A Nice Location

Once great thing about Virginia is the richness of our history. While we typically drive south to watch the trains in Ashland, a little north of us you’ll find the Stonewall Jackson Shrine. Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

As Jackson and his staff were returning to camp on May 2, they were mistaken for a Union cavalry force by the 18th North Carolina Infantry regiment who shouted, “Halt, who goes there?”, but fired before evaluating the reply. During the unfortunate altercation Jackson was wounded. He was taken to Thomas C. Chandler’s 740 acres plantation named Fairfield. He was offered Chandler’s home for recovery, but refused and suggested the plantation office building would be better suited for his needs.

Today only the office building, where Jackson succumbed to pneumonia, still stands. It’s a great place to visit and a wonderful place to have a picnic on the east side of the rails.

Amtrak

At the rail and road crossing by the shrine and on the west side of the tracks is an old vacant garage. There’s a concrete loading platform near the tracks which provides a great place to get a slightly elevated view of the coming trains.

CSX

The Stonewall Jackson Shrine is a National Park, located near Fredericksburg Virginia. You can visit their site on the National Park Service website. Check their hours, plan your visit and get directions. The park is 5miles east of i95 at the Thornburg exit, which is 2 exits south of the Fredericksburg exit, or 2 exit north of the Kings Dominion exit.

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