- Monument Terrace
Like most Southern towns, the US Civil War was a defining era. There was fighting along the Lynchburg Pike, Confederate troops were mustered on what is now Miller Park, and the Sandusky Estate was Union headquarters after the city was taken (future President Rutherford B. Hayes was part of the Union Army staff). Confederate General Jubal Early led the troops that defended Lynchburg. He is honored with an obelisk where Fort Avenue divides off to become Memorial Blvd. (5th Street) to the west and Fort Avenue (12th Street) to the east.
We honor the soldiers who died in wars since the Civil War with the Monument Terrace steps, which run up a steep incline on what would be 9th Street between Church and Court Streets. It’s a beautiful if physically daunting climb. (Okay, I’ve never done it, go ahead, call me a slug.) Originally built in the 1920’s, the Court Street end has a statue representing a Confederate veteran while the Church Street end depicts a Doughboy and lists the names of Lynchburg men who died in The Great War (WWI). In later years, additional memorials were erected along the steps honoring the dead of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.