Civil War Monitor

The Week Ahead: November 28th - December 4th

Candles lighting the walkway at Fort Scott, KS

As we enter into the Holiday Season, several events this week include candlelight tours and Christmas celebrations.


Featured Announcement: Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier will operate its winter schedule from Nov. 28, 2011 through February 26, 2012. During this period, the Park will maintain full operating hours and programming for visitors on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The Park will continue to open at 9:00 a.m. and close at 5:00 p.m. Park staff will also continue to serve group activity by reservation for any day of the week. Contact Pamplin Historical Park’s group bookings specialist for more information at 804-861-2408 or visit www.pamplinpark.org.

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November 28th @ 7pm: "Quantrill!!" multimedia presentation @ the North Independence Branch (Independence, MO).

November 29th @7pm: “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the Civil War” – Part 4: The Shape of War; Reading: Crossroads of Freedom by James M. McPherson and selections from America's War @ the Thomas Crane Public Library (Quincy, MA).

November 30th @12pm: “1861: The Civil War Awakening" @ the Virginia Historical Society (Richmond, VA).

November 30th-December 3rd: Candlelight tours and living history @ sites related to the 1864 Battle of Franklin, including the Carter House, Carnton Plantation,t he Lotz House (Nov 30-Dec 3), St. Pauls Episcopal Church, Cummins House, Clouston Hall (Dec. 2-3) (Franklin, TN).

December 1st-4th: Lowcountry Sesquicentennial, honoring the Battle of Port Royal, the occupation of the Sea Islands, and the Federal blockades of Beaufort, Charleston and Savannah. The four-day event will include six lectures, a cruise of the Battle of Port Royal site narrated by Charleston author and historian Michael D. Coker, theatrical performances, exhibitions at the Coastal Discovery Museum, military encampment reenactments, small skirmish reenactments and displays and tours by several local historical organizations (Hilton Head Island & surrounding areas, SC).

December 1st: "John Hunt Morgan: Thunderbolt of the Confederacy," a talk by Kent Masterson Brown @ the Greene County Heritage Trust's 2011 Early American Christmas Dinner. The dinner will be held @ the General Morgan Inn (Greenville, TN).

December 1st @7:30pm: “The Road Home,” a production by the Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina will be held @ Hilton Head Island High School Visual and Performing Arts Center (Hilton Head Island, SC). The production incorporates many words and images from the early Civil War, including scenes with a lonely wife, a soldiers’ camp, a female hospital director, Frederick Douglass, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard and one of Robert E. Lee’s generals, who speaks after the defeat at Gettysburg.

December 2nd:  Holiday wreath laying at the Soldiers National Cemetery (Gettysburg, PA).

December 2nd @ 5pm-9pm: “A Civil War Christmas” in the Champion Hills Room @ the Historic Courthouse in Hendersonville, TN. This will be an example of the American “home front’ in 1861, with a costumed Mother filling a box to send to her son who is fighting in the war. There will be a tree from that time with decorations such as oranges, corn husk angels, paper fans and cornucopias. 

December 2nd @6:30pm-9pm & December 3rd @5pm-9pm: Fort Scott candlelight tour featuring year’s scenes of regional events from 1861. The scenes on the tour will take visitors from scenes of Kansas statehood through the opening shots of the Civil War and then to the latter part of 1861 when the war intensified as violence escalated along the border (Fort Scott, KS).

December 2nd @7-9pm & December 3rd @1-5pm: Candlelight Tour and Open House, a Confederate Christmas @ Stonewall Jackson’s Headquarters Museum (Winchester, VA).

December 2nd-3rd @6-9pm: "Christmas on the Old Plantation," Civil War living history, carols and Santa Claus @ the Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation Historic Site (Brunswick, GA).

December 3rd: Memorial Illumination on the Antietam National Battlefield. Popular annual display of 23,000 candles representing battle casualties (MD).

December 3rd:  “Christmas 1861 on the Plantation" at the Grant’s Headquarters unit of the Petersburg National Battlefield (Hopewell, VA).

December 3rd @ 10am-4pm: “A Civil War Christmas," a holiday open house with decorations, military and civilian demonstrations @ the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site (near Four Oaks, NC).

December 3rd @ 1-3pm: Half price admission @ the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History (Kennesaw, GA).

December 3rd – 4th @12-4pm: Civil War Christmas event@Macculloch Hall (Morristown, NJ).

December 3rd @3-6pm: "A Civil War Christmas by Candlelight" @ the Andrew Johnston House (Pearisburg, VA).

December 3rd -4th: "Battle at Congaree Creek" re-enactment (just off I-26 south of Columbia, SC).

December 3rd -4th @9am-5pm:  “Union Holiday Encampment," camp, demonstrations and special decorations at Fort Clinch State Park (Fernandina Beach, FL).

December 3rd -4th @11am-4pm: “Capt. Flagg’s US Quartermaster City: Prospects of Peace," 1864 @ the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (WV)

December 4th @2pm:  “Artillery: Bombs Bursting in Air" @ the Chickamauga battlefield visitor center (GA). 

December 4th @12-4pm: “Christmas in Camp," holiday customs @ Historic Blenheim (Fairfax, VA).

December 4th @6-9pm: "A Civil War Christmas at Kenmore" @ Kenmore (Fredericksburg, VA).
 

Those are the events and highlights for the week. If you would like to add your event to The Week Ahead, please email us.