Staff report

Visitors to Suffolk this weekend will be traveling back in time today and Sunday.

Riddick’s Folly and the Seaboard Station Railroad Museum are sponsoring a Civil War Weekend April 5-6 with an array of special activities planned throughout the two-day event.

Plans at Riddick’s Folly include:

?Living history tours of Riddick’s Folly with re-enactors will be from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday and from 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

?Bus tour of historic Civil War sites in Suffolk, Fort Rosecrans, Hill’s Point Battery and others. Cost is $20 for adults and $10 for students

Registration is required and can be made at 934-1390.

?John V. Quarstein, author of several Civil War-related publications, will be the guest speaker at the old Nansemond County Courthouse starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, ending with the dessert at Riddick’s Folly. He will be signing books after the program.

The re-enactments on Saturday will be based on a letter that is on display at Riddick’s Folly and an invitation that The 3rd New York Cavalry sent out as a celebration and grand social that was held at Riddick’s Folly at the end of the war.

The house was occupied by the Union during this time and the party was held for members of the army and their families in the area.

?There will be an exhibit, &uot;The Quiet Regiment: Those Who Stayed Behind,&uot; at Riddick’s Folly from April to June.

The Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society will be sponsoring several activities at the railroad museum, including:

?Historic interpreters giving tours of Cedar Hill Cemetery from 10-4 p.m. Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $5 for adults and $4 for SNHS members.

?Naval historic interpreters from the Mariners’ Museum will have a display of the U.S.S. Monitor.

?There will also be living history re-enactors of Civil War sutlers, who were traveling merchants that followed soldiers during the Civil War. The sutlers will have all sorts of goods for sale, including ladies’ and gentlemen’s period clothing, gentlemen’s uniforms, children’s old-fashioned toys, and ladies’ period correct underpinning.

Gift shops at both Riddick’s Folly and the railroad museum will have a variety of Civil War publications and memorabilia available.