Settled amid the mild, roaming hills of central Virginia, some sixty miles south of Charlottesville on US-24, APPOMMATTOX marks the spot at which Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met on April 9, 1865 to signify the end of the Civil War. After four years of enormous bloodshed on both sides, the Confederacy bowed out with a mere whimper. Grant's Union troops had cut off a nearby railroad line upon which Lee's final battalion depended for vital supplies, and the half-starved Confederate army had no choice but to submit. Final papers were signed in a private home near the Appommattox Court House. This event, a defining moment in American history, is remembered in the Appommattox Court House National Historical Park (daily 9am-5.30pm; $2), a place refreshingly free of the usual tourist baggage that accompanies most similarly important sites in the state. The tiny village has been handsomely restored, though the home and courthouse, now containing a museum, are reconstructions of the original.

Getting to Appommattox requires a car, and the nearest accommodation is available in the newer city of the same name, a few miles west. You're better off driving 20 miles further west, however, to LYNCHBURG , whose dramatic hills and tidy historic center make a fine place to spend an evening. Try the Lynchburg Mansion Inn , 405 Madison St (tel 804/528-5400; $100-130), a cozy Victorian B&B.

Appommattox

• Appommattox

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