Richmond VA USA

The stunning view across the James River towards Richmond from Lydia and Bill’s apartment.  In the foreground is the flood wall with a walking/running/cycle route along the top

View up-river towards the Manchester road bridge,
beyond which is the footbridge across the rive

We arrived in Richmond, Virginia in the dark on the evening of Wed 31 Oct, having been driven up from the OCC/Salty Dawgs party in Hampton by Bill.  Bill and Lydia rent a lovely flat in the now up-and-coming Manchester area, to the south of the James River, which they use mostly when Bill needs to be in Richmond for business. The flat is up on the seventh floor of the building and the views out across the rapids on the James River towards the city are fabulous, particularly, we saw the following morning, with the autumn colours on the trees in the islands’ public parks.

(Right) footbridge across the James River.  To the right of the picture are the piers of the original railroad bridge and beyond them is the new Manchester road bridge.  (Left) The city authorities have recently developed the James River area into a series of public parks, activity spaces and nature conservancy areas. Here, one of the local residents seems quite happy with life

We walked east from the apartment to join the walking/running route along the top of the flood wall, so that we had views across the river for our walk, and then headed west, along the flood wall path, to the relatively new footbridge that has been constructed across the river towards central Richmond.  On our way we passed the ruined piers of the Civil War era railroad bridge, some of which have had climbing protection added so that local climbing clubs and individuals can use them for practice and training.  Bill and Lydia had told us that the gentrification of both the Manchester area of the city and, indeed, the river itself, was quite new.  The city authorities have developed many of the islands as parks and have built canoeing and kayaking facilities, as well as the climbing ‘walls’, to encourage city residents to use the outdoor areas on their doorsteps.

Historic Tredegar, previously the site of a Civil War era foundry and now the site of the city’s American Civil War Museum.  During the Civil War Richmond became the capital of the Confederate States primarily due to its industrial facilities and shipping links

Richmond was the Civil War capital of the Confederate States, taking the role from Montgomery, Alabama, for a number of reasons, not least its industrial base and shipping facilities. The American Civil War Museum, which Bill and Lydia could not recommend highly enough, and with good reason, is located in Historic Tredegar, a Civil War era foundry which produced a vast number of cannon and other military equipment for the Confederates during the war. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside the museum but we spent several fascinating hours inside, gaining a much greater understanding of the events leading up to and during the war, as well as of the aftermath.  And whilst some of the displays seemed a little overly self-congratulatory about Abraham Lincoln’s announcement of the abolition slavery in southern states (which is what enabled the Unionists to win the war), other displays highlighted that civil rights for all were still, technically, at least another 100 years in coming, and in practicality much longer still.

The museum, as we saw it, is very much a historical educational establishment, with a huge number of written displays explaining the background to the war and discussing events.  Whilst there are artefacts and photographs on display these are secondary to the text displays.  One visitor we met in the museum apologised for it, saying that it had previously been much better, which we took to mean more artefacts to look at, less reading required.  We found the detail in the text interesting, a bit like walking through a well-written history book.  However, when we said as much to one of the museum staff she explained that the museum in this iteration was quite old and was currently undergoing something of a renovation.  Another part of the old foundry has been redeveloped for a new exhibition space and the intent is to include more artefacts in the displays, whilst trying to maintain the historical detail and explanations of the current museum.  If they succeed it will be a truly excellent museum (and we thought it was that already!) but it will probably take days of visits to do it justice.  The new display space opens in May 2019 – maybe something else for next time!

Virginia State Capitol Building, built up on a hill where it would once have overlooked most of the city

After much longer than we had intended in the Civil War Museum, we took a stroll around central Richmond up towards the White House of the Confederacy one of the branches of the Civil War Museum, where Nicky had been told they had on sale copies of a book that had been recommended to her (Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz).  En routewe passed the State Capitol Building, with impressive columned façade, sitting on a grassy hill.  It’s now slap bang in the centre of Richmond but presumably when it was built (1788) it was just on the outskirts, overlooking the city, set back a little as befits a building where the affairs of the State, and not just the city in which the building is located, are decided.

(Left) Statue of George Washington near the State Capitol Building.  (Centre) statue of Thomas J Jackson (‘Stonewall’ Jackson).  (Right) The White House of the Confederacy – the house where Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, lived for much of the Civil War, before Unionist troops forced the evacuation of the city

In the grounds around the State Capitol are a number of statues.  These include George Washington (of course) on horseback – hero of the country for leading the American Army in the War of Independence – and Thomas J ‘Stonewall’ Jackson one of the leading commanders in the Confederate army.  Jackson died in May 1863 of pneumonia, which he contracted having been weakened by wounds sustained in battle and the amputation of his left arm.  Military historians consider Jackson one of the gifted tactical commanders in US history and his death proved a severe setback for the Confederacy, affecting the morale of its army and the general public as well as its military prospects.

The White House of the Confederacy, a plain, Georgian-style house, was built in 1818 as a home for Dr John Brockenbrough.  Appropriately enough, the building is now almost entirely surrounded and overshadowed by the enormous blocks of VCU’s teaching hospital (VCU = Virginia Commonwealth University).  Presumably the only reason that the building still stands and has not be buried by another part of the medical faculty is that it is a National Historic Landmark. And, of course, the reason that it is a National Historic Landmark is because, for 4 years during the Civil War (1861-1865), it served as the executive mansion for the Confederate States and home to the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, and his family. The building was saved from destruction by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society and used as the Confederate Museum from 1894 until 1976 before being restored to its wartime appearance and reopened to the public in its current form.  When we stopped past, the house was open but the other displays associated with it, presumably artefacts from what had been the Confederate Museum, were being packed up, ready for their move to the new Civil War display space at Historic Tredegar.  We bought Nicky’s book, heard how the medical school would be taking on most of the buildings associated with the museum up here (other than the house, of course) and decided that time did not permit us to do a tour, interesting though it would have been.

Driving tour of Richmond, including areas such as Monument Avenue (right top and bottom), which we would not have reached on foot

The next day, Friday 2 November, Bill and Lydia took us on a short driving tour of Richmond en routeto lunch at an excellent little café.  We drove though some very attractive areas of central Richmond that we had not discovered on foot and also along Monument Avenue, which is too far from the centre to easily reach on foot.

(Top left) Statue of Confederate General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.  At all the major junctions on Monument Avenue there are statues of important Confederates. Many, of course, are of generals (‘Stonewall’ Jackson, Robert E Lee, etc).  According to local lore, if the general’s horse is facing south then the rider survived the war.  If the horse is facing north, the general died in battle and continues to keep an eye on the Yankees.  (Top right) Controversial statue of Jefferson Davis  (Bottom) Sadly, we had no time to visit the Virginia Historical Society – perhaps one for the next time we are in the city?

Monument Avenue, as its name suggests, is home to a large number of the city’s monumental statues, as far as we could see, the vast majority Confederate generals on horseback.  The main exception, are a statue of Arthur Ashe, the Richmond-born tennis player, and a statue of Jefferson Davis on a tall column. Bill explained that this latter statue is controversial because Davis was not a native of the city and is only associated with Richmond because of his role as the Confederate president.

Charlottesville, home of the University of Virginia (UVA) and their football team, the Cavaliers aka ‘The Hoos.

Later that afternoon, Bill drove us all the hour and a half northwest to Charlottesville so that Nicky and I could experience our first live college American Football game.  Indeed, our first live American Football game, college or professional.  Bill and Lydia avidly support the Cavaliers (aka The Hoos), the football team of the University of Virginia and, so far, the team had been doing well this season. It was raining so, since we did not have a gazebo to erect behind the car, instead of holding a pre-match tailgate party like so many of the other supporters, we sat in the car and had a bite to eat, whilst being given the low-down on the rules of the game.

Go on you Hoos!!

When we entered the stadium, in an absolute downpour, the enormous band was soggily doing its bit, marching up and down the pitch and spelling out its team’s name in a series of set-pieces. Then the team’s cavalier (yes, on horseback) entered the stadium and did his thing, whipping the crowd into a frenzy; a short cartoon featuring the cavalier getting the better of the other team’s mascot (a panther – the Pittsburgh Panthers) was shown on the big screen; the national anthem was played and sung; and then the game began.

The full works including enormous band and cheerleaders even despite the initial torrential rain

The many cheerleaders shimmied and danced and held up signs telling us when to make lots of noise, the band played enthusiastically from the stands and the first 2 quarters were close run with The Hoos just holding the lead when Bill and Nicky went out to buy warming hot chocolates.  Unfortunately, due to the state of the pitch as a result of the early rain (though, happily, it had stopped raining after the first 15 minutes), the band was not permitted to do its marching display at half-time and the cheerleaders, like the teams, retired to the dressing room, to warm up no doubt.  The third and fourth quarters were less successful for The Hoos (perhaps the cheerleaders shouldn’t have come out wearing jumpers) and they lost the lead and then Pittsburgh started to pile on the points. At one point a come-back looked achievable but then it was all over in a flurry of disappointment and the long drive back to Richmond beckoned.

When we had last seen Phil Breddy in Great Falls he had commented on how difficult it is to drive on American roads in the dark.  Unlike in much of the UK, he had said, most American road markings are not of reflective or high quality white paint, even on fast roads, and cat’s eyes are almost non-existent.  Happily for Bill (who was driving), the road between Charlottesville and Richmond is one of those rare American roads that is both fast, well tarmac’d and well marked, with good paint and cat’s eyes too.  Even so, at night it’s a long, dark journey (there are few road lights) and isn’t one I’d care to drive frequently.

Morning light on Richmond and the James River

We arrived back at Richmond safely, after a great day out but, especially, after a fabulous evening at the match – what a great spectacle, even if the wrong team won!  After a good night’s sleep, and a final drink in of the views from the apartment, Bill and Lydia dropped us off at our hire car pick-up point and we bade them many thanks and farewell for the time being, before hitting the road north to Great Falls.

Richmond, Virginia, USA