Virginia - State # 11!!!! (Appomattox Court House Visit & Fun at the Campground!)

We made a big change in our U.S. map this week! We decided to redo our travel plans to fit our family's needs and schedule better, and to change the way we put stickers on our RV map.  It would take many years to cover all of the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. if we kept going at the same rate we have been for the past 6 months. So- we decided to just count all the states we actually drove through or visited, even if we didn't camp in our RV there overnight.  Sometimes our RV park is very close to the state border, so we can visit one state while we are camping in another one. For us, we are going to go ahead and count it on our U.S. map on the RV. It helps us feel like we can actually finish and say we have been to all 48 states -whether it was to camp overnight, visit for the day, or just drive through for a quick stop.  So- after reviewing our trip, Virginia is actually state number ELEVEN! We have been to Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania.  This post is about part of our stay in Virginia.

We stayed at the Thousand Trails RV Campground near Lynchburg for four days before heading to West Virginia, and then back to Virginia to Williamsburg for two weeks.  Our campsite had a great spot for building forts. The boys loved it! We also took one day to visit Appomattox Court House.  At this historic location on April 9th, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to  Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant. It signaled the end of the Confederate's attempt at creating a separate nation, and the beginning of the end of the civil war.  The National Park Service has helped restore the area to look like how it did over 150 years ago.  Some of the buildings are the original ones from the 1860s, and some have been rebuilt.

The Courthouse in "Appomattox Court House"

One interesting fact that we learned during our visit was that the surrender meeting took place at the home of Wilmer McLean, and not the courthouse.  The name of the town is  "Appomattox Court House",  so the surrender at Appomattox Court House is referring to the name of the city and not an actual courthouse.  It turns out that April 9th, 1865 was Palm Sunday and so the courthouse in town was closed for the day.  They found that the McLean house would be an adequate alternate location for the surrender meeting.

McLean House

As we were walking around the house, all of the boys were fascinated by this butterfly that caught our attention...cute:)

There were lots of fields with tall grass to play and hide in! (It's a good thing there were no ticks around yet!!)

We also toured the old jailhouse.  Look at these poor prisoners.  They just look so pitiful...awww...

This picture below shows the original walls from when it was built over 150 years ago!

We stopped by the gift shop to pick up a post card for our collection.  Last fall, we decided that each boy would take turns picking out one postcard at each place we visited. It has been an easy and inexpensive way to collect souvenirs during our RV trip across the U.S. Also- postcards do not take up too much space!

The boys turned in their junior ranger books and received badges and collector cards!

During our stay at the campground, the boys spent time making spears and forts...

Of course they also enjoyed climbing a tree or two...

During our last night at the RV park, the boys helped Daddy build a campfire. It was a fun evening just hanging around the campfire talking, telling stories, and laughing together.

My Tough Guys!:)

Blessings to you and yours,

Jill and the boys:)