It works in Gettysburg, why not in Petersburg?

If there’s one thing that can bring all of the Tri-City area localities together it’s the Civil War history that dots every community. From the Howlett Line that runs from Chester to Colonial Heights, to City Point in Hopewell, to Violet Bank in Colonial Heights, to Five Forks in Dinwiddie, and the Great Beefsteak Raid in Prince George every county, city, and town in the area has strong ties to the Civil War. And that isn’t even taking into account Pamplin Historical Park, which can serve as a model for the Tri-Cities.

So it just makes sense that any expansion to the Petersburg Battlefield Park would reap tourism benefits for the entire area. Just take a look at Gettysburg. What the people of that area have been able to do to make the park a growing tourist mecca goes without saying. In fact, it would serve as a great model of what can happen right here.

There is no better single tourism attraction around. Over the years gobs of money has been spent by all localities to try to reap tourist money. But there is nothing like the Civil War, not even Disneyland can compare. By increasing the size of the park, you open opportunities for everyone.

It seems to me that Petersburg in particular has been trying it’s best to revitalize the city. They have developed, redeveloped, and re-re-developed the Old Town area so much in trying to get people to “come to town” that it has almost become a joke. How many times has there been a push to re-open Petersburg harbor?

The two cities and those portions of southern Colonial Heights could create a sort of Civil War Triangle, from Battlefield Park to the Civil War Museum to Violet Bank as main attractions. In fact, they already are major attractions, but if somehow the localities and National Park Service could put their heads together, why couldn’t this become the next Gettysburg? Why not take advantage of what already exists and then expand it.

City Point could easily be added to the fold, as well as the Five Forks Unit in Dinwiddie. Is it so hard to imagine how bundling all of our local sites into one could bring in tourists not for a day or a weekend, but for whole weeks at a time? It’s interesting enough and would certainly take a large amount of work. But the Citie of Henricus was little more than a clump of trees with some old foundation blocks when it first started. But a few people had a vision and it has become a pretty big tourist attraction.

If you have ever taken a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, you can see another example of how history can create a tourist Mecca. St. Augustine is the oldest city in America. If you go, it takes about four days to really check things out. The entire area thrives on tourists and the money they represent, of course it is Florida and not Virginia, but hey the same kinds of things would work right here.

They have a trolley system that runs between all the sites and for which you pay a nominal fee for a certain number of days. The drivers serve as docents and inform the people of everything that they can see at all the different sites. It would be easy to see such a trolley line extending from City Point, the Battlefield Park, Violet Bank, Petersburg Civil War Museum, and Pamplin Park. St. Augustine also has a late night ghost tour bus that travels from several different places pointing out haunted houses and buildings and areas. If I’m not mistaken, this area has its share of haunts, hauntings, and specters. Why not use St. Augustine as a model?

One way we might be able to make this whole thing work is to develop a master plan of the sites in the area. What is available for tourists, what parameters are there, how far and wide do we want to extend the trolley idea? Really, this requires some planning.

But some people are already making plans. Do you think the National Park Service wants to double the size of Petersburg National Battlefield Park simply to hold onto the land? I don’t. Take a look at City Point. Twenty-five years ago, the National Park Service was just starting to work there. Now they have a very nice place for tourists to come. And a short walk on Brown Avenue will take you to City Point Early History Museum at St. Dennis Chapel.

The Tri-Cities is full of place like St. Dennis Chapel. And there are tons of driving tours, like the Howlett Line Driving tour which runs approximately from Chester to Colonial Heights. The Howlett Line is the Confederate defensive positions that kept the Union from being able to attack Richmond from the south and Petersburg from the north.

In the end, Union forces attacked Petersburg from south of the Appomattox instead, resulting in the siege. Tell me one piece of Civil War history that is more pivotal than the siege? Gettysburg, Atlanta, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga were merely battles. Sure there was fighting and what goes along with that, but most of those battles were over in a day or so. In Petersburg the fighting lasted 10 months from June 1864 to April 1865.

To me, expansion of the park is a great idea. In addition, the Tri-Cities should join forces to make the entire area a place to go for Civil War history buffs. That alone would draw a huge amount of tourism. The benefit to the area is almost incalculable. Think about it, maybe it is time to work together.