Two special programs highlight this coming weekend’s activities at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. On Friday, Aug. 19, 2016, at 6:30 p.m., historians Becky Oakes and John Hennessy will present the year’s final History at Sunset program: “A Place for the Living and the Dead: Creation of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery.” This program was rained out on July 1. The tour will last 90 minutes. Please note the earlier start time at 6:30.
The program will explore the chaos of wartime burials at Fredericksburg and how the United States War Department organized a special Burial Corps to find, exhume, and re-inter Union Civil War dead in the years immediately following the War. Those efforts resulted in the creation of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. The 90-minute tour will begin behind the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center, at 1013 Lafayette Blvd., Fredericksburg, 22401.
On Saturday evening at 8.p.m., Becky Oakes will present a campfire program, “Solemnity, Grandeur and Everyday People: 100 Years of the National Park Service.” Rangers telling stories around campfires has long been a tradition in the National Park Service. As the NPS approaches its 100th Birthday on August 25, this program will tell the story of the founding of the National Park Service, the parks themselves, and the people who use and care for them.
The campfire program will last about an hour. Bring a lawn chair, and meet at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center, at 1013 Lafayette Blvd., Fredericksburg, 22401.
For additional information, call (540) 693-3200, or check www.nps.gov/frsp.
