The American Civil War Center at Tredagar

The American Civil War Center at Tredagar

Perched on the banks of the James River, The American Civil War Center at Tredagar is located in a truly beautiful setting and overlooks the city of Richmond. How fitting, that a museum exhibiting the Civil War should lie at the heart of what was once the Capital of the Confederate South. While The American Civil War Center at Tredagar is located in Richmond, the museum itself offers very diverse perspectives and many different accounts of the happenings of the American Civil War. The museum highlights this when it states that, “The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar is the nation's first museum to interpret the Civil War from Union, Confederate, and African American perspectives.” It was interesting to me to hear the museum pride itself on this fact, considering that museums should be here in order to always tell us the whole truth about our history. Feeling the need to state that this museum does infact offer a more well rounded varied knowledge of the events that transpired in our history, speaks more to all museums in general and how their presentation of “facts” and occurrences aren’t always the whole entire truth. I appreciated the effort that The American Civil War Center at Tredagar made by trying to give a balanced view of such a dark time in American history.

When I first entered onto the grounds of the Civil War Center I was intrigued to learn that the museum had been built on an old Iron Mill, Tredegar Iron Works to be specific. This mill had actually been around since the time of the actual Civil War. Walking through the open courtyard you got the feel of what perhaps walking around during the 1800’s might have been like. The museum itself is very nice and aesthetically pleasing, clean, well organized displays, spacious, etc. When you first enter the museum you are greeted by a gift shop, a bit off putting for me personally, but a minor detail on the grand scheme of things. After walking by the gift shop the first exhibit isn’t about the Civil War, but about the Tredagar Iron Mill and the role it played in the Civil War and throughout history. I guess the museum was promoting its physical site along with the War itself.

The American Civil War Center at Tredagar was not focusing on one question in particular, but rather was focusing on the general history of the Civil War, what lead to it, what happened during, and after. Also, of course, making sure to express the varied views of not only confederate and union citizens, but African Americans as well. I felt like I was literally walking through a textbook while checking out the exhibits. Everything was laid out simply. There were two floors, the first focusing on what led up to the war and the start of it. While on the second floor the end of the war and what happened after were focused on.

The American Civil War Center at Tredagar was all about teaching. The exhibits ask questions about the war and try to explain as simply as possible how certain events came to be. Ranging from slave revolts to certain battles that took place, the museum was a walking timeline of events during the War. All the major events and battles, etc that took place were clearly laid out, but of course in this museum we had the benefit of getting perspectives from all parties involved in the war.  Like I stated before it was like walking through a middle school text book. It was as if each exhibit were a chapter in a textbook about the Civil War; key points were made, different examples were given, and at the end of each exhibit there were questions asked of the visitors to see what they had learned. It was interactive in this way because at the end of the exhibits there were questions about the war and post-its for each visitor to answer then place on the designated areas. I liked this lot about the museum, they were actually seeing if what they had presented was being absorbed by those visiting the Center.

Overall I greatly enjoyed the exhibit, I found the way it focused on really teaching about the events of the Civil War and presenting a balanced view really added to the impact that it had. The exhibits were clear, simple, and most importantly interesting! Perhaps a bit too dimly lit, but other than that the layout and set-up of the entire museum was superbly done. There were four running videos throughout the museum that played on a loop and it was as if they were acting like tour guides, strategically placed throughout the museum in order to effectively guide the visitor and instruct them about the history of The Civil War. I would recommend going to see this museum and learning even more about one chapter in American History.