Battlefield Guide Services

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Snow On The Field - Seventy-four Years Ago


From the National Park files, here is a photograph dated February 1936, showing the exterior slope of a restored section of Confederate trench near present day Burnside Drive. Note the inclusion of slashings in front, and a heavy log revetment to the exterior wall. The park had built this section of restoration the previous summer. It is no longer maintained in a restored condition and has not been for quite some time.
It is interesting to note that on February 7, 1936, the Northern Virginia area received fourteen inches of snow which would caused a great deal of flooding in March, when rains and warmer temperatures attacking the snowpack further west in the Skyline Drive area.
The snow seen here does not look very deep since grass is poking through. As of this posting I have not found more detailed information on the Fredericksburg area snow accumulation that year.

No comments: