~ First Battle of Kernstown Author's Tour ~

Annual guided anniversary tour

Sunday, March 23, 2025

9:30am – 4:00pm

     On Sunday, March 23rd, 2025, the Kernstown Battlefield Association (KBA) will host an all-day walking and driving tour of the First Battle of Kernstown.  This tour will be led by Gary Ecelbarger, renowned author of “We Are In For It! The First Battle of Kernstown, March 23, 1862.”

     The morning portion of this event will consist of a walking tour of the Kernstown Battlefield “main campus” property for the morning action of the battle as viewed from the Union artillery positions on Pritchard’s Hill and from the Confederate infantry route of march across our southern fields.

     After a break for lunch (on your own), the tour group will reassemble at the KBA Visitor Center and then travel by car caravan to Rose Hill Park for continued detailed discussions of the later stages of this battle. The tour ends with a visit to our Sandy Ridge property where the final and decisive Union infantry assaults took place. 

     Attendees should meet at the Kernstown Battlefield Visitor Center no later than 9:15 am as the tour will start promptly at 9:30 am. The tour is scheduled to end by 4:00 pm. 

     Please dress appropriately for the weather and be prepared to walk across fields and on park trails. Accommodations for mobility challenged participants are available with the exception of Rose Hill Park portion of the tour which requires about a mile of walking on improved (hard gravel) trails. 

     If you have any questions or concens, please contact the KBA event coordinator Chuck Maurer via email at vamaurers@gmail.com or call 804-892-1042. 

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Civil War Park Day

A one-day volunteer opportunity. All welcome!

Saturday, April 5, 2025

     On Saturday, April 5, 2025, the Kernstown Battlefield Association will participate in the American Battlefield Trust Civil War Park Day. We ask that you arrive at 8:30 am for registration in the battlefield conference center.  At 9:00 am there will be an orientation to the day's projects and introduction of the project leaders.  Work projects will stop at noon, and the Kernstown Battlefield Association will provide a light lunch, or you may bring your own.  Kernstown Battlefield Association volunteers will remain on the property until 4pm for those who wish to participate in short historical tours of the property.

     Planned Activities include sweeping and dusting of museum and historical home interiors, mulching gardens, loading cut-up trees and brush into trailers for removal, cleaning and resetting wayside interpretive sign pedestals, and some painting (weather permitting) of building exteriors.  Projects are indoors and outdoors.  Several of our museums are not heated.  While we do not require you to bring any tools or supplies, we do ask that you wear weather-appropriate work clothes, shoes and a have a pair of gloves. COVID masks are optional.  In the instance of inclement weather, our Park Day projects will continue as planned.

     We are a 501c(3) non-profit, all volunteer organization.  Our mission is to protect and interpret this Civil War Battlefield for the benefit of all future generations.  We are located at 610 Battle Park Drive, Winchester, Virginia 22602, off of Valley Avenue next to Creekside Station and the Subaru dealership.  

REGISTER HERE