TRAVEL GUIDE: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking for Virginia road trip ideas or you might be looking for a travel guide for your upcoming trip to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. Let me start out by saying, we didn’t originally plan on visiting Appomattox Court House, but an impromptu glamping trip in Virginia lead us to explore Appomattox National Historical Park and the surrounding areas. We had a blast this weekend, so without any further ado, here is how we enjoyed the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park with limited time to work with!

Side note: This was a great experience for me because I was never good with history in school. Immersing myself into historic events by visiting places like this helps it stick in my memory. If you’re a traveling homeschool family and are looking for a good history lesson, this is an awesome place to go.

Getting There

We came into the park from the East on RT 24 and made our first stop at the sign welcoming you to Appomattox County. I love snagging photos by the “You’re entering XYZ state”, so of course we had to stop and get a photo here! This is also where I started briefly explaining slavery and The Civil War to the kids.

Artillery Park

After we were done exploring here, we kept driving West to reach the Artillery Park. There is a small parking lot off to the right where we pulled off and checked out the markers in the area. We learned about life during the Civil War Era and key events that shaped the end of the Civil War. Fitz was asleep in the car at this point so we couldn’t wander far, but Poppy had a blast checking everything out.

Appomattox Court House National Historic Park

After exploring the Artillery Park, we kept moving West on Virginia RT 24 to enter the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park. We had a cooler packed for lunch, so we took it over to the picnic area and ate lunch. The kids ran around in a grassy field near the picnic tables while I cleaned up from lunch. Once we finished up lunch, we took the cooler back to the car and headed to the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park map.

The park closes at 5:00pm and because of our late start to the day we knew we wouldn’t have time to walk through it all. So we came up with a game plan to make sure we saw the places that were most important to us. We decided our must-see places were the Appomattox Court House and the McLean House. Everything else we checked out that day we decided was a bonus!

Appomattox Court House

We walked through the Court House and learned more about the Civil War Era and the surrender of General Lee. The surrender of the Virginia Confederate Army was huge for our nation and started the end of the Civil War. You can do a guided tour of the Appomattox Court House, but due to our limited time we did a quick self-guided walkthrough.

The McLean House

After we walked through the Appomattox Court House we started heading towards the McLean House. On our way over we stopped briefly to check out the general store. The kids loved pointing out little trinkets on the shelves in the store. From there we crossed over to the McLean House. This is the location of the surrender of the Virginia Confederate army by General Robert E. Lee on April 9, 1865, shortly after the Battle of Appomattox Court House (which took place in the Artillery Park mentioned before). It was cool to see the home and where the surrender conference took place. They even have some of the original items that were in the room at the time of the surrender conference. Overall it was a very cool and informative experience.

Other Locations on the Property

Once we finished up at the McLean House, it was just about 5:00pm. You can exit from the rear of the McLean House which will bring you to a few more exhibits. We quickly took a look at the Enslaved Peoples’ Quarters and the McLean Kitchen and Slavery Exhibits then made our way to the car.

Overall we had a great time visiting Appomattox Court House National Historical Park and wish we would have had more time to explore the other exhibits while there. If you’re looking for a Virginia day trip or a weekend historic adventure, I would definetly recommend stopping here. There is plenty to do in the surrounding areas as well. Lynchburg is only about 30 minutes from the park so there are tons of places to stay while in town and Natural Bridge State Park in close by as well. I hope my travel guide has helped you in planning your next Virginia adventure; to learn more about Appomattox Court House National Historical Park and plan your visit, be sure to check out their page on the National Park Service Website.

Have you been to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park? Let me know in the comments below!