Richmond

    A.P. Hill Monument and Grave

Intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road

Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill is buried under this monument, which stands in the middle of a busy intersection. Hill was killed near Petersburg on April 1, 1865, after his lines were broken there by a concerted Union attack. Returning to the front after consulting with Lee, Hill and an aide encountered Federal soldiers who called to the pair to halt. When they turned to flee instead, the soldiers opened fire and shot Hill through the heart. His aide escaped and informed Lee of Hill's death. The site of the shooting is marking south of Petersburg near Pamplin Park.

    Agecroft Hall and Virginia House

4305 and 4301 Sulgrave Road
804-353-4241 and 804-353-4251

In the 1920s two Richmond families succumbed to their longstanding admiration of things English and rebuilt antique structures from the mother country in Windsor Farms, a new suburb for the wealthy in Richmond's West End. In 1925, Thomas C. Williams Jr., the subdivision's developer, disassembled a post-medieval house built by John Langley near Manchester, England, and reassembled it in modified form as Agecroft Hall. At the same time, diplomat Alexander W. Weddell and his wife, Virginia, purchased the ruins of Warwick Priory and shipped portions of it to Richmond for incorporation into their medieval-style residence called Virginia House.

• Agecroft - A 15th-century English manor house relocated on 23 West End acres overlooking the James River. Authentic interior, furnishings and gardens reflect Tudor and Stuart period styles. Beautiful gardens. Living history programs. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-4 pm, Sunday 12:30-5 pm. Admission for house tour and garden: $7 adults.
• Virginia House - Part of an 1125 priory was removed from England and reconstructed in this Richmond residence in 1928. Inside, the elaborate collections reflect the romance of the American Country Place movement. Noted landscape architect Charles Gillette designed the gardens. Virginia House belongs to the Virginia Historical Society. Open Friday-Saturday 10 am-4 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm. Last tour begins one hour prior to closing. Group tours available. Admission: $4 adults. Free to Virginia Historical Society members.

    Belle Isle

Accessible from a pedestrian bridge under the U.S. Route 1 automobile bridge (Lee Bridge)

A 60-acre island in the James River, home to industrial activity for centuries and the site of a notorious Civil War prison camp. Remnants of 19th- and 20th-century iron, power and quarry works still can be seen. The prison camp was established here on the flat eastern end of the island. As many as 30 captured Union soldiers died daily in harsh weather here, before the camp was emptied in 1864 and its inmates distributed among prison camps farther south, including Andersonville in Georgia. A Virginia Civil War Trails marker interprets the camp. Part of Richmond's river parks system, Belle Isle is open during daylight hours. Walk the trails to the western end of the island for a near-wilderness experience, where the roar of the rapids drowns out the noise of the city.

    Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia

00 Clay St.
804-780-9093

This museum, located in a fine 1832 Greek Revival building in Jackson Ward, highlights the life and achievements of black Virginians. First opened in 1991, the center is a repository for oral, visual and written records relating to African-American life in Richmond and Virginia. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 11 am-5 pm. Admission: $4 adults.

    Canal Walk / Richmond Riverfront

James River waterfront, with access at the base of Fifth, Seventh, 12th and 14th streets

Brass medallions embedded in the sidewalk as well as historical plaques relate Richmond's history. Topics include the Powhatan Chiefdom, the Rev. John Jasper, the first electric streetcar system in the world, the Richmond Evacuation Fire in April 1865, and the world's only urban triple railroad crossing. Other special historical "nodes" are planned. The Canal Walk stretches a mile and a quarter from the Tredegar Iron Works and Belle Isle east along the Haxall Canal to a point on Dock Street just north of the James River and Kanawha Canal. In between, Brown's Island is a venue for summer concerts, and Shockoe Slip is one of Richmond's hottest nightlife spots. Near the Slip, the Tidewater Connection Locks of the James River and Kanawha Canal are located at the south end of 12th Street near Byrd Street. Maps, photographs and artifacts help explain the Richmond canal system and the two stone locks restored here by Reynolds Metals Co. Parking available. Two blocks farther east, tour-boat guides (in season) deliver historical narratives on rides between 14th Street and the Great Ship Lock. The Canal Walk is free; there is a fee for the boat rides. See www.richmondriverfront.com for more information.

    Confederate Memorial Chapel and R.E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers' Home

2900 Grove Ave. (behind Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Grove Avenue at Boulevard)

This small white frame chapel is one of two structures surviving from the home for disabled and indigent Confederate veterans opened here in 1885. The other building is Robinson House, recently restored for offices by the museum. The camp closed after the last resident veteran died in 1941. Funerals for more than 1,700 old soldiers and their relatives were held in the chapel, which is still filled with Confederate symbols. Open Wednesday-Sunday 11 am-3 pm. Free.

    Edgar Allan Poe Museum

1914-16 E. Main St.
804-648-5523

Housed in part in the Old Stone House, the oldest surviving structure in Richmond, this museum is dedicated to the city's favorite literary son. Poe, orphaned in Richmond, grew up as a member of the Allan family. He later returned to the city to edit the Southern Literary Messenger and to court Elmira Shelton. The Old Stone House, formerly believed to date to the 17th century but probably built about 1754 by Samuel Ege, has no direct association with Poe. However, the famous author certainly would have passed by it often. Highlights of the museum include the largest collection of Poe memorabilia in existence and a scale model of Richmond as it would have appeared in his days here. Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 11 am-5 pm. Admission: $6 adults.

    Egyptian Building

1223 E. Marshall St. (faces College Street)

Completed in 1846, this National Historic Landmark is the purest expression of Egyptian Revival architecture in the country. Check out the mummy fence posts and compare the number of toes on several at random. The Egyptian Building first housed Hampden-Sydney College's medical department, which became the Medical College of Virginia in 1893 and is now the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

    Federal Reserve Bank Money Museum

Federal Reserve headquarters, Seventh and Byrd streets
804-697-8110

Money throughout history, from modern printing plates to stone money from Yap Island, is displayed here. Special sections highlight the paper money of Virginia from 1755 to 1865 and the currency of the Confederacy. Free. The museum closed after Sept. 11 but may reopen. Call before planning a visit.

    Hollywood Cemetery

Cherry and Albemarle streets
804-648-8501

Richmond's most spectacular burial ground was established in 1847 and laid out in 1848 by Scottish architect John Notman, a pioneer in the design of romantic, "naturalistic" cemeteries. U.S. Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are interred here as is Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Gens. J.E.B. Stuart and George Pickett are buried with 18,000 Confederate soldiers, including more than 2,000 removed from the Gettysburg battlefield. Maps are available at the office just inside the gate. Picnicking, once a popular pastime at Hollywood, is no longer permitted in this private cemetery. There is only one entrance. Follow the signs from Belvidere Street near the James River. Gates open 8 am-5 pm.

    Jefferson Hotel

Franklin and Adams streets

Originally completed in 1895, this grand Renaissance Revival-style building was financed by Richmond tobacconist Maj. Lewis Ginter, who commanded his architects to design the finest hostelry in the South. The Jefferson was damaged severely by fire in 1901 then partially reopened just months later. Edward Valentine's statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in the upper lobby over a pool that once was the home of live alligators. A staircase (which has NO connection with the movie Gone with the Wind, earlier legends notwithstanding) offers a first-class view of the opulent lower lobby. After many years of decline, followed by two expensive renovations, the Jefferson has fulfilled Ginter's dream by earning a five-star rating. Free to go in and look around.

    John Marshall House

Ninth and Marshall streets
804-648-7998

For 45 years the home of John Marshall, pioneer chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Built in 1790, it is the oldest brick house surviving in the city. Restored as a house museum, this National Historic Landmark contains artifacts from Marshall's residential and professional life. Operated by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA). Open Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm. Admission: $5.

    Libby Prison (site)

20th and Canal streets

John Enders constructed the infamous Civil War prison building between 1845 and 1852 on a lot bounded by 20th, 21st, Cary and Canal streets. Luther Libby soon leased it for a ship chandlery. After the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, the Confederate government seized this and other large warehouse-type buildings in Richmond for use as prisons for captured Union soldiers. Libby Prison housed Federal officers and served as a prisoner-of-war processing center. After the fall of Richmond in April 1865, the tables were turned and some former Confederates were confined there. In 1888, a Chicago syndicate purchased the building, disassembled it, and reconstructed it in the Windy City as the Libby Prison Museum by September 1889. It proved a popular tourist attraction, especially during the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 (although it had no association with the fair). By 1899, however, the museum had been closed and demolished. Some of the bricks went for souvenirs while builders reused the rest, and the timbers were transformed into a massive barn in Indiana. Today Richmond's floodwall bisects the original site, where the notorious prison is commemorated by a plaque on the wall and a Virginia Civil War Trails marker.

    The Library of Virginia

800 E. Broad St.
804-692-3500

Stunning new building holds 83 million manuscripts and more than 1.5 million books, periodicals, newspapers, prints, photographs and maps relating to Virginia history, making it indispensable to historians and genealogists. The state archives, which date to the early 17th century, house the Commonwealth's manuscript treasures. Changing exhibits on ground floor. Open Monday-Saturday 9 am-5 pm. Free admission, free guarded parking underneath for library users.

    Maggie Walker National Historic Site

110-1/2 E. Leigh St.
804-771-2017

Home for 30 years to Maggie Walker, African-American businesswoman and financier. Against all odds, she developed a successful black-controlled bank, insurance company and newspaper. The bank she founded, now Consolidated Bank & Trust, is the oldest surviving black-operated bank in the United States. National Park Service ranger tours of her 1883, 22-room house are free. Tours begin at the new visitor center, 600 N. Second St. Open Monday-Saturday 9 am-5 pm. Free.

    Maymont

2201 Shields Lake Drive
804-358-7166

This Victorian estate offers 100 acres of formal gardens and other echoes of a wealthy 1890s lifestyle. The mansion house, built in 1890 by James H. Dooley, is open for tours and features interiors at the height of Victorian opulence and excess. House tours are given Tuesday-Sunday noon-4:30 pm. Admission: Tours $4; grounds free during daylight hours.

    Monument Avenue

Monuments are located at intersections between Lombardy and Roseneath.

Five monuments honoring Confederate heroes dominate this avenue, called by some the most beautiful boulevard in the South. The monument to Robert E. Lee was first (1890), followed by J.E.B. Stuart and Jefferson Davis (1907), then "Stonewall" Jackson (1919) and Matthew Fontaine Maury (1929). A monument to tennis great Arthur Ashe, a Richmond native, was added to the west in 1996. All the statues were controversial for one reason or another (for example, surviving Confederates criticized the size or pose of Stuart's, Jackson's, and Lee's horses). The monuments combine with the remarkable and varied architecture of the avenue to form a visual feast. Monument Avenue is Richmond's most recently designated National Historic Landmark.

    Monumental Church

1224 E. Broad St.

An Episcopal church completed in 1814 on the site of the Richmond Theater, which burned Dec. 26, 1811, killing 72 people including the governor of Virginia. This building, designed by Robert Mills, is a memorial to those who died in that fire. A long-term restoration of this National Historic Landmark began in the 1970s.

    Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate Executive Mansion

1201 E. Clay St.
804-649-1861

This modern building contains the largest collection of Confederate artifacts in the world and is certainly among the best Civil War museums in the country. On display is clothing worn by Gens. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart and others. Exhibitions detail life in the Confederacy and give personal glimpses into the battlefields, north and south. The Confederate Executive Mansion, or White House, is also on the grounds. Daily tours of the restored wartime home of Jefferson Davis, a National Historic Landmark, are available. Museum shop. Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm. Admission: $9.50 combination ticket.

    Old City Hall

1001 E. Broad St.

This notable example of the High Victorian Gothic style, completed as Richmond's city hall in 1894, is as dramatic inside its 3-foot-thick granite walls as it is outside. Designed to be fireproof, the structure's interior features a spectacular iron staircase. This National Historic Landmark is open during business hours.

    Old Dominion Railway Museum

Hull and First streets
804-233-6237

Housed in a restored Railway Express Agency car, this museum features photographs and artifacts from the area's railroad history and steam, passenger, freight and caboose equipment. It's located next to a former Southern Railway passenger station, near the James River floodwall. Ask about floodwall tours on second Sundays of the month. Open Saturday 11 am-4 pm, Sunday 1-4 pm. Free (donations welcome).

    Pump House - 3 Mile Lock Park

Pump House Drive, just north of the Boulevard Bridge

Remaining structures here indicate how the James River waterfront was used in the 19th century. The impressive Victorian Gothic pump house still stands where it was built in 1883. It was abandoned in 1924. Stone locks used on the James River and Kanawha Canal are still plainly visible down a path from the pump house. One structure, a stone arch, is part of the original canal built in 1789. George Washington, considered the father of this and other canal systems, passed through here when he traveled this section in 1791. Open during daylight hours. Free.

    Science Museum of Virginia

2500 W. Broad St.
800-659-1727

Science exhibits and an Omnimax theater now occupy the old Broad Street Station built for the Atlantic Coast Line and Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroads. Designed by John Russell Pope, the station was finished in 1919. Museum hours: Tuesday-Saturday 9:30 am-5 pm, Sunday 11:30 am-5 pm. Admission: $6 adults.

    Richmond National Battlefield Park

Main visitor center near Fifth and Tredegar streets on the James River
804-226-1981

A new Civil War Visitor Center located in the Pattern Building at the Tredegar Iron Works, a National Historic Landmark, introduces visitors to both the Richmond-area battlefields and the city's other Civil War history resources. The other buildings (gun foundry, office and company store) are reminders of what once was the most important ironworks in the South. During the Civil War, Tredegar turned out more than 1,100 artillery pieces for the Confederate forces. The iron armor for CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack), the world's first ironclad warship, was manufactured here. The Richmond National Battlefield Park's stunning exhibit areas in the Pattern Building highlight military and civilian experiences in and around Richmond during the war.

The multi-unit park (the actual battlefields are in the surrounding counties outside the city) covers the nearby clashes including the Seven Days' battles at Malvern Hill and the site of a May 1862 river action at Beaverdam Creek, Gaines' Mill, Glendale and Malvern Hill and the site of a May 1862 river action at Drewry's BLluff. Other park units include the 1864 sites at Cold Harbor, Fort Harrison and Parker's Battery.

The main visitor center and the Cold Harbor visitor center are open year-round 9 am-5 pm. Visitor centers at Fort Harrison and Glendale National Cemetery are open seasonally. The former main visitor center, on the site of the Chimborazo Hospital on Broad Street in Church Hill a few miles east, features medical exhibits and is open daily 9 am-5 pm.

Admission to all is free, but there is a charge for parking in the Tredegar visitor center parking lot.

    Shockoe Slip

Bounded by 12th and 14th, Main and Canal streets

Now one of downtown Richmond's most fashionable shopping and entertainment areas, Shockoe Slip is the city's oldest mercantile district. Called "the Slip" because of its proximity to the once-bustling Great Turning Basin on the James River canal system (no longer in existence), this area had been the site of tobacco manufacturing and warehousing since the 17th century. Burned to the ground in the Great Evacuation Fire April 2-3, 1865, Shockoe Slip soon was rebuilt. Most of the structures now housing shops and restaurants date to between 1868 and 1888. The site of the first Virginia capitol building located in Richmond is marked in a parking lot at 14th and Cary streets.

    St. John's Episcopal Church

2401 E. Broad St.
804-648-5015

It was here on March 23, 1775, that Patrick Henry delivered his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. His argument persuaded the Second Virginia Revolutionary Convention to arm the Virginia militia. Built in 1741 and modified extensively over the years, St. John's is the oldest church in Richmond and is surrounded by its oldest graveyard. Buried here are Elizabeth Arnold Poe, Edgar's mother, and George Wythe. Still an active church, and a National Historic Landmark. Guided tours on the half hour Monday-Saturday 10 am-4 pm, Sunday 1-4 pm. Last tour 3:30 pm. Admission: $3 adults.

    Valentine Richmond History Center

1015 E. Clay St.
804-649-0711

The museum of Richmond life and history. Features continuing and changing exhibitions on facets of city life ranging from pre-Civil War black culture to women's working clothes. The recently restored 1812 Wickham House is part of the museum complex. Alexander Parris, the architect of Virginia's Executive Mansion, designed the house, a National Historic Landmark, with advice from Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Museum shop, cafe. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm. Admission: $5 adults.

    Virginia Historical Society

428 N. Boulevard
804-358-4901

Major exhibition space is dedicated to covering the entire scope of Virginia history. Long-term displays include "The Story of Virginia, an American Experience," "The Seasons of the Confederacy" murals, and the largest collection of Confederate-made weapons in the world. Other exhibits draw from the Society's portrait, manuscript and artifact collections compiled over its 150-year existence. The library houses the world's largest collection of Virginia history materials. Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm (galleries only). Admission: $4 adults. Mondays free.

    Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Boulevard at Grove Avenue
804-340-1400

From 20th-century abstraction to ancient Egyptian sculptors to Monet, the Virginia Museum offers a wide-ranging variety of artworks. Galleries open Tuesday-Sunday 11 am-5 pm (Thursday until 8 pm). Free (donations expected). Museum shop.

    Virginia Fire and Police Museum

200 W. Marshall St.
804-644-1849

Antique fire-fighting and police equipment located in historic fire/police building in Jackson Ward. Open Tuesday-Friday 10 am-2 pm. Donations suggested.

    Virginia War Memorial

U.S. Route 1, at the north end of the Lee Bridge over the James River

An imaginative memorial to Virginia's dead from World War II, Korea and Vietnam, this state-operated shrine commands a great view of the downtown skyline and the James River. Embedded in the floor of the monument are authentic relics gathered from the world's battle areas. Open daily approximately 9 am-10 pm. Free.

    Wilton House Museum

215 S. Wilton Road (south of Cary Street)
804-282-5936

Completed for William Randolph III in 1753, this Georgian plantation home is furnished with period antiques. Its fine paneling, found in every room, and its spectacular main stair exemplify the best in colonial craftsmanship. Originally situated on the James River east of Richmond, Wilton was moved in 1934 to its present location. Guided tours are offered Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-4:30 pm and Sunday 1:30-4:30 pm (last tours 3:45 pm). Admission: $5 adults.