Description

The battlefield at Spotsylvania Courthouse has returned to fields and woodland with the numerous trenches now small ridges that snake through the fields. The woods here are filled with the sounds of red-bellied and downy woodpeckers and the only blues and grays left in the forest are those of blue jays and Carolina chickadees. As you wander the edge of the forest, watch for a flash of red in the undergrowth signaling the arrival of a northern cardinal or an American robin. Out in the open, check the taller grasses for skulking sparrows including song, savannah and vesper. Be sure to keep checking overhead for a red-tailed hawk soaring high above the treetops amongst the turkey and black vultures or perhaps a northern harrier quartering the meadow in search of invisible rodents hidden deep in the grass.

Directions

Leaving Ni River Park, continue southwest on Rt. 627/Gordon Road for 1.9 miles to Rt. 613. Turn left (south) on Rt. 613/Brock Road and follow it 0.9 miles to the battlefield on the left.

To return to the interstate, return to Rt. 613 and turn left. Follow this to SR 208 in Spotsylvania Courthouse. Turn left and follow SR 208 northeast to US 1 and I-95. From here you can travel south to the Henrico Loop.