Extended Weekend Getaways 
By Kathleen Walls
Freelance Travel Writer
Richmond’s Place in History
It was the site of a major battle during the American Revolution and had ties to three Revolutionary heroes: Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and John Marshall, the first Supreme Court Chief Justice. From the Revolution through present-day Civil Rights, Richmond tells history’s story.
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture
A good starting point is The Virginia Museum of History & Culture where you discover 16,000 years of Virginia history. There are exhibits about our Founding Fathers including Patrick Henry’s glasses, letters from George Washington, and more.
Hanover Courthouse and Hanover Tavern
Patrick Henry, with his wife and five children, lived at Hanover Tavern, now a suburb of Richmond, as a young man, where he met Thomas Jefferson and began studying law. He later practiced at the nearby Hanover Courthouse, one of Virginia’s oldest courthouses, dating to around 1740.
Hanover Tavern offers tours Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 7pm. My guide, Brooke Adams, led me through the two floors, with some original structures. The tavern features colonial artifacts, handmade candles, jugs, period food, and a desk with a quill reminiscent of Patrick’s era. The highlight was the “Lady in Black” mannequin, part of the tavern’s haunted history. Ghost tours also take place throughout the year.
The dining area with its exposed beam ceiling and brick fireplace makes you feel you are sitting at a table overhearing some of the founding fathers arguing about whether to engage in a war against their lawful sovereign.
Their Barksdale Theatre is the oldest continuously operating dinner theater in the country. The tavern serves lunch and dinner. It’s a good idea to make a reservation.
Across the street, Hanover County’s Historic Courthouse is open for free tours on the second Thursday of every month, from 10am to 2pm. Docents tell its history and usually give tours of the Old Stone Jail, next to the courthouse.
The docent led me through the courtroom furnished as it was in the 1700s. Patrick Henry’s most famous picture hangs behind the judge’s bench. It was here that he argued for the defendants in the Parson’s Case. One of the earliest cases defying the king’s rulings.
I visited the old jail dating to 1835. The small cell with iron bars would have cured me of any criminal urges. There’s a small museum with artifacts including arrowheads from native tribes who once roamed this land.
Scotchtown
Scotchtown desk and chairs that belonged to Patrick Henry
Scotchtown, near the Tavern, was Patrick Henry’s home from 1771 to 1778. The single-story plantation house has eight rooms, including a parlor, family dining area, bedrooms for his six children, and one for him and his wife, Sarah. The furnishings are modest, and many rooms have fireplaces. Notable items include an 18th-century barrister’s wig and two desks and a chair that belonged to Henry.
The kitchen and icehouse have been reconstructed, and the gardens feature plants typical of the period. The stories of the 20 to 30 enslaved people who lived there—including Dinah, Pedro, Will, Hannah, Jenny, and Beck—are also shared.
Tour guide Miller Bowe highlighted Henry’s animated speeches and recounted his bold response during the Stamp Act debate: after referencing historical tyrants, Henry replied to accusations of treason with, “Well, if this be treason, make the most of it.”
St. John’s Church
Richmond Va. St Johns church
St. John’s Church atop Richmond’s highest point where Patrick Henry gave his “Liberty or Death” speech is the city’s oldest church, circa 1741. The church graveyard contains many famous people, including George Wythe, one of Virginia’s signers of the “Declaration of Independence.”
Andrew, dressed as Henry would have been, led our tour into the church and gave us a sample of Patrick Henry’s famous speech to the other members of the council, including George Washington. Had Virginia, the richest and most influential colony, not supported the rebellion, it may have failed. Henry’s speech was the spark that ignited the flame of revolution.
Touring the church, still active, and graveyard are free, but I recommend taking the “Liberty or Death” tour or reenactment. There’s street parking and accessible parking on 24th Street near the drop-off zone and elevator.
The Capital
Thomas Jefferson moved Virginia’s capital from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1780. Jefferson was the major designer, and construction began in 1785 and was completed in 1788. Today’s massive white Palladian-style Capitol is the eighth built.
During the Civil War, it was the capital of the Confederate States of America. In 1960, it was named a National Historic Landmark. They offer free one-hour guided tours Monday through Saturday 10:00am to 4:00pm, and Sunday beginning at 1:00 pm.
Don’t make the mistake I made by entering from a side street and walking all around looking for the entrance at the bottom of the hill at 1000 Bank Street. But do see the grounds and statues.
The Washington equestrian statue is a 65 feet tall bronze monument, with a 21-foot statue of George Washington on horseback. He is surrounded by figures representing Virginia patriots.
The American Civil War Museum
This cannon sits on exhibt at the American Civil War Museum
The American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar Iron Works, the South’s largest wartime facility in the 1860s, showcases Civil War history. Many of the cannons on display were made here at Tredegar.
One exhibit, In the Cause of Liberty, explores the reasons behind the war and its results. Another, The People, tells about the home front, not just the battlefields.
Confederate White House
Although there is a desk where Davis worked and some official papers, touring the Confederate White House is seeing the home of a wealthy family. The bedroom where he and Varina slept is furnished with a four-poster bed draped with netting. The children’s room is filled with the toys his three young children played with. One of the most striking items is in the library, a red marbleized iron mantel made of painted iron designed to look like marble.
The Holocaust Museum
The Holocaust Museum in Richmond, Virginia is a view of one of the most horrific events in modern history. It shows what can happen when a country lets a dictator take control. The museum is housed in an 1899 tobacco warehouse. Inside, you walk between rails from a line leading to the Treblinka Death Camp. Exhibits are arranged in chronological order from the trains taking innocent people to imprisonment to the concentration camps and ovens that were part of Hitler’s “Final Solution” to rid Germany of people he believed inferior. The newest and most impressive exhibit is Dimensions in Testimony & Why It’s Important, where you ask questions and get real-time answers from pre-recorded video interviews with Holocaust survivors and others who lived in Germany during this horrific time. My guide, Noah Leventhal, himself the grandson of a Holocaust victim, set up the virtual reality show, and I could speak to and get answers from 3D Halina Zimm who survived the Holocaust with false papers provided by a Polish Catholic woman. Noah told me Helina, who is in her 90s, still visits the museum.
The Poe Museum
The museum has more Poe artifacts and manuscripts than any other museum in the world. Including a staircase from his childhood home with the Allan family, who fostered him as a young orphan. One building is the Old Stone House. It’s the oldest residence in Richmond, where, when Lafayette visited in 1824, young Poe stood guard as a member of the Richmond Youth Honor Guard. Look for Edgar and Tibs, the museum cats. If you’re visiting when they’re having “Unhappy Hour,” held in their Enchanted Garden, it’s fun to attend.
Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia
The Black History Museum is housed in Leigh Street Armory, the first armory built by Black Americans around 1895. It served as a Black militia base for four years, became a Black school and a social center for Black servicemen during World War II. It tells the complete Black history story.
The elevator even is painted to tell the story of Henry “Box” Brown, who escaped enslavement by mailing himself from Richmond in a box to free territory. There’s a display of the original Woolworth’s sign from the downtown counter where Black students held a sit-in.
Originally Published in our Online February Issue of our Fli-Page Extended Weekend Getaways Magazine
