A sunny weekend in historical Virginia :)

Day 39: Tomorrow is George's birthday so naturally I had to do something to celebrate! Today I took a perfect Sunday afternoon drive after church about an hour into the country to Pope's Creek Plantation where George Washington was born and spent the first 4 years of his life. The original building burned down in the 1790's so all that is left are several artifacts and then lanterns marking where the original building stood. There were also a couple of other buildings and animals to try to create a plantation similar to what was there for the Washington's. Anyway, to be honest, I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't a huge George fan, but if you have a free afternoon and the sun is shining, the grounds are beautiful! I sat on the Potomac for a good hour in the sun looking out at the sparkling blue waters! Day 38: Today I took the beautiful drive to Appomattox Court House where the Civil War ended with Lee surrendering to Grant. The drive through the country was filled with historical sites along Lee's retreat and different battles in the area. To my embarassment, I realized earlier today that Appomattox Court House is a town...not the building where the war ended. It was a pretty small town though with only a court house, store, jail, and a few houses. To give a little background-- Lee's men had been in retreat for a while leading up to the Palm Sunday surrender. The North was closing in all on sides and Lee had little room to move, Grant sent a letter asking Lee to surrender to stop the bloodshed and Lee refused, but asked Grant what his terms would be. Finally, Lee gave in and sent one of his men to pick a place for the meeting. He chose the McLean house (picture of the day). Grant was actually quite generous in the terms of surrender and allowed Lee's men a safe return home so long as they had a parole slip (thousands made in the printing press at Appomattox within 2 days of the surrender) to show they indeed had surrendered. Lee's army also had to turn in their muskets, flags, and have a surrender parade. The thought that stuck with me after this afternoon back in time stemmed from something said in the visitor center video. After Lee's surrender, his army lined the streets of Appomattox and put their muskets and flags in the center of the streets as the Northern army stood watching from the other side. Though I was thinking of the shame these men must have felt, the video pointed out the most important thing. The surrender, in the big scheme of things, brought all these men closer! By signing that paper, he was saying that the United States would stand as ONE union under God. I thought that was pretty crazy and pretty amazing.

Day 37: Stealing this from Day 38...I gotta stop cheating, but I thought this was really pretty at Appomattox :)