National Park Service's Capital History Series Features Guided Tour of Capitol Square and the Confederate Capitol

Date: July 29, 2008
Contact: Mike Andrus, 804 226-1981 x. 30

The National Park Service continues its weekly series of downtown talks, tours, and tales highlighting Richmond’s Civil War history on August 3, 2008, with a guided tour highlighting the Confederate Capitol and surrounding grounds. Mark Greenough, tour historian at the State Capitol, and Richmond National Battlefield Park Ranger Mike Gorman will lead the program, beginning at 2 p.m. According to Mr. Greenough, “This will be the first time in recent memory that a tour on the Capitol grounds focusing entirely on the Civil War has been combined with a tour of the Capitol itself.” The tour will cover major events of the Civil War, from the firing on Fort Sumter in 1861 to President Abraham Lincoln’s visit in 1865, and its effects on the city of Richmond and its inhabitants. The two-hour program begins at the equestrian Washington statue on the Capitol grounds. The event is free and parking is available on nearby streets.

Mark Greenough has been the Supervisor-Historian of guided tours at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond since 2002. He is also a co-founder and director of Living History Associates, Ltd., a speaker’s bureau established in 1986 which provides historical characters from 1607 to 1907. Between 1980 and 1986 Mr. Greenough worked as a living history interpreter at Richmond National Battlefield Park and Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. In addition, he served as the historical and technical advisor for the NBC television miniseries Gore Vidal’s Lincoln, and has worked on various documentaries, including Founding Fathers and Founding Brothers for the History Channel.

Mike Gorman has made it his life’s work to research and interpret Richmond’s Civil War history. His association with Richmond National Battlefield Park began as a volunteer in 1998. Since then he has worked his way up through the ranks as a seasonal, park guide and now, park ranger. Mike developed the park’s latest audio podcast tour on President Lincoln’s visit to Richmond, which he spent years researching.

Please join the National Park Service and its partner, the American Civil War Center, for these upcoming Capital History talks and tours:

· August 9—Talk on women’s roles in the Civil War followed by “Laboring on the Home Front,” a ranger-guided walking tour of the Tredegar Iron Works, canal and Brown’s Island to focus on the contributions of the female, black and foreign-born workers in the city. (begins at 1 p.m. at the Tredegar Iron Works)

· August 16—Talk on Richmond’s Civil War prisons followed by a ranger-guided walking tour of Belle Isle (begins at 1 p.m. at the Tredegar Iron Works)

· August 23—Ranger-guided walking tour of the historic Tredegar Iron Works emphasizing the men and machines that armed the Confederacy (begins at 2 p.m. at the Tredegar Iron Works)