Petersburg, Virginia: Pamplin Historical Park - Virtual Civil War Battle

Pamplin Historical Park preserves a significant fragment of the Petersburg Breakthrough Battlefield (a National Historic Landmark) and key components of the Third Battle of Petersburg. The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier is located within the park. It outlines the war experience for the soldiers that served; you choose a soldier to follow along to learn about their war experience (My soldier was killed at Gettysburg). There is a great simulation where you go into a battle and you hear the whiz of the bullets past your head and feel the air move as the bullet does so. The corpse near the exit moves to look at you, which is startling!

This is a civil war museum, but it's different from the typical National Park Service museum because it's privately owned and uses modern technology. You pick a Civil War soldier to follow through the war and are given a portable CD player with narration about his life. In each room of the museum the CD player tells you about whatever subject that room is devoted to -- disease, religion, etc.

The best part is the section that is meant to show you what it was like to be in a Civil War battle, with videos of soldiers attacking and sub-woofers in the floor to create the sensation of explosions. It doesn't give a very good sense of what the Civil War was like, but it does scare small children, as any good roadside attraction should.

Otherwise the place is pretty cheesy. They charge a hefty admission ($12 as I recall).