"Overwhelming hospitality" for the Emerging Civil War Symposium

Emerging Civil War co-founder Kris White speaks

More than 70 people from across the United States came to the property this past weekend for the first annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge. Attendees visited from as far away as Seattle, Washington and Hollister, California.

Chris, our resident historian, served as the emcee for the event. He and his longtime best friend, historian Kris White, are cofounders of Emerging Civil War.

Friday featured a panel of nine historians who held a freewheeling discussion about the war in 1864, which was the topic of symposium. Saturday featured seven speakers who presented programs on various aspects of the Civil War in '64. On Sunday, Chris and Kris led battlefield tours.

"Stevenson Ridge is right on the battlefield, so it makes a lot of sense for us to explore its Civil War connections," Chris said. "There was a lot of great energy and enthusiasm all weekend long because we had such a great mix of people!"

Several symposium attendees stayed in our historic houses, and everyone enjoyed a great lunch from our chef. "The hospitality was overwhelming!" keynote speaker Eric Wittenberg told us. He also had many nice things to say about the event on his blog.

It was an exciting weekend for us--and an especially busy one, too, because we also had three weddings over the weekend! C-SPAN came on Saturday to cover the events, so look for us there next month--we will keep you posted on details.


We are already looking forward to next year's symposium: July 24-26, 2015. Book your reservations for our houses early!

Historian Chris Kolakowski
(not to be confused with our own Chris Mackowski!)