Lee Memorial Park

Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458 with a majority African American. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Dinwiddie County for statistical purposes. The city is 21 miles (34 km) south of the commonwealth (state) capital city of Richmond. It is located at the fall line (the head of navigation of rivers on the U.S. East Coast) of the Appomattox River (a tributary of the longer larger James River which flows east to meet the southern mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at the Hampton Roads harbor and the Atlantic Ocean). In 1645, the Virginia House of Burgesses ordered Fort Henry built, which attracted both traders and settlers to the area. The Town of Petersburg, chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1784, incorporated three early settlements, and in 1850 the legislature elevated it to city status.Petersburg grew as a transportation hub and also developed industry. It was the final destination on the Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System, which opened in 1816, to a city mostly rebuilt after a devastating 1815 fire. When its Appomattox River port silted up, investors built an 8-mile railroad to City Point on the James River, which opened in 1838 (and was acquired by the city and renamed the Appomattox Railroad in 1847). As discussed below, that became one of four railroads built (some with government subsidies) constructed (with separated terminals to the advantage of local freight haulers) before the American Civil War. In 1860, the city's industries and transportation combined to make it the state's second largest city (after Richmond). It connected commerce as far inland as Farmville, Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge and the Appalachian Mountains chain, to shipping further east into the Chesapeake Bay and North Atlantic Ocean. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), because of this railroad network, Petersburg became critical to Union plans to capture the Confederate States national capital established early in the war at Richmond. The 1864–65 Siege of Petersburg, which included the Battle of the Crater and nine months of trench warfare devastated the city. Battlefield sites are partly preserved as Petersburg National Battlefield by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Petersburg rebuilt its railroads, including a connecting terminal by 1866, although it never quite regained its economic position because much shipping traffic would continue to the Norfolk seaport. After the consolidations of smaller railroads, both the CSX and Norfolk Southern railway networks serve Petersburg. Petersburg has the oldest free black settlements in the state at Pocahontas Island. Two Baptist churches in the city, whose congregations were founded in the late 18th century, are among the oldest black congregations and churches in the United States. In the post-bellum period, a historically black college which later developed as the Virginia State University was established nearby in Ettrick in Chesterfield County. In the 20th century, these and other black churches were leaders in the national Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-1960s. Richard Bland College, now a junior college, was originally established here as a branch of Williamsburg's famed College of William and Mary. Petersburg remains a transportation hub. Area highways include Interstate Highways 85, 95, and U.S. Route highways with 1, 301, and 460. Both CSX and Norfolk Southern rail systems maintain transportation centers at Petersburg. Amtrak serves the city with daily Northeast Regional passenger trains to Norfolk, Virginia, and long-distance routes from states to the South.In the early 21st century, Petersburg civic leaders promote the city's historical attractions for heritage tourism, as well as industrial sites reachable by the transportation infrastructure. The federal government is also a major employer, with nearby Fort Gregg-Adams, as home of the United States Army's Sustainment Center of Excellence, and the Army's Logistics Branch, Ordnance, Quartermaster, and Transportation Corps.

Sutherland House, also known as the Sutherland-Hite House and Logan House, is a historic home located at Petersburg, Virginia. It was built between 1860 and 1862, and is a two-story, three-bay, Italianate style brick dwelling. The house incorporates an 1838, one-story, former dwelling as a rear ell, and a frame addition built in 1877. The main house has a double-pile, central passage plan. The house features two unusual chimneys made up of clustered flues on a low-hipped slate roof, tripartite windows, and a Doric order portico at the entry. Also on the property is a contributing two-story, four room brick service building.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

The Petersburg Sports Complex is a multi-purpose athletic venue located in Petersburg, Virginia, United States. The facility includes four softball and one baseball field, the latter which seats 2,500. In addition to the field, the facility features a concession stand, restrooms, press boxes, offices, a public address system, and a scoreboard. The baseball field was home to the Petersburg Generals of the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer baseball league.The baseball field's dimensions are 320 ft. down the lines, 350 ft. to the gaps, and 375 ft. to dead center field.

Bishop Payne Divinity School was a "racially" segregated Episcopal school for African-American ministerial students, in Petersburg, Virginia. It operated on Perry Street (1878–1886), West Washington Street (1886–1889), and finally South West Street (1889–1949).: 29  The school's Emmanuel Chapel still stands, at the corner of South West and Willcox Streets.

Peabody Building of the Peabody-Williams School is an American historic school building located in Petersburg, Virginia. The structure opened in 1920 as a public high school for African American students in Petersburg's segregated public school system. The building was designed by noted Virginia architect Charles M. Robinson. It is a two-story, red brick building that was originally part of a campus that included a junior high school and an elementary school.The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, but is now closed. A new middle school was built adjacent to it, and remains in use.

The Battle of Petersburg was an unsuccessful Union assault against the earthworks fortification, the Dimmock Line, protecting the city of Petersburg, Virginia, June 9, 1864, during the American Civil War. Because of the ragtag group of defenders involved, it is sometimes known as the Battle of Old Men and Young Boys.

First Baptist Church (est. 1774) was the first Baptist church in Petersburg, Virginia; one of the first African-American Baptist congregations in the United States, and one of the oldest black churches in the nation. It established one of the first local schools for black children in the nation. Its congregation was active during the 20th century Civil Rights Movement. Today it has the largest community outreach program in the city.

Gillfield Baptist Church is the second-oldest black Baptist congregation in Petersburg, Virginia and one of the oldest in the nation. It has the oldest handwritten record book of any black church. It was organized in 1797 as a separate, integrated congregation. In 1818 it built its first church at its current lot on Perry Street. In 1957 its ninth pastor the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker (1953–1959), co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led the congregation in the Civil Rights Movement in Petersburg. It continues to serve the community today.

Poplar Lawn Historic District is a national historic district located at Petersburg, Virginia. The district is named after Petersburg's central park (about two city blocks square) which was often a military parade ground in the early 19th century, but became a tent-based detention center and hospital during the American Civil war and later became the site of civic celebrations, including possibly the first Memorial Day, on June 9, 1865. The district also includes 372 contributing buildings, mostly mid- to late-19th-century, single-family residences for middle and upper-middle-class families, some constructed of brick, others weatherboard frame, and later subdivided. Residential architectural styles include Greek Revival, Colonial Revival, Second Empire, and Italianate. Notable buildings include the Bolling-Zimmer House (c. 1830), St. Stephen's Church (c. 1912), Zion Baptist Church (c. 1880s), William T. Double House (c. 1855), the Waterworks (1856), Dr. Robert Broadnax House (1858), Market Street Methodist Church Parsonage (c. 1905), Maurice Finn House (c. 1904), and the Frank M. D'Alton Double House (c. 1911).Poplar Lawn Park features a stone basin of uncertain age that is five feet across, and with an oval-shaped depression a foot wide and a foot deep. It is traditionally known as "Pocahontas' bath", though there is no proof she ever used it. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, with a boundary increase in 2006.

Thomas Wallace House is a historic home located at Petersburg, Virginia. It was built about 1855, and is a two-story, three-bay, pressed brick dwelling in the Italianate style. It sits on a raised basement and has a low hipped roof with bracketed cornice. It has a one-story rear service wing and a front porch supported by six fluted Greek Doric order columns. On April 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant met in its library to discuss the inevitable end to the American Civil War and the surrender.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is located in the South Market Street Historic District. It is located 204 South Market, Petersburg.

The Anna P. Bolling Junior High School is an American educational institution in Petersburg, Virginia, built in 1926 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The school building was designed by architect Charles M. Robinson and is considered to be an "impressive example" of Second Renaissance Revival architecture.The school was named for Anna Peyton Bolling, who started as a high school teacher in Petersburg when the city's public schools were established and served as the high school principal from 1876 to 1907. The school that was named for her was used as a school until 1974, after which time it housed city offices, then became vacant. As of 1998 it was being converted to become moderate-income apartments.

Virginia Trunk & Bag Company is a historic factory complex located at Petersburg, Virginia. It was constructed in several phases between 1903 and about 1931. The two contributing buildings are the trunk factory building (1903) and storage and shipping building (1903). The two buildings are connected by two enclosed pedestrian bridges. The trunk factory is a four-story brick building with a number of additions. The storage and shipping building is a three- and four-story brick building. The railroad spur is a contributing site.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.