Richmond National Battlefield Park

08/30/2026

Join us on Thursday for a special riverfront canal cruise!

It's our LAST Special Tour of the summer! Don't miss a special Riverfront Canal Cruise guided by the National Park Service 🛶🌳

Discover the history of the James River and Kanawha Canal and its connection to Richmond’s development and growth. Guests will learn how the canal system shaped the city’s economy, transportation, and role in Virginia history through insights from a park ranger with Richmond National Battlefield Park!

Don't miss out!
🕐 Thursday, 9/3 | 6 + 7 PM
ℹ️ Get tickets for special tours at riverfrontcanalcruises.com or call the ticket kiosk at 804-649-2800
🗺️ Tours depart from the canal's Turning Basin at 139 Virginia Street, in Downtown Richmond
🎟️ Adults: $15, Children (5-12) & Seniors (65+): $8, Kids under 4 are free! *Please note: Tickets purchased online will include a service provider booking fee

08/30/2026

Spotlight on Safety: Picnics in the Park.

A reminder – picnics are permitted in Richmond National Battlefield Park, but not everywhere! We preserve more than a dozen hallowed battlegrounds, and out of respect for those who fought there and to help keep those spaces preserved for future generations, picnics are limited to certain areas.

If you’d like to pack a lunch and explore our many Civil War sites, remember that picnicking is permitted in the following designated areas:
• Beaver Dam Creek Parking Area
• Chimborazo Visitor Center Grounds
• Chickahominy Bluff Parking Area
• Cold Harbor Visitor Center Parking Area
• Drewry’s Bluff Parking Area
• Fort Harrison Picnic area
• Gaines Mill Parking Area
• Malvern Hill Parking Area
• The Parsonage Parking Area
• Rural Plains Parking Area, and area surrounding or near the historic Shelton house.

08/22/2026

ARTILLERY DEMONSTRATIONS AT MALVERN HILL.
On Saturday September 5, the park will offer cannon demonstrations at Malvern Hill battlefield. This battle featured multiple Confederate attacks on well-positioned US artillery and infantry. During the event, re-enactors will demonstrate the use of artillery in the battle.

Program times for the artillery are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. US re-enactors will be set up to answer questions and discuss uniforms, gear, and weapons. Malvern Hill is located at 9175 Willis Church Road, Henrico, VA 23231.

08/18/2026

Gaines' Mill - the biggest charge of the Civil War

08/14/2026

FREEMAN FRIDAYS.
Before the establishment of Richmond National Battlefield Park, historian Douglas Southall Freeman led an effort to share Richmond’s Civil War stories with bronze tablets installed at significant roadside locations. Throughout the 1920s, Freeman and his associates placed 58 “Freeman markers” around the Richmond area.

Marker #5: WALNUT GROVE CHURCH
“Here, on the morning of June 27, 1862, as he was directing the pursuit of McClellan's right wing, Robert E. Lee met ‘Stonewall’ Jackson whose Army of the Valley arrived to join in the attack on the Federals the same afternoon.”

08/09/2026

Chimborazo: What’s In Our Own Backyard? (Part 3).
Richmond National Battlefield Park shares space at Chimborazo Park with a number of monuments, markers, and other points of interest outside of the Civil War Medical Museum. Among the notable sights at Chimborazo is the “Powhatan Stone.”

In the 1800s, the “Powhatan Stone” was displayed at a farm downriver from Richmond, where it was purported to mark the grave of Wahunsenacawh – the leader of the Powhatan Confederacy at the time of English contact in 1607. Sometime after 1911, the stone was moved to its current location, overlooking the James River at Chimborazo Park. When a plaque was installed on the stone at Chimborazo in the twentieth century, the claim that the stone was a grave marker for the Powhatan chief had disappeared.

[Images: Powhatan Stone at Chimborazo Park, NPS photos]

08/05/2026

FIRST PUBLIC READING OF THE DECLARATION IN RICHMOND.

On August 5, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in Richmond at the courthouse on Main Street. A newspaper account noted that,

“On Monday last, being court day, the Declaration of Independence was publicly proclaimed n the town of Richmond, before a large concourse of respectable freeholders of Henrico county, and upwards of 200 of the militia, who assembled on that grand occasion. It was received with universal shouts of joy, and re-echoed by three volleys of small arms, the same evening the town was illuminated, and the members of the committee held a club, where many patriotic toasts were drank. Although there were near 1000 people present, the whole was conducted with the utmost decorum, and the satisfaction visible in every countenance sufficiently evinces their determination to support it with their lives and fortunes.”

The building that stood in 1776 is gone, replaced by a more modern structure. Today the site is on Main Street in downtown Richmond, not far from the park’s Chimborazo Visitor Center.


#250

[Images: Henrico County Courthouse, NPS Photo; Virginia Gazette]

07/30/2026

SPOTLIGHT ON SAFETY: What if I find an artifact?

-What is an archaeological artifact?
“Artifacts” are things that past peoples made, changed, and left behind where they lived and worked.
-Leave it be.
Artifacts are not souvenirs! Leave the artifact where you found it. Please don’t pick it up, move it, throw it, put it in your pocket or bag, or bury it.
-Document the location.
Note where you are. Snap a picture of the artifact where you found it. Step back and a photograph the artifact with a landmark. Please don’t post on social media.
-Alert a park ranger.

Show a park ranger your pictures and the location of the artifact. If you cannot find a ranger, use the “contact us” form on the park’s website to email the information.
-Taking artifacts is illegal.
Federal law protects archaeological sites and artifacts on federal lands. You may not dig, collect artifacts, use metal detectors, or deface rock images in national park units.
Violations may result in jail time or fines, as well as confiscation of equipment. See the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) at 16 USC 470 § aa-mm and the associated regulations at 43 CFR 7.

[Image: Civil War shell fragment, NPS photo]

07/26/2026

Law enforcement park rangers from Richmond National Battlefield Park attended career day at Blessed Sacrament Huguenot school in Powhatan, Virginia. Perhaps some of the young students will be inspired to become the next generation of park rangers who protect the nation’s precious natural and cultural resources.