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photo from Pamplin Historical Park Any last requests? Pamplin Park interpreters and visitors make a formidable firing squad.

We were traveling light compared with the general, but I bet no one in the Army of Northern Virginia ever asked: "Are we there yet?" Our trip was supposed to be a Civil War getaway for two, but our babysitting arrangements fell through, and we had to take the kids. My 8-year-old daughter, Emily, complained that she didn't want to learn about the Civil War. "War is bad, Dad. War is worse than bad," she insisted.

"Good one, Dad!" Emily said. "Put that in your story."

The centerpiece of Blandford Cemetery is Old Blandford Church, which was built in 1735. The city of Petersburg renovated the abandoned church in 1882, and at the turn of the century, the Ladies Memorial Association of Petersburg decided to turn it into a memorial for slain Confederate soldiers. They did this by hiring Louis Comfort Tiffany to make a stained-glass window for each Southern state -- 15 in all.

As we entered the little brick church, tour guide Ernest Miles picked up the story from there: "Now, some of the ladies were a little upset about Mr. Tiffany getting the job. In fact, they were more than a little upset," he said, pounding his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Mr. Tiffany was from New York. He was a Yankee!"

Miles' supervisor chalks that part of the story up to local folklore. But it is true that Tiffany wanted to make a conciliatory gesture to folks in the South, so he cut his price from $1,500 per window to $350. The windows -- refurbished in the early 1990s -- are stunning, but the kids quickly became restless in the church. So we decided to explore the graveyard.

Between the church and visitors' center is the Bolling mausoleum. I recognized the name as the family who built Centre Hill Mansion in Petersburg before the Civil War. The house is open for tours, but we wouldn't have time for that on this trip. Instead I dared the kids to look inside the cold stone structure, which is surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. The gate creaked on cue as the kids nervously glanced around looking for ghosts. They tiptoed up to the mausoleum and took a peek. A dozen or so vaults bore the names of Bolling family members dating back to the early 18th century. Two vaults were empty.

"Are there really dead people in there?" asked Eric, my 5-year-old.

"Absolutely," I replied. "But it looks like two of them got out!"

Back in the van, on the way to Pamplin Historical Park southwest of Petersburg, my wife didn't think my little joke was funny. "Nice going," she said. "Now they won't sleep tonight."

My plan, however, was to wear them out hiking Pamplin Park's battle trail, which winds around the remains of Confederate fortifications. My wife, who was recovering from a knee operation, waited in the visitors' center while the kids and I followed the trail to a re-created winter encampment.

Pamplin Historical Park marks the spot where Union troops broke through the outer defenses of Petersburg after a 10-month siege. The Siege Museum in downtown Petersburg describes what it was like to live in a city under attack, but Pamplin Historical Park focuses on April 2, 1865 -- the breakthrough battle that led to Lee's retreat to Appomattox Court House.

The park is currently engaged in an $18 million expansion funded entirely by the same Pamplin family that has supported Virginia Tech for many years. Pamplin Historical Park is the family's ancestral home and the site of Tudor Hall, an 1812 plantation house that is open for tours. But the centerpiece of the park's expansion is the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, a $10 million facility scheduled to open on May 29.

The idea to build Pamplin Historical Park started in 1992, when Executive Director Will Greene asked the Pamplin family to donate money to acquire and preserve the earthworks and surrounding battlegrounds. At the time, Greene was president of the Fredericksburg-based Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites.

The Pamplins were not interested in donating money to Greene's association, but they told him they would buy the land and turn it into a public park. Two years later, with help from Greene and the association, they opened the $6 million visitors center and battle trail. "That was the original vision for the park," Greene recalls, "first class, but small."

Six months later, however, the Pamplins hired Greene and told him to turn the park into "one of the top historical attractions in the South." When they cut the ribbon on the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier on May 29, the Pamplins will have invested $24 million in the complex, Greene says. And if the park succeeds, they plan to expand it three more times -- investing another $30 million -- leading up to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in 2011.

Even in its current state of expansion, the park offers a good mix of activities for children and adults. The visitors' center features angular architecture that mimics the shape of the Confederate fortifications behind it. The center houses a collection of weapons and other artifacts. It also has interactive audio-video programs and a children's tent, where kids can try on pint-size Civil War uniforms and hats.

But my children quickly concluded that war was no fun. "The two armies collided with a deadly imjact," according to a short audio-video program. "In less than 20 minutes, nearly 1,100 Northerners had fallen killed or wounded." My son asked the obvious question: "Why didn't they just make friends?"

Reconciliation would take many years, but I wanted to take the kids to the place where that process began -- Appomattox Court House.

Before leaving Petersburg, however, we spent the night at Mayfield Inn, a bed and breakfast that was built in 1750. According to one historical account, Robert E. Lee watched the breakthrough battle from the original Mayfield site, which is about one mile from the present-day bed and breakfast.

Mayfield is an award-winning restoration project that is furnished with antiques and reproductions, but owner Jamie Caudle told me that our kids would be welcome. For $95, he put us in the basement suite, where the furniture -- to our relief -- looked quaint but not terribly old.

The hospitality at Mayfield was exceptional, and the robust country-style breakfast was superb. But in the tradition of General Lee, we didn't hang around very long.

I wondered what Lee was thinking as he led his troops west toward Appomattox Station, where a supply train from Lynchburg awaited. He knew that Union forces had captured Richmond and Petersburg, and even if Lee had secured more food and supplies, what did he plan to do next with his depleted army?

We'll never know. Union Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan beat the Army of Northern Virginia to its supply train, and Lee was forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House.

By the time we arrived at Appomattox, about 100 miles west of Petersburg, I too was about ready to wave a white flag. "I don't want to go to Appomattox," my daughter whined. "I already know who won the war."

The main attraction at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is a reconstruction of the McLean House, where Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. But we preferred the self-guided tours of the well-preserved buildings that comprise this ghost town. The kids particularly liked the "new" jail, which was built in the 1870s.

I spiced up the jail tour with a few scary stories. By this time, I wasn't worried about keeping exhausted kids awake. They slept all the way back to Richmond.

CIVIL WAR SAMPLER
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publisher of Virginia Business Magazine