Lunch Walk at Tredegar Iron Works

During the Civil War, Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond was one of the most important industrial sites in the South. It turned out artillary, rail ties, and iron plate - including the iron plate that shielded the CSS Virginia. This ironclad ship, build on the hull and engines of the USS Merrimack, fought the USS Monitor in the first battle of iron ships in 1862. Now this site hosts the Civil War Center in Richmond.

It was a nice day Wednesday, and so I walked the seven-tenths of a mile here on my lunch break and walked around the outdoor portion of the site for a while. Here are some photos.

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View of Tredegar Iron Works across the Haxall Canal

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This rifled cannon was cast here and could fire an 80 pound shell 4 miles.

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View of some of the TIW remains on a fall day

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President Lincoln and his son, Tad, visited Richmond a day or two after it fell to Union forces in early April, 1865, just days before the first presidential assassination occurred in Ford Theater in Washington. This statue commemorates their visit to Richmond. Believe it or not, it was incredibly controversial to erect this statue in the former Capital of the Confederacy a few years ago. Some people got all wound up about it! It is amazing how many people are still fighting the Civil War more than 140 years later. Get over it, people! We are one country.

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Old and new

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Remains of Rutherford's flour mill, which was at this site. I think this is the mill race, which brought water downhill from the Canawa Canal just over the ridge to power the mill. This historic canal was proposed and funded in part by George Washington to connect the James River to the Ohio. It was dug all the way to the Blue Ridge Mountains before the railroads made it obsolete. It is dry at this site, but contains water starting just a few miles from here.