The Haunted Plantations of Charles County

How many ghost stories do you remember hearing about local areas within your community or town? Every neighborhood has them and these urban legends are mostly the same story just recycled and told differently in a couple of places. Every town has some small bridge that if you stop on and turn your lights off late at night supposedly your car will not start back up and you will be visited by the dead ghost (perhaps the mourning mother that grieves for her son that was killed in the lake by taunting school children) that haunts that area. Ghost stories help attract many visitors to certain tourist spots, look at Luray Caverns or the mysterious Winchester Mansion. Many old bed and breakfast love to have some jealous love enraged murder that happened within their walls so that they can draw as many people who are just as interested as staying in the exact bed that someone was killed as those who just want a quite relaxing weekend away. Plantation ghost stories though happen to be the best, it allows us to hearken back to an earlier era of American life, where imprisoned slaves were practicing voodoo and mysticism from their previous lives or tragic and repressed women who tragically commit suicide because they are forced into a loveless marriage so that they can reach a certain status.

Located twenty minutes away from my house, Charles City Virginia actually has two of these plantations, Shirley Plantation and Edgewood Plantation, that hundreds of visitors each year flock to in order to witness some supernatural occurrence. The one that I would like to focus on in this blog is the more famous Plantation, Shirley.

Shirley Plantation is a well known estate located on the banks of the James River. Settled in 1613 and built in 1738 it is the oldest active plantation in Virginia as well as the oldest family operated business in America. The Carter family has lived in the home for ten generations with the eleventh generation currently residing on the top two floors; the bottom floor is open to daily visitors.

During the building of Shirley Plantation, in 1723 by Edward Hill, Hill's daughter, Martha, left for England to study and left an unsigned portrait of herself. Though Martha decided to remain in England after marrying the picture however remained up at Shirley Plantation daring anyone who entered the room to ignore it. About 1858, almost a century after Martha's death, the picture remained up until it began to rock and shake violently above the mantle on the third floor bedroom. The picture was finally moved to the attic where it began to shake and rock more violently than before and word around town began to spread about the haunted painting. Things quited down during the Civil War when the field at Shirley Plantation was used as a field hospital. Since the painting was finally at peace it was moved to the second floor bedroom where things stayed quite until about another century.

In 1974, the Virginia Travel Council loaned the portrait an exhibit at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. There on display the picture began to rock so violently that the seal of Virginia began to sway back and forth in front of visitors. A reporter for NBC-TV on his way to lunch heard the commotion and capture the rocking on tape. Since it caused such a disturbance the picture was crated up and removed from the exhibit. During the night shift, guards reported hearing crying from inside the crate and the same rocking ensued. The next morning the picture was found on the floor outside of the crate. After being repaired from the damaged the frame received from its turbulent rocking the picture was placed back on the second floor bedroom mantle where it is still seen today by visitors. …

Interesting and scary. Though I personally have never believed in things of the supernatural, I can never give an answer to why these things suddenly shake or move across the room. Are these just coincidences or do you think they are actually haunted? Does having a haunted picture or room at these historical sites make them more interesting to visit, this could explain why many historical attractions have supposedly haunted or supernatural occurrences. Please share any local hauntings that you like to visit in your community or what your take is on them, I would love to hear. Below is a video of the haunted picture at Shirley Plantation as well as other links that you might find interesting on this topic, if for some reason it is not working I have included the link. Enjoy and Happy Haunting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmsYTKISHRE

This is the official link for Shirley Plantation

www.shirleyplantation.com/

Here is another for Shirley as well as other Plantations along the James River, many have haunted stories as well.

http://www.jamesriverplantations.org/Shirley.html

This website gives you information on haunted sites around Virginia as well as the United States. Check it out!!!

http://www.hauntedtraveler.com/haunted_virginia.htm

Why History and Working Out is a Great Combination?

Okay, so you might think the title is a little odd but it definitely is not. If you are an avid runner, walker, biker, or anything else I can not think of then you know how hard it is sometimes to find a beautiful, peaceful place to enjoy the outdoors. One such place that I spend a lot of time during the spring and even 1oo degree weather of the summer is Petersburg National Battlefield. For just a ten dollar pass, that lasts not just an entire season but a whole year, anyone can enjoy not only the history of the park but a great five mile jog through a picturesque landscape or a ten mile bike ride through rugged trails. Another great thing about the park that you cant really get in the suburbs is the abundance of wildlife, especially deer, that have made the park its home; the only occasional hassle is that sometimes if you don't look you can step in what they left behind, which can ruin any run. When I first started running there I made sure to stop and check out all the historical landmarks along the way, I have been there so many times that now as I run I can just recount the events in my head, such as the old chimney and the underground mines. Here are a couple of the great sites at Petersburg National Battlefield Park which is where the Union and the Confederate Army fought during the Siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War.

Here is an entrance to one of the many tunnels that the Union soldiers built under Confedrate lines during the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg. In those tunnels with the help of former coal miners Grant and Colonel Pleasants placed 8, 000 pounds of explosives directly under the opposing troops. On July 30th 1864 they detonated the explosives creating a crater some 135 feet wide which is still visible today. Some three hundred Confederate soldiers were killed instantly by the blast and another hundred were severely injured.

Here is the great crater at PNBP. .. To your left is the wall of the crater. This event during the Siege of Petersburg can be seen in what recent movie with Oscar winner Nicole Kidman? Can you guess???

This is an actual cannon used from Battery five, the dimmonic line. This cannon was used by the Union army forces during the opening days of the Siege of Petersburg. Around June and July of 1865






This landmark at the battlefield is one of the more visited and more known within the park. This chimney is known as "Taylors Chimney" and was used actually by both sides during the Civil War. Located around the Crater, it was used as an observation point at varying times during the Siege of Petersburg




These are just a couple of the great sites that you can see if you ever visit, jog, walk, or take a bike ride within Petersburg National Battlefield. I can promise you the scenery and the history will not disappoint. Included at the bottom is a couple of sites that you can visit that will give you more information on the history of the Siege of Petersburg and PNBP. Please let me know of any other great jogging and biking places that you love to visit that can be located in Virginia or even those from another state. I would love to hear.


Here are some great sites for more information on PNBP


This link gets you to the actual site for Petersburg National Battlefield Park.
www.nps.gov/pete

This site will give you some information on the Siege of Petersburg.
petersburgsiege.org

Here is a great website for younger kids. It gives an animated history of the Siege of Petersburg. Must have Real Player to view.
http://www.historyanimated.com/Petersburg.html

Thursday March 12, 2009

The Importance of History and YOUR Community

Everywhere that we look today we are surrounded by the history of the past. That ground that your feet happen to rest on and the community that you live in most likely had some historical event happen on there. When we were children we all probably had landmarks that impacted history some way that were right down the street from our homes. How great would it be to grow up on the banks of the Hudson in Weehawken, New Jersey, the site of the famous duel between Alexander Hamiliton and Aaron Burr. If you live in Utah or California it would not be uncommon for you to play on the abandoned lines of the first transcontinental railroad. Regardless of the event most communities and cities have cultural and historical landmarks that have made impacts on history and the world around us and the great thing is that these landmarks are open for everyone to visit and discover.





In the community that I grew up in there were dozens of historical landmarks to see, so much that after living there for twenty years I still have not seen all of them. With other kids, me and my brother would play on the old dirt bunkers that Union soldiers built to defend their forts or bike down by the riverfront where vital supplies were sent to Ulysses S. Grant who had made City Point the headquarters of the Union Army in the Seige of Petersburg during the Civil War. These areas along with Petersburg National Battlefield are registered landmarks by the National Park Services and are visited by thousands of tourist each month.



Growing up and playing here as a child, I did not recognize the importance of these places but as I became a college student and an eventual history major I became to appreciate how much my community and surroundings, these historical landmarks, influenced my decision to become a historian and eventual teacher. This blog is designed to take a look at the historical landmarks that have made such an impact on my life and helped me to make the eventual educational and career path that I have decided to take. These blogs will give readers a visual walking tour of these landmarks as well as why that are as important to the history of this area as well as the history of the United States. Along with pictures, timelines and links to other websites will be included so that you can understand the importance of these events. Please feel free to respond about landmarks that you have visited or ones from your community.

Link to information about Grants Headquarters
http://www.nps.gov/history/logcabin/html/cp.html

Link to history of First Transcontinental Railroad
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tcrr

Link to the Duel of Hamilton and Burr
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel

If you would like to visit a blog where you see what historical landmarks from other communities then you should check this link out, its also linked on the title.

http://www.markeroni.com/

Wednesday March 11, 2009.