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Community Corner

Civil War Day in Falls Church Expanded

Day of events to include Virginia Civil War HistoryMobile, re-enactors and a performance of 'Escape'.

As part of the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration in the City of Falls Church, The Civil War 150 HistoryMobile, an 18-wheel “museum on wheels,” will roll into the city Saturday. 

The exhibit, an initiative of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, will be located at Park Avenue near the Civil War Day site at Historic Cherry Hill Farmhouse and Barn. The free event will open at 10 a.m. and run through 3 p.m.

The expandable 78-foot tractor-trailer contains a high-tech immersive experience detailing Virginia’s incomparable place in history. The HistoryMobile draws together stories from all over Virginia and uses state-of-the-art technology and immersive exhibit spaces to present individual stories of the Civil War and Emancipation from the viewpoints of those who experienced it—young and old, enslaved and free, soldiers and civilians.

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The exhibit is divided into four sections: Battlefront, Homefront, Journey to Freedom, and Loss-Gain-Legacy. From the emotional letter written by a dying son to his father after sustaining a mortal wound at Spotsylvania in 1864, to an overheard conversation between husband and wife considering the great risks and rewards of fleeing to freedom, the HistoryMobile presents the stories of real people whose lives were shaped by the historic events of the 1860s and invites visitors to imagine and consider, “What Would You Do?”

During this 150th anniversary of the Civil War in Virginia, the city will have a wide variety of re-enactors including an encampment of Union Soldiers and citizens representing villagers and trades common at the time. Visitors will hear period music, see period play scenes from “The Escape”, and children will enjoy crafts and games of the Civil War era, and boxed lunches are available for purchase.

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