Friday, Aug 10, 2007
The park has introduced the newest of its podcast tours, this one traversing Cold Harbor battlefield, one of the Civil War’s bloodiest conflicts.
The tour, which begins at the park's visitor center, traverses fields and woods that witnessed some of the heaviest fighting on June 1, 1864. Although unknown to soldiers at the time, the Federal breakthrough late in the day offered General Grant’s army its best opportunity for defeating Lee’s forces at Cold Harbor. Two days later a stubborn Confederate defense, combined with Grant's ill-conceived attack, stopped yet another advance on Richmond.
"The tour that was developed by one of our young park historians, Ed Sanders, is a wonderful addition to the park's interpretive programming" said assistant superintendent David Ruth. "It offers our visitors an opportunity to experience the very heart of the battlefield and hear a story that is not often told."
The podcast tour is available through the park’s website at www.nps.gov/rich, or at CivilWarTraveler.com, which partnered with Richmond National Battlefield Park in 2006 to produce a series of customized podcast battlefield tours. The inaugural tour, Malvern Hill, was soon followed up with one of the Gaines’ Mill battlefield. With the completion of the Cold Harbor podcast, the park now offers a trilogy of tours featuring its most popular battlefields.
As with the other two podcast tours, Cold Harbor’s tour was unscripted and recorded in real time on the battlefield trail, and the narrative is presented as if the listener were taking a guided tour with an NPS ranger. Visitors are urged to download the podcast tour from the web to their computer, then onto an iPod or other mp3 player. A high resolution battlefield map that identifies stops along the one-mile loop trail is a must and is available on the website and at all of the park’s visitor centers. Visitors without iPods or mp3 players can try out the new technology by borrowing an iPod Shuffle at the Cold Harbor visitor center. Two individuals desiring to make the tours available on site generously donated iPod shuffles to the park.
Since going live last year, Richmond National Battlefield Park’s podcasts have received more than 29,000 visits and more than 6,000 downloads. The park's next podcast will be a tour of Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Richmond in April 1865, just days after the Confederate government evacuated the city. If you have questions about these or any other park service programs contact park headquarters at 804-226-1981.
Richmond National Battlefield Park protects 13 Civil War sites around the city of Richmond, Virginia. All programs are free. For further information, visit the National Park Service headquarters at Chimborazo Park or call 226-1981.
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