Richmond is a Virginia town rich in history
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A life-size bronze statue of Abraham and Tad Lincoln at the Richmond National Battlefield Park Visitor Center depicts their visit on April 4, 1865, to tour the burned-out Confederate capital. -
Jefferson Davis and his family lived in this mansion. -
Monument to unknown Confederate Civil War soldiers in Hollywood Cemetery. -
The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar interprets the Civil War from Union, Confederate and African-American' perspectives. The center's flagship exhibit, "In the Cause of Liberty," features four films, including the multimedia "1863: The War Comes Home." -
Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond holds Confederate casualties from most of the major Civil War battles, many of whom have "unknown" markers. This section near the entrance, erected in 1918, is for officers. -
Built in the Beaux Arts style, Richmond's Jefferson Hotel welcomed its first guests in 1895. It features a 70-foot-tall rotunda with faux marble columns and a grand staircase. -
The bricks and granite columns from the Southern Literary Messenger building, where writer Edgar Allan Poe began his career, were used in the construction of the Poe Shrine at Richmond's Poe Museum.
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RICHMOND, Va. -- So you've spent a few amazing hours with Pablo Picasso at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Now what? Actually, there's plenty to keep you busy in this pretty Southern city founded in 1737, and named the state capital in 1780.
Much of its charm, of course, lies in its history. The city played a pivotal role in the American Civil War -- the center of slave trade in America, it served as the capital of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865, and also was the site of several major battles -- and you don't have to look far for reminders.
A late-afternoon run, for example, found me on Monument Avenue, a beautiful tree-lined boulevard that runs through the heart of Richmond's historic Fan District. Four famous Confederates -- J.E.B. Stuart, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson -- rise in stone on the grassy mall, which is so lovely it's the site of an annual "Easter on Parade" each spring and the only street in the United States to be a National Historic Landmark.
Getting there: Two hours south of Washington, D.C., Richmond is an easy six-hour drive from Pittsburgh, so long as you steer clear of the 1-495 Capitol Beltway around the nation's capital. (No matter what time of day you drive it, you're going to get stuck in traffic). If you'd rather fly, there are several nondirect flights into Richmond International Airport; cost is around $250.
Where to stay: Richmond boasts a wide variety of hotels/motels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts, with prices that fit every budget. If you want to splurge, you can't go wrong with the landmark Jefferson Hotel on West Franklin Street (www.jeffersonhotel.com; 1-800-424-8014). Built in 1895, the luxury hotel (rates start at about $240) has played host to 10 presidents and such celebrities as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Dolly Parton and Jude Law. Even if you don't stay there, take a walk inside to see the 35-foot dome of Tiffany stained glass in the lobby (that's Thomas Jefferson immortalized in marble) and its even more spectacular rotunda. Graced with a 70-foot ceiling and faux marble columns, it has a grand staircase that puts to shame the one Scarlett O'Hara famously fell down in "Gone With the Wind."
First Published March 20, 2011 12:00 am
