickie's parents and relatives are buried. Vickie has been working on her genealogy so she was checking all the gravestones for names and dates  of Peters and Barnharts. I had taken pictures of some of them the last time we were down - I took even more this time. Such as:

As we left Boone's Mill, we passed a Trump Store selling ice cream!! I kid you not!

Would you buy ice cream from this guy? I only got the pictures because we were stopped at a red light!

As we headed for Pipestem, we passed several miles of traffic backed up on the north bound side - there had been an accident - the Emergency Response Unit was there. We were thanking our lucky stars it was on the other side. We finally reached Pipestem State Park, checked in and brought in our belongings about 9 pm. 

 

Appotomax

Crewe market - butcher, veg - some moldy or with black spots - loads of mums and pumpkins

Farmville 

Lots of farms today with bales of hay 

Lynchburg fort early - riverfront being modernized

Several miles of traffic on north side of 81 from an accident. Emergency Response unit was there too.