Battle of Spotsylvania • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The Spotsylvania Battlefield Exhibit Shelter is Stop 1 on the Spotsylvania Battlefield Auto Tour.
Spotsylvania Battlefield Exhibit Shelter
The Exhibit Shelter houses a series of displays which provide an orientation and background on the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Rest rooms and a picnic area are available, and the shelter is manned by a ranger at certain times.
See the Exhibit Shelter Displays
Battlefield Map
Spotsylvania Battlefield History Trail Map
The Battlefield History Trail Map is just outside the Exhibit Shelter. It shows the route of the trail that covers most of the major fighting on the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield. The History Trail follows a network of interconnected smaller trails that can be walked individualy or begun at any point. The entire History Trail is about seven miles long.
- The trail starts at the Exhibit Shelter, Stop One on the Auto Tour, and crosses to the west side of Brock Road to follow the Laurel Hill loop trail to the Maryland Monument, returning to the Exhibit Shelter.
- The trail then heads east, following Grant Drive to Stop Two on the Auto Tour.
- The trail leaves Grant Drive to follow Upton’s Road, now a foot path, to Dole’s Salient.
- It continues across the fields to the McCoull House Ruins, then curves around to follow the East Side of the Muleshoe Salient, continuing to the Landram House Ruins.
- From there the trail returns to the Bloody Angle, back past the McCoull House ruins and west to the Harrison House Ruins and the reconstructed earthworks at Lee’s Final Line.
- The trail then recrosses Brock Road and returns to the Exhibit Shelter using the Laurel Hill trail.
- A short walk along Grant Drive leads to the park entrance at Brock Road and the spot where General Sedgwick was killed. The Laurel Hill Trail starts from here.
Park entrance/Laurel Hill Trailhead (see more)
The entrance to the park at the Laurel Hill Trailhead is not a stop on the Spotsylvania Battlefield Auto Tour but is only about 150 yards south of the Exhibit Shelter.
Several markers and monuments are at the entrance on Grant Drive/Laurel Hill Trailhead:
Location of the Laurel Hill Trailhead
The trailhead is on the west side of Grant Drive 150 yards north Brock Road, Virginia Route 613. (38°13’08.7″N 77°36’50.2″W; map)
Directions to the next stop on the Auto Tour:
Continue northeaast on Grant Drive about 0.6 miles. Tour Stop Two is on the right.