City Point Waterfront at Petersburg National Battlefield/NPS file

Concerns that erosion where the Appomattax and James rivers meet in Virginia will erase archaeological, architectural, cultural and natural resources at Grant's Headquarters in Petersburg National Battlefield has the National Park Service proposing to stabilize a bluff.

Appomattox Manor, part of the City Point National Register District, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This site contains extensive evidence of thousands of years of human activity. In addition to important Civil War features, the site includes historic buildings, roads, path and plantings associated with Native Americans, the Eppes family, and Africans enslaved by them.

Hurricanes, tornadoes and heavy storms have worsened the erosion, damaging the historic bluff and beach. The proposed project would involve repairing, rebuilding and constructing seawalls, retaining walls, walkways, access roads and other structures to protect the shoreline.

This project is in the early planning stages and construction is expected to take place in 2027, pending available funds.

National Park Service staff will consider all feedback as they finalize the programmatic agreement (PA). Comments can be submitted through the Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) system at: Bluff Stabalization Draft Programmatic Agreement for Review. (Traveler note: This link was not working Sunday)

Public comments will be accepted from May 19th – June 18th. Please note that PEPC will not include any comments sent to the park via either email or by letters.

The PA would guide the stabilization project to protect its archaeological resources and the cultural landscape. National Park Service staff developed the PA after consulting with the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office and tribes that originally inhabited this land. The Park Service intends to avoid or minimize any negative impacts on historic buildings, landscapes and archaeological sites during this work.

About Grant’s Headquarters at City Point

The City Point Unit of Petersburg National Battlefield, also known as Appomattox Plantation and Grant's Headquarters, is located in Hopewell, Virginia, where the Appomattox River meets the James River. At the top of the bluff stands Appomattox Manor, an 18th-century plantation house and outbuildings owned by the Eppes family from 1635 until 1979, marking one of the longest periods of single-family ownership in the United States. During the Civil War, while Petersburg was under siege from June 1864 to April 1865, U.S. Army General Ulysses S. Grant established his field headquarters in the manor and a nearby cabin built for that purpose.