NPTC Southeast Convention Road Trip➤

My friend Patty and I travelled to Asheville, North Carolina for the 2023 National Park Travelers Club Convention. The convention rotates to a different region each year. For 2023, it was in the Southeast region. On the way down, during the convention and on the way home we visited nine National Park Service units and some other parks. On the last day of our road trip we visited two parks on the final leg of our journey home: Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park and Antietam National Battlefield.

Cedar Creek and Belle Grovep➤

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, commemorates a nationally significant Civil War landscape and an antebellum plantation. The park shares the story of Shenandoah Valley history from early settlement through the Civil War and beyond. The park preserves key sites from the Battle of Cedar Creek and the Belle Grove Plantation, reflecting the region’s agricultural and military significance.

The Belle Grove Plantation, built in 1797, passed from the Hite family to other families by the 1850s. Occupied by Union and Confederate troops throughout the Civil War, it served as Union General Philip Sheridan’s headquarters during the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864. Visitors can tour the manor house for a fee and explore the historic apple orchard, garden, and slave cemetery.

The battle began with a surprise Confederate attack at dawn, crossing Cedar Creek and the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. Confederate General Jubal Early initially routed the Union troops, but by sunset, Sheridan had rallied his forces and achieved a decisive victory, marking one of the bloodiest battles in the Shenandoah Valley with over 8,600 casualties.

This Union victory not only marked the end of Early’s army as a significant force but also ensured President Abraham Lincoln’s re-election three weeks later. The Union’s burning campaign had devastated the valley’s food resources, crippling the Confederacy’s ability to sustain its soldiers and civilians. Within six months, the Civil War ended.

Patty and I stopped first at the visitor center. It’s in a strip mall about a mile away from the plantation house. We chatted with the ranger, perused the exhibits and watched a narrated reenactment of troop movements on a three-dimensional recreation of the valley. Afterwards, we headed over to Belle Grove and walked the grounds.

Southeast Convention Posts➤

• Booker T Washington National Monument
• Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
• Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site
• Museum of the Cherokee Indian
• Great Smoky: Oconaluftee River Trail
• Great Smoky: Mountain Farm Museum
• Blue Ridge Parkway: Waterrock Knob
• Kings Mountain National Military Park
• Cowpens National Battlefield
• Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
• Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail
• Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park
• Antietam National Battlefield

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Location: Middletown, Virginia
Designation: National Historical Park
Date designated/established: December 19, 2002
Date of my visit: August 6, 2023