23-RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, PART 4-TREDEGAR IRON WORKS, WHITE HOUSE OF THE CONFEDERACY, THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS

This day was our last foray into the historical locations of the Civil War in Richmond.

Tredegar Iron Works was our first stop. This was a location where, during the Civil War, they made things like canons and cannon balls and other related items. Part of it is ruins, some of it restored and turned into a museum.

Tredegar was one of the few firms in the Confederacy that could make a cannon.

By war’s end, Tredegar had made about 1,100 cannons, half of the Confederacy’s total. Part of Tredegar’s success was in finding new sources of raw materials. Tredegar also used innovative techniques such as melting down lighter cannons to make heavier, more modern guns for Robert E. Lee’s army.

This building was partially reconstructed and made into a museum.

It contained some examples of the cannons made there.

Tredegar sits on the James River. This is an old historic picture of it in 1865.

From here we went to the Museum of the Confederacy which is next door to the White House of the Confederacy. These are both wonderful places to go through. Interestingly, it is in the middle of Richmond and is not easy to get to.

This is the White House of the Confederacy. The Museum is in the building behind the tree.

The city of Richmond and VCU Hospital and its medical buildings have closed in very tightly around it over the years. You have to go into the hospital parking garage to park and then walk to the museum and White House. Definitely NOT convenient but so worth it.

We started out into the museum where you wait for the tour of the White House. Of course in both locations there are no pictures allowed so I was only able to get a couple before we got into the “pictures forbidden” area.

This was a large painting of “The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson.”

One of the most heart-wrenching things I have seen in this museum is the text of a letter written to a father from his Confederate soldier son who has been shot and is now dying.

It begins, “This is my last letter to you…” In the middle it reads, “I knew you would be delighted to read a word from your dying son.” It ends with, “May we meet in Heaven.”

This letter tears at my heart and of course variations of it were no doubt repeated during this war thousands of times.

We were here a few years ago and a lot of the soldier’s letters were on display. I happened to see the original of this one. It has never left me. This time there were only a few on display and they had been converted to text (to make them easier to read) and I was pleased to see that this one letter was included in the current display.

The Confederate Army didn’t have much in the way of finances and supplying the soldiers with uniforms was often a big problem. This hat was made, probably by the soldier’s family, out of corn husks. Since I make pine needle baskets and know the difficulty of such things, I found this particularly interesting. Whoever made this did a really good job.

Lucy Ann was the name given this doll by the family who donated it to the museum. This doll was used for smuggling medicines during the war. In 1863, the smugglers cut a 1.5 inch diameter hole in the back of the doll’s head and filled it with quinine, a medication used to treat malaria during the war.

We were called for the tour of the White House of the Confederacy. It is a very interesting tour. The house is completely furnished, some period, some original, and is in great condition. (Of course, no pictures allowed.) We heard a lot about Jefferson Davis and his family who lived there.

Again, if you ever get the chance to go there, fight the traffic and parking issues and go visit this piece of history. You won’t regret it.

There is a great Science Museum in Richmond that the grandkids wanted to go to during Thanksgiving vacation, so we loaded them up and off we went.

Now I know I promised not to bore you with Grandkid pictures, but here are just a few.

There was all kinds of things there they could experiment with. This one was centrifugal force.

First CJ climbed inside Friendship 7…

Then it was Alex’s turn.

I don’t know what Alex was building here, but she was really into it.

We spent 2-3 hours here and the kids had a great time…or maybe the time at McDonalds which was almost next door was the best time for the kids. Who knows?

We had Christmas and Thanksgiving, in that order, with the family when we were there. When we are not there for Christmas we always have an “Early Christmas” so we can see them open their gifts.

While CJ’s favorite gift was probably a huge Lego set, he enjoyed this cartoon of him as the in-house gamer, which he definitely is!

These were earrings for Alex but she preferred the Gift Cards which allowed her a shopping trip with Grandma and Mommy to pick out her own clothes.

I always make Leslie a pine needle basket and this year it had beads and a lid. I was worried I wouldn’t get it done in time, but somehow I did.

In fact, I managed to make one for Colin, sort of a take-off on his business card colors and design. He told me he intends to set it on the desk in his office and put his business cards in it. That pleases his mom.

Thanksgiving was at Colin and Leslie’s house with all her relatives. Don is always the “Turkey Master,” roasting, carving, and making the gravy. I do the dressing and other people bring the trimmings. It is always wonderful and we all eat too much.