More Than 150 Attend Historic Bus Tours

Tour groups got a look at the historic Rural Plains house on Totopotomoy Creek, which is being restored by the National Park Service. Rural Plains was the home of the Shelton family for nearly 400 years. Patrick Henry was married there and it was also the site of a Civil War battle a century later.

More than 150 people participated in Hanover’s bus tours of historic sites on Saturday.

There were three separate tours:

• “The Trail of the Cavalier” tour took riders along the route that Confederate Cavalry Commander Gen. J.E.B. Stuart followed on his legendary ride around the Union Army in 1862. Key sites included Enon Church, Old Church, Summer Hill and Immanuel Church.
• “Battlefields and Back Roads” took riders on a tour of the lesser-known Civil War battlefields in the County. Key sites included Beaverdam Depot, North Anna and the Shelton House at Rural Plains on Totopotomoy Creek.
• “Road to Revolution” took riders to various sites associated with the life of the most famous Hanoverian, Patrick Henry. These places included Slash Christian Church, historic Polegreen Church, Hanover Tavern, the old Hanover Courthouse and Scotchtown.

The tours were offered by Hanover Parks and Recreation in partnership with Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. Richmond Discoveries coordinated the tours and provided the tour guides.

For the $10 price, participants on each tour also got to see a re-enactment of Henry’s famous “Parson’s Cause” argument at historic Hanover Courthouse as well as lunch. Participants on the two Civil War-related tours also visited a Confederate soldier’s camp to hear stories about the life of the common soldier. Each bus was filled to capacity.