On the afternoon of Saturday Dec 23rd, we toured Fort Pulaski. From Wikipedia:

Fort Pulaski National Monument is located between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. It preserves Fort Pulaski, notable as the place where, during the American Civil War, in 1862, the Union Army successfully tested a rifled cannon. The success of the test rendered brick fortifications obsolete. The fort was also used as a prisoner-of-war camp. The National Monument includes most of Cockspur Island (containing the fort) and all of adjacent McQueens Island.

One of the highlights was the canon demonstration. Also, there were a few guys playing baseball with old-timey gear. From the National Park Service's web site for Fort Pulaski:

Members of the 48th New York Volunteers occupying Fort Pulaski played baseball to pass the time. One of the first photographs taken of the game of baseball was captured at Fort Pulaski in 1863.

Here are some photos:

Via Slate's Today's Papers column, a recent article of the same title in the Washington Post by Candace Rondeaux reports on individuals who volunteer to serve as witnesses of prisoner executions:

It's been 70 years since executions in the United States were open to the public. But in Virginia, there is always someone watching, turning what is for most people a distinctly private moment into a very public end. One of more than a dozen death penalty states that require ordinary citizens to witness executions, Virginia has enlisted hundreds of volunteers for the task.

They come from every corner and every quarter: A Richmond school bus driver, a South Hill bookkeeper, a Prince William County police officer, an Ashburn computer specialist, a Lynchburg brass works fabricator. All have visited the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.