Today I was in Richmond, Virginia – once capital of the Confederacy but today a thriving, busy and successful regional centre.
In the morning I visited a new museum, the American Civil War Center, based at the former Tredegar Iron Works (which was the CSA’s main manufacturer of cannon). This offered a solid overview of the whole conflict from a variety of perspectives – Union, Confederate and also African American. Perhaps there wasn’t anything in it that I hadn’t been aware of before, but the Centre presented the information in an organised way that made it easy to understand. It was good, also, to get the story at a higher level than that of individual battles or campaigns. While the Centre did refer to some battles it did so in the context of the war as a whole and their effect on it. So First Manassas was the battle that told everybody that it would not be a quick war; Antietam cost more american lives than any other single day before or since; Vicksburg was the key to the Union winning in the western sphere; and the capture of Atlanta won the 1864 election for Lincoln. A good visit.
Then I walked along the canal and river side (James River) towards the centre of the city. Again, this is a historic area that has been scrubbed-up and made into an attraction. Very nice, in fact. And finally I spent the afternoon walking around the area near the B&B. I explored Carytown which is a shopping and restaurant area near where I was staying. I also found the Virginia Centre for Architecture, which is located in the Branch House, an extraordinary ‘American Tudor Revival’ house dating from the early 20th century. Until this afternoon I’d never heard of the American Tudor Revival, but apparently in that period it was huge, and this house is a prime example of it. I was able to take a short walk around on the ground floor, and all the Tudor features you would expect were there: Long Gallery? – check; Great Hall? – check; minstrel’s gallery in the same? – oh dear me, yes…. Utterly extraordinary, completely bonkers, but somehow it does work.
At lunchtime and again in the evening I ate at a restaurant in Carytown, ‘The Daily‘, which I really enjoyed. The menu was slightly less whole-heartedly american than I had found in many places in Front Royal and Staunton, perhaps reflecting both Richmond’s status as a regional centre, and also Carytown’s local position as a student and possibly even ever-so-slightly bohemian area.
This was my last full day. Tomorrow I have one last morning and then I must get back to Dulles for my flight home.
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