Dec 15th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Demonstrations by skilled artisans, Civil War attractions, an amazing new treehouse, and a historic home that will make you feel (or at least sing) "crazy;" visitors to Virginia in 2012 will find several new vacation experiences. Throughout the next year, here are some of the new reasons to travel to the state.
Heartwood
Abingdon, Virginia
Billed as "Southwest Virginia's Artisan ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
civilwar posts
Six new Virginia tourist attractions to visit in 2012
Dec 15th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Demonstrations by skilled artisans, Civil War attractions, an amazing new treehouse, and a historic home that will make you feel (or at least sing) "crazy;" visitors to Virginia in 2012 will find several new vacation experiences. Throughout the next year, here are some of the new reasons to travel to the state.
Heartwood
Abingdon, Virginia
Billed as "Southwest Virginia's Artisan ...Oklahoma's largest Civil War battlefield may become National Park
Nov 7th, 2011 at 2:30PM:
The Honey Springs Battlefield Park in Oklahoma may become a new addition to the National Park Service, the Tulsa World reports.
The U.S. Department of the Interior said in a report that there's "potential action" for "support designation of Honey Springs as a National Battlefield Park." Now Oklahoma history buffs are scratching their heads over just what that means. The Tulsa World couldn't ...President Obama creates new national park
Nov 2nd, 2011 at 8:00AM: President Obama created a new national park yesterday when he invoked the Antiquities Act for the first time in his presidency. The Commander in Chief used his executive powers to designate Fort Monroe, located in Hampton, Virginia, as a national monument, thereby adding it to America's National Park System.
The region has a long and storied history, that dates back to the early 1600's when ...Ivory Coast national museum ransacked
Sep 24th, 2011 at 11:30AM: During the civil war earlier in the year, the national museum in Abidjan, capital of the Ivory Coast, was nearly stripped bare by looters, Art Daily reports.
An estimated $8.5 million worth of art and artifacts were taken while the city suffered bitter warfare between political factions. Some of the most severe fighting swirled around the museum itself, which was used as a sniper's nest.
...Civil War reenactor injured in groin by his horse
Aug 12th, 2011 at 3:00PM: Two Civil War reenactors were injured yesterday preparing for a reenactment of the Battle of Wilson's Creek.
One man playing a Confederate cavalryman got pinned under his horse, while a Union cavalryman got injured when his horse stepped on his groin. Exactly how he got into a position where his horse could do that is unclear. Both were given medical attention but neither was thought to be ...Exploring the Double-Edged History of Montgomery, Alabama
Aug 2nd, 2011 at 1:00PM:
In Montgomery, during the Freedom Rides, I heard Martin Luther King say that while Brown v. Board of Education had been the legal turning point in the movement, the Montgomery bus boycott and the sit-ins were the psychological turning point.
So writes Calvin Trillin in a recent New Yorker, reflecting on the civil rights struggle in the deep south, which he covered for Time magazine "from ...Vicksburg 1863: America's most important July 4th (besides 1776)
Jun 27th, 2011 at 1:30PM: The Fourth of July has always been an important day in the U.S. It marks the day in 1776 when the colonies issued the Declaration of Independence from the British Empire. A new nation was born, at least for a little while.
In 1861 that nation was torn apart by a bloody Civil War that saw its turning point on another fourth of July, that of 1863. On that day the Confederate stronghold of ...Confederate submarine set upright for first time since 1864
Jun 26th, 2011 at 3:00PM: The H.L. Hunley made history back in 1864 when it became the first submarine to successfully attack an enemy ship. Launched by the Confederacy as a way to break the Union blockade of Southern ports during the Civil War, it sank the USS Housatonic on 17 February 1864 and itself mysteriously sank shortly thereafter.
Crew members hand cranked the propeller to make the sub move forward and its one ...Civil War graffiti covers this Virginia home
Jun 19th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Graffiti is now a fairly common part of our culture's dialogue, but did you know soldiers in the Civil War also tagged, doodled, and conversed with one another on walls? Inside a two-story home in Virginia, historians are slowly uncovering one of the largest collections of Civil War graffiti that has ever been found.
Now known as the 'Graffiti House,' the home served as a field hospital for ...Civil War anniversary: first escaped slave to take up arms against Confederacy
Jun 10th, 2011 at 2:00PM: As the nation commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War over the next four years, there'll be a lot of mentions of "firsts". Here at Gadling we've already covered first land battle of the Civil War and the first significant battle of the Civil War. One lesser-known but significant anniversary is happening today.
By June of 1861 there had been very little fighting. Both sides were ...Civil War's first land battle to be reenacted in West Virginia
Jun 3rd, 2011 at 9:00AM: Today is the 150th anniversary of the first land battle of the Civil War.
After the April 12 attack on Fort Sumter kicked off the Civil War, there was a lull while both sides got ready. Some scattered skirmishes took place that had few casualties and no importance, but on 3 June 1861, the town of Philippi, in what's now West Virginia, became the scene for the first big fight.
Philippi stood ...Reenacting the Civil War's first important battle
May 30th, 2011 at 3:30PM:
The Civil War started early in Missouri. In 1854 fighting flared up over whether the neighboring Kansas Territory would become a slave state. Pro-slavery Missourians raided Kansas to kill and intimidate abolitionists, and Kansans raided Missouri, killing slave owners and liberating slaves.
When the first official shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861, Missouri was ...Robert E. Lee's sword to go on display at Appomattox
May 12th, 2011 at 10:00AM: On 9 April 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met at Appomattox, Virginia, so that Lee could surrender his Army of Northern Virginia.
This momentous event effectively ended the American Civil War. With Lee and his army gone, the Confederate cause lost hope. General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee on April 26, and in Louisiana General Kirby Smith surrendered his ...Proposed casino near Gettysburg National Park denied license
Apr 17th, 2011 at 8:00AM: The National Parks Conservation Association is applauding the decision of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to deny a license to a proposed casino near Gettysburg National Park. The Board felt that the gambling establishment, which would have opened less than a half-mile from the park, would be at odds with the solemn historical legacy and family friendly environment at Gettysburg.
The ...American Civil War anniversary remembered. . .in Dublin
Apr 16th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
As the United States begins a series of commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, this momentous conflict is even being marked beyond the nation's borders.
This weekend the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin is having a series of events to mark the contribution of Irish immigrants on both sides of the Civil War. While most Irish immigrants went to the industrial North and ...500 Civil War reenactors march on Philadelphia - no, you aren't on a movie set
Apr 13th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
If you're visiting the City of Brotherly Love this weekend and stumble upon a field of Blue and Gray marching down the city, shouting about state's rights and ending slavery ... no, you haven't found a movie set. You've found the city's largest reenactment for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
A bit of background: On April 15, 1861 President Lincoln called for volunteers to ...Civil War 150th anniversary: Is Gettysburg America's most tragic little town?
Mar 22nd, 2011 at 10:00AM:
For this 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which begins in April, Gettysburg is offering visitors a far better time than the Blue and Gray soldiers had in this Pennsylvania town. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) was the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil, a turning point that transformed General Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces from the chasers to the chased. But today, as the ...The Arab revolution: the reaction of one Muslim community
Mar 14th, 2011 at 8:30AM: For the past few weeks, headlines all over the world have been dominated by the so-called Arab Revolution, a wave of anti-government protests across the Middle East. I'm living in the Ethiopian Muslim community of Harar and locals here are absorbed in the events. Sitting in living rooms or cafes to escape the heat of the day, all eyes are glued to the satellite channels and conversation revolves ...Missouri celebrates painter George Caleb Bingham's 200th birthday
Feb 21st, 2011 at 2:00PM:
He was one of America's greatest regional painters, and next month he turns 200. George Caleb Bingham captured the life of fur trappers and steamboats along the Missouri River, and the horrible civilian cost of the Civil War.
A self-taught painter who grew up in Missouri, Bingham witnessed the state transform from an underpopulated frontier into a thriving center of commerce and agriculture. ...Madrid daytrip: a Renaissance castle and Spanish Civil War bunker
Feb 18th, 2011 at 1:30PM:
Madrid has a lot to offer--tasty tapas, wonderful wine, and amazing art. There's so much to do in the center of town it's easy to spend your entire vacation there without ever seeing the outskirts. Yet several daytrips offer a different look at Spain.
One possibility just opened up last year. Near the Metro stop Alameda de Osuna on the outskirts of town, the city government has recently ...
