September 29, 2008

Monday 29~~~ We took some back roads this morning in our travels and we came upon several plantations. We have been on the computer looking up plantations, but these weren't listed there. We decided to go to the "Shirley Plantation", they had cotton fields growing along the road which was neat. We took the tour of the house, but we were disappointed with it because we only got to see the first floor because the owners lived on the second floor. The main floor wasn't furnished completely with furniture, it had lots of paintings and the guide told us the story of the families in the pictures. They were all descendants of this house and land. The buildings were really neat, They were all made of brick, and there was a large laundry bldg., a big kitchen, ice house, smoke house, root cellar and a store house. We spent quite a bit of time going through all the buildings. Kent still gets bit by the mosquito's a lot and also the jiggers in the grass so he will probably pay for walking through the grass. They don't even go near Sharon, Kent is so sweet they love him. We ate our picnic lunch here in the shade, and then we headed for "Petersburg National Park". In 1864 Grant believed that the key to taking Richmond was Petersburg, it was the 5 railroad lines and key roadways that made Petersburg important. If these lines were cut, supplies could not reach Richmond and they would be forced to surrender or evacuate. It was a a grim 10 month struggle_ the longest seige in American warfare before Lee surrendered to Grant. (no Pictures) Next we drove to the "Sherwood Forest Plantation", we didn't go through a tour here, as they only did tours by reservation. The grounds and house here were really outstanding, they even had a pet cemetery with animal headstones. We headed home from here, as we had a long day walking all over again. Tomorrow we are on the road to North Carolina.