Virginia Filming Trip 2013

Last week we filmed for a few days around Virginia for Discerning History. Here are some pictures.

Stone wall at Fredericksburg

Chatham, a Union headquarters during the Battle of Fredericksburg

Virginia Capitol Building

St. Paul's Church, where Lee and Davis attended in Richmond, VA

Western Filming Trip

Fort Donelson lower battery

A few weeks ago we went on a filming trip for Discerning History to the Western Civil War Battlefields. We started out filming at Fort Donelson in Tennessee near the Kentucky border. It was one of the first battles won by U.S. Grant, and it was important as it forced back the Confederates and gave the Union control of the rivers. You can read more about it here on my Civil War blog.

Fort Donelson upper battery

Hotel near Fort Donelson where the surrender took place

After Fort Donelson we drove to Shiloh. In a huge battle there, more men were lost in one day than in all the previous American wars combined.You can read my posts about it here.

Sunset at the Hornet's Nest

Shiloh's Peach Orchard

Hornet's Nest

After Shiloh we filmed at Corinth, Mississippi and then drove over to Memphis, Tennessee. There we had a problem with the alternator in our Excursion. Thankfully, we were able to get to the Ford dealership and get a new one without losing too much time. That evening we drove down to Vicksburg, Mississippi. We filmed at the National Park there which contains the battlefield and earthworks. It was very impressive, and the bluffs between the lines were very high.

Rural Mississippi

The next day after finishing up some scenes along the Mississippi River we drove down to New Orleans and filmed b-roll there in the evening. We did not like it, it was one of the worst cities we have ever been to (including Rome.) The next morning we filmed at Fort Pike, just outside of New Orleans, and then drove back to North Carolina, stopping at Fort Gaines, Alabama, which guarded Mobile Bay.

New Orleans basilica

Sunrise at Fort Pike, Louisiana

Fort Gains, Alabama

Filming at Jamestown

Panorama of Jamestown

Last Monday we went to Jamestown, Virginia to finish up some filming for the video series. We filmed at Jamestown Settlement, a recreation of the original fort and town. It is right across the street from Historic Jamestown, which is the National Park containing the original site. The settlement is a really neat place. They have costumed reenactors there to explain the history. We filmed in the morning, doing a scene at the boats and three others at the fort. Here are some pictures

Setting up the jib

Sunrise over the ship

On the way back we stopped at a nice little country church. It was very old, and several presidents attended there, including George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and John Tyler, whose house was very close by. During the Civil War services were stopped and it was used as a stable, but later it was reoccupied.

Add caption

South Carolina Filming Day 1

South Carolina State House

Last week we did our last major filming trip for our video series, Discerning History. We started out our first day of shooting on Wednesday at the South Carolina State House in Columbia. We were there to film some scenes about what caused the secession of South Carolina. We had some technical difficulties, but thankfully they happened the first day because it had the loosest schedule. After finishing up all the shots we could before dark, we headed down to Charleston, South Caroline where we stayed for the rest of the weekend.