Appomattox Court House - Part 1

Today I visited Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, after giving myself a day off from blogging.  The main part of the park is located about two miles east of Appomattox, Virginia along state highway 24.  After going to the visitor center, the first place I went to was the McLean House, where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant.  (Two months ago, I visited his birthplace and boyhood home in southwestern Ohio.)  To my disappointment, this building is not original but was reconstructed after the actual McLean House was torn down in 1893.

In front of the McLean House is this kitchen, which includes an exhibition on slavery and emancipation.

Next to the kitchen is this slave house, in which the rooms include furniture in a style of that used by slaves.

During the Civil War, a family named Meeks owned some property near the McLean House, which included this stable.  As you can see, this is my worst-focused picture in this post.

The Meeks family ran this store, the larger building in the next shot.  This is the original store, which was built in 1852.  The smaller building to the left is a storehouse.

This is the visitor center, with an actual visitor in front.  It's a reconstruction of the Appomattox County court house.  However, no historical events relating to Lee's surrender took place here.

Behind a picket fence is the Clover Hill Tavern, which was built in 1819 and is thus the oldest original structure in the park.  Union troops used the tavern to house printing presses by which they made parole passes for their surrendered Confederate counterparts.

The tavern included several outbuildings, including this guest house.

The tavern included a kitchen, the brick building on the left (now a bookstore), and a slave quarters, the white building on the right (now a place to get relief).  A young visitor sits on the front porch of the kitchen/bookstore.

This brick building was the Appomattox County jail, build on or before 1867.  Unfortunately, I could only get a shot that didn't show its longer sunlit side without other things being in front of it.  I'm not sure what the UFO (unidentified falling object) was toward the top left.  A falling leaf, maybe?

A short walk from the visitor center and jail is the Isbell House, built by the brothers Henry and Thomas Bocock, and now the park's headquarters and thus not open to the public.  Thomas Bocock was a U.S. congresscritter (D-VA) and later the only speaker of the Confederate House of Representatives.  The house was later owned by Appomattox County Commonweath's Attorney Lewis Daniel Isbell, who voted for succession at Virginia's two secession conventions and later moved to Missouri.

In front of the Isbell house are a smokehouse to the left and a kitchen to the right.

After looking at the exterior of the Isbell House, I drove off to see some other areas within the park.  Stay tuned.