I plan on visiting Virginia, interested in Civil War things, battlefields, etc. as well as Colonial Williamsburg. Would it be good to fly into Richmond, rent a car and drive the state. What is the distance from Richmond to Williamsburg? Any ideas of things to see regarding the Civil War and what would be a good month in the fall to visit.

Where are you flying from and are you looking for the lowest cost airfare?

The Richmond airport is an hour from Williamsburg and a very easy drive but isn't usually the lowest cost option.

Reagan National, Dulles and or BWI would offer plenty of flights and there is a lot of Civil War stuff to see in Northern Virginia en route to Richmond and Williamsburg.

Southwest flies into Norfolk (60 minutes to Wmbg) and Air Tran and US Airways fly into Newport News (40 min from Wmbg).

I hope others will contribute Civil War suggestions. It's not my area of expertise. There have been a number of excellent threads on this forum. Have you tried searching on virginia and civil war?

I second obxgirl's suggestion to fly into Northern VA instead --Dulles (IAD) especially. I used to live/ go to school in NoVA as it's called. There's alot of civil war sites to see there, and there's Antietam park/ battlefield in Maryland, not far away by car. GO to www.nps.gov/ for parks service info , or do a google search for help -- I just found this site:
http://www.civilwar-va.com/virginia/

I just saw Cold Mountain. The Petersburg crater is still there, the bombing that they reenacted in the movie. I think that would be interesting.

You might like Monticello. It's a great visit.

Richmond would be a good starting point, or possibly even D.C., depending on airfare.

Civil War sites:

If you wanted to see all the major sites in Virginia, you should allow up to a week or more.

At Manassas, just south of D.C., you can see the sites of First and Second Bull Run.

Fredericksburg is a must. Within a radius of 20-30 miles, you can see the major battlefields of Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, and The Wilderness. You can also visit the small building at Guiney Station where Stonewall Jackson died. Allow two days minimum.

Richmond has the White House of the Confederacy, one of the country's best Civil War sights. Adjoining it is the White House of the Confederacy, which has good hour-long tours. In about 1/2 to 2/3 of a day, you can follow the Richmond Battlefield Park drive to see Cold Harbor (an interesting 1864 site) and sites associated with the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 (Beaver Dam Creek, Gaine's Mill, Malvern Hill, etc). Richmond itself also has Monument Avenue, the Tredegar Iron Works, Hollywood Cemetery (the final resting place of J.E.B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis, and two U.S. presidents), and the state capitol. Give Richmond two days. If you would like, you can take part of another day to drive along the James River to see a number of plantations. This would be perfect to or from Williamsburg.

Then move on to Petersburg, which has one of the most attractive and most interesting battlefields. Also visit the great museum and well-preserved trenches at Pamplin Park and take in a few of the daily demonstrations from reenactors. Give Petersburg a long day.

From there, you could drive the route of Lee's Retreat through the backroads of southside Virginia for about 100 miles to Appomattox. Allow at least one very long day for this, but parts of two if you want more than a couple of hours for Appomattox. Do start out early if you want to cram it all into a day because Appomattox closes at 5.

If you want even more, you can continue a little westward to see the graves of Lee and Jackson in Lexington, as well as Jackson's house near VMI. Then continue up the Shenandoah Valley, where you can get lots of scenery and important Civil War sites along the route to the pretty old town of Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Antietam and Gettysburg are not too far away if you get really agressive, but you may be Civil-War crazy by then.

Before you go, if you really want to get into the spirit, see Cold Mountain (Petersburg battle) and read Confederates in the Attic (part Civil travelogue, part social study of the South).

Regarding timing - I would pick the spring (April-May) or late September-October to avoid heat. Wear insect repellent around the Richmond battle sites. In May of this year, they are holding a major reenactment of the Spotsylvania battle for the 140th anniversary. That might make an interesting diversion for a day. It is near Fredericksburg - www.spotsylvania140th.com.

My Web site at www.oneeyed.homestead.com offers a little more insight, and lots of photos, from some of these places.

The museum at Pamplin Park in Petersburg is The Museum of the Civil War Soldier. It is privately run and not cheap but worth every penny.

If you drive to or from Williamsburg to Petersburg, take the ferry from Jamestown to Scotland. You just drive your car on and it is free. On a nice day it is a lovely trip.

Have fun in my favorite state (Hey, I live in VA)!

enter Virginia Battlefields in the forum box above. Also go to www.civilwartrails.org for further info.

It will be less expensive to fly into Dulles than richmond.

From Dulles take route 28 and I-66 to Manassas/Bull Run. Continue on I-66 to I-81 north to Winchester for Civil War sites there. Then head south on route 11 to Battle of Cedar Creek site south of Middletown. Continue south through Strasburg to the Battle of Fishers Hill site. Stay on 11 through Woodstock and on down to New Market. This is where the VMI cadets marched to and fought. Use _I-81 S to lexington. Backtrack North to I-64 and head east toward Richmond, stopping off in Charlottesville. Continue east on I-64 to I 95 to Richmond and Petersburg From there you can head over to Williamsburg. Stop at the Fredericksburg sites on the way back to Dulles.