Camp Nelson National Monument Visitor Center and Museum NPS/A. Goetz
Overview
The US Army established Camp Nelson as a fortified supply depot in April 1863. Over the next 3 years, the site evolved into a massive recruitment and training center for United States Colored Troops and a refugee camp for their families. It served as a shelter for civilians fleeing war and for enslaved people hoping to secure their freedom and aid in the destruction of slavery.
A paved path leads to a gray wooden building with US Flag flying.A stone obelisk in a grass field surrounded by luminary bagsNPS Directional Sign at Camp Nelson National MonumentLiving historians portraying US soldiers in a grass field with a wagon.Open fields of green grass with trees during a colorful sunrise.A row of rough, wooden bunk beds in the soldiers' barrack house.A white, 2 story farm house with a Civil War cannon sitting in front of it2 cannons at an earthen fortLiving historians firing cannons in a grass field.
