Unlike many mass-produced or stock statues that present soldiers armed or in the midst of battle, the Appomattox Statue in the city of Alexandria, dedicated in 1889, depicts an unarmed private. His head is downcast, his uniform rumpled, and his expression is pensive as he faces south. The statue was sponsored by the men of the Virginia-based R. E. Lee Camp Confederate Veterans, who wished to erect a monument to their fallen comrades. The Appomattox Statue was not intended to glorify an ideology, but to remember those who sacrificed all. The work resulted from the collaboration of several masters in their fields. Fredericksburg-based painter John Adams Elder submitted a proposal to the R. E. Lee Camp based on the central figure in his painting “Appomattox.” Sculptor M. Casper Buberl translated Elder’s work into a three-dimensional figure, and the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company of New York cast Buberl’s statue. The granite base of the memorial contains the names of Alexandrians who never returned from the Civil War and a quotation of Robert E. Lee. The Appomattox Statue was removed for relocation in 2020.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia