Petersburg: Battlefield and diverse history
Accommodation in Petersburg
Petersburg’s historic highlights
Petersburg offers several historical perspectives for your stay: Petersburg National Battlefield explores the siege and the American Civil War, while museums, historic buildings, and Pocahontas add city, architectural, and African American history to the picture. The experiences also vary in format—from a driving tour and outdoor trails to exhibits and guided tours. When looking for a hotel, it helps to first consider which themes and activities you want to shape your stay.
Battlefield: driving tour and outdoor trails
Petersburg National Battlefield offers a driving tour with 16 stops through all four units of the park. Exhibits and audiovisual programs about the siege and its impact on the course of the American Civil War are presented at the Eastern Front Visitor Center at Petersburg National Battlefield. The park tour and the historical interpretation at the Visitor Center therefore offer different ways to experience the Battlefield.
In the Eastern Front Unit, the National Battlefield has about 10 miles of nature trails suitable for hiking, running, and biking. This makes it possible to enjoy several activities on the trails. By contrast, the Petersburg Confederate Battery 5 Interpretive Trail is a short paved path. The different trail features can help you consider the nature trails and the short Interpretive Trail as separate options for your stay.
Blandford: stained glass, field hospital, and cemetery art
The decorative stained-glass windows of the Blandford Church Museum were all designed and installed under the direction of Louis Comfort Tiffany of New York. Guided tours of the museum also explain how the church was used as a field hospital during the Siege of Petersburg. The design of the windows and the church’s historical function therefore offer two different perspectives on Blandford.
A tour of Blandford Cemetery includes monuments, graves, and cemetery art. Those interested in cemetery art and forms of remembrance, as well as the museum exhibits, will find another cultural highlight here.
Centre Hill and industrial history
Centre Hill Mansion dates to 1823. Abraham Lincoln visited Centre Hill on April 7, 1865. Centre Hill’s basement galleries feature exhibits on Petersburg’s history. The building’s date, the visit on a specific date, and the exhibits thus offer different historical points of interest.
Appomattox Iron Works is one of the most complete surviving examples of an early ironworks complex in the United States. As an ironworks complex, the site broadens the choice of topics to include early industrial history and offers a different focus from the houses, museums, and Battlefield-related topics.
History and the river
In the 19th century, Pocahontas became a Freedom Colony, the first settlement in Virginia inhabited predominantly by free Black people. The Appomattox River Trail runs along Pocahontas Island. The island also has a natural launch site for canoes and kayaks. The history of the Freedom Colony, the trail, and the launch site offer different topics to consider when planning your stay.
Discover more destinations: Luray, Shenandoah, Rileyville.
Back to the main travel overview: Page.
More about the destination
Useful information for planning your trip:
