Flashback to When Life Was a Battlefield

Wiseteria Perry explains the dining drill to visitors who spend two days living like enlisted privates at Pamplin Park's Civil War Adventure Camp in Petersburg, Va. (By Jay Paul For The Washington Post)

THE TRIP: Petersburg, Va., where 1865 is ready for its close-up.

MILES FROM BELTWAY: About 246 miles round trip. Take I-95 to Exit 52, Wyth Street, to reach downtown Petersburg. For Pamplin Historical Park, stay on I-95 another tenth of a mile to I-85 south, then five miles to Exit 63A, Route 1 south. Pamplin is one mile on the left.

BEST FOR: Civil War-niks, living history buffs and architectural romantics.

THE RIDE: Ugh. The drive to Petersburg is I-95 all the way, and if there's ever a good time to negotiate the agonies of the Springfield Mixing Bowl, we haven't found it. HOV is your only friend here. Once you've broken free, the rest of the route is interstate sameness, broken only by the fake Eiffel Tower at Kings Dominion until you reach the cityscape of Richmond.

THE DESTINATION: You don't have to be a die-hard to fall for Petersburg's ample Civil War attractions. The area is carpeted with significant sites, including the National Park Service's Petersburg National Battlefield . But thanks to the area's more recent offering, Pamplin Historical Park (6125 Boydton Plank Rd., 877-726-7546, http://www.pamplinpark.org/ ; adults $13.50, kids ages 6 through 11 $7.50), a battlefield visit is more than an idle-speed drive along long-silent pastures. At Pamplin, the cannon smoke still hangs over the scene of the action. State-of-the-art electronic displays are just a preamble to hours' worth of re-created army encampments, beautifully preserved earthwork fortifications, and real plantation and slave houses, all peopled with costumed interpreters. Think Williamsburg-meets-the-U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The 422-acre campus is controlled by the Pamplin family and its foundation (patriarch Robert B. Pamplin Sr. was the president and chairman of Georgia-Pacific Corp.). The land was a site of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's decisive breakthrough of Gen. Robert E. Lee's protective line around Richmond. A week later, he surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. These great events are remarkably easy to trace along miles of trails.

But Pamplin has broadened its mandate beyond the battle to document the daily lives of the era's soldiers, civilians and slaves. The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier lets you adopt the persona of an individual soldier and uses targeted MP3 audio to propel you through dioramas of his life in the field. Working cannon crews, field hands, cooks and planters prowl the grounds. The park's Adventure Camps let tourists play soldier for the weekend. Civil War purists may sniff over the some of the more packaged effects, but everyone else will love them .

After your day (or days) in the period trenches, Petersburg proper offers another wormhole into the past. The city hasn't enjoyed much redevelopment since its heyday as a tobacco port on the Appomattox River. So with some bleak exceptions -- the KGB-bunker of a police headquarters, for example, and several blocks of bad '70s-era storefronts -- much of Petersburg's ornate warehouse core is preserved in dusty amber along the river. Slowly ( very slowly), yuppies are converting them into a shopping-and-loft district of real potential known as Old Towne. Already, some worthy pioneers are struggling for a foothold, including antiques shops, bistros and even a sushi bar. There's delightful patio dining at the pan-Latino Alcalde's International (corner of Sycamore and Bolling Brook). And for a quick pint (along with a fine dirty martini and the best brochette we've ever had) amid welcoming locals, the Brickhouse Pub alone is worth the trip to Petersburg.

WE'D GO BACK BECAUSE . . . of Pamplin Historical Park's great mix of fresh museum technology and smell-the-wood-smoke re-creations.

WE'D STAY HOME BECAUSE . . . of Pamplin's overabundance of Beloved Leader portraits, statuary and shrines to the Pamplins -- commissioned, presumably, by the Pamplins.

EATS AND SLEEPS: Petersburg offers several antebellum mansion inns in the historic quarter. We almost stayed in the largest of them, the Ragland Mansion (205 S. Sycamore St, 800-861-8898, http://www.raglandmansion.com/ , rooms $85 to $135 at this time of year), until a gas leak closed the place for a night, but it looked full of character from the curb . Down the street is another impressive Italianate pile, La Villa Romaine (29 S. Market St., 804-861-2285, http://lavilla.tierranet.com/ ), with rooms for $92. There are acceptable chain options, including a new Holiday Inn Express less than a mile from Pamplin (5679 Boydton Plank Rd., 804-518-1515, http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hd/dwdva ), rooms starting at $110.

If you need a worthy Carolina barbecue fix, you may fall on your knees at King's Barbeque (3321 W. Washington St., 804-732-7333). Every meal starts with a plate of manna-class buttermilk biscuits, followed by a heaping plate of ribs, chopped pork or beef for under $12. There's also smoked-on-the-premises barbecue at Pamplin's Hard Tack and Coffee Cafe within the main museum.

ONE COOL DETOUR: Want to see what Petersburg's warehouse district could look like in a few years, if the renewal continues? Take a 22-mile detour to Richmond's Shockoe Bottom. This old riverfront tobacco row is alive with clubs, restaurants and shops, including the huge Richbrau brewpub (1214 E. Cary St., 804-644-3018) featuring multiple dining and dancing areas and sometimes jazz. For pizza that has spawned loyal followers, try Shockoe's Bottoms Up Pizza (1700 Dock St., 804-644-4400).

BOTTOM LINE: Petersburg is finding better ways to show off its 19th-century self -- and may slowly be moving beyond it.

-- Steve Hendrix

For more information: Petersburg Visitors Center, 800-368-3595,http://www.petersburg-va.org.