November 2010

A home to the Randolph family and working farm for nearly 300 years, this plantation was Thomas Jefferson's boyhood home.

Tuckahoe was founded by the Randolph family, one of the preeminent colonial families in Virginia. They were a family with an enormous influence in shaping the habits, customs and politics of both the colony and the nation. The mansion was built in the era of great plantations in Virginia.

Tuckahoe was constructed in two sections, the North first in 1733 and the center hall and South end following in 1740. Original outbuildings line “Plantation Street” making Tuckahoe the most complete 18th century plantation layout in North America. The land was first settled by “Thomas of Tuckahoe”, one of the sons of William and Mary Randolph of Turkey Island. It was Thomas’s son, William, who is credited with building the mansion visitors know as Tuckahoe today.

Often considered one of the finest existing early-18th-century plantations, Tuckahoe stands on a bluff overlooking the James River. The original outbuildings remain, including the schoolhouse where Jefferson studied.

Visitors are invited to touch, observe, and explore the impact of science from astonomy to computers, from flight to crystals, from DNA to electricity--all within the elegant grandeur of a historic, renovated railroad station.

The museum houses hundreds of permanent and visiting exhibits. Visitors can see rats play basketball or play laser pool. Watch the Foucault pendulum as it proves the Earth’s rotation. Visit Bioscape — an inter-active life sciences exhibition. Watch a giant-screen film in the museum’s Ethyl Corporation in the museum's Imax theater. Special programs offered through the museum include live theater presentations by the Carpenter Science Theatre Company.

This site's numerous battlefields include Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines' Mill, Glendale, and Malvern Hill, all of which served as fields of engagement during the 1862 Seven Days Battles and the 1864 battles of Cold Harbor and New Market Heights.

On these battlefields, 14 United States Colored Troops won Medals of Honor, making this site an important landmark in African American history.

The park also includes Drewry's Bluffand Parker's Battery in Chesterfield County.

Today, the park preserves more than 1900 acres of Civil War resources in 13 units, including the main visitor center at the famous Tredegar Iron Works and the Chimborazo Medical Museum, on the site of Chimborazo Hospital.

One of the last remaining 19th century farms in Henrico County , this 1860 farm is now a living history museum focusing on middle class rural life in 1860.

Meadow Farm Museum presents programs and exhibits on the culture of the rural south during the mid-19th century. Interpreters provide insight into the lives of Dr. John Mosby Sheppard, the owner of Meadow Farm, and his family. On selected weekends, costumed interpreters demonstrate seasonal activities in the farmhouse, barns, doctor’s office, blacksmith forge, fields and pastures. The Museum also offers a full schedule of workshops, special events, living history programs, exhibits and volunteer opportunities throughout the year. The Orientation Center features rotating exhibits and a gift shop.

By 1893, the Dooleys were living in their new 12,000 square-foot, 33-room home, which they named “May Mont,” a name which combines Mrs. Dooley’s maiden name and the French word for hill.

Among historic house museums, the Maymont Mansion is rare in that no intervening families or adaptive conversions separate visitors from the original owner’s 32-year occupancy. Despite the fact that no architectural drawings or other early records of its construction and design have survived, its physical integrity and ongoing research has provided a solid base of documentation. Within six months of Mrs. Dooley’s death in 1925, the mansion was opened to the public as a museum. The upper floors’ interiors and a large original collection remained relatively untouched until the beginning of the restoration in 1970. Since the nonprofit Maymont Foundation took responsibility for the estate in 1975, extensive conservation and restoration have greatly enhanced its authenticity, condition, and presentation.

In spite of humble beginnings in post-Civil War Richmond, Virginia, Maggie Lena Walker achieved national prominence as a businesswoman and community leader. Her business acumen, personality, and lifelong commitment to a beneficial burial society fueled her climb to success. As a leader, her successes and vision offered tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. Walker's residence of 30 years has been restored to its 1930s appearance. The furnishings throughout the home are original family pieces. Through exhibits and guided tours, visitors can experience the life of this great African American woman, who was born during slavery and achieved success despite segregation and the limited opportunities offered to her race.

The State Library, which contains an excellent collection of objects, manuscripts, maps, and antiques, mounts changing exhibitions on the first floor, most of which center on Virginians and their books.

In 1884, Lewis Ginter bought the property and built the Lakeside Wheel Club, a one-story structure that was later modified and incorporated into Bloemendaal House. The Wheel Club was a destination for Richmond bicyclists. During 1968, the city investigated plans for a botanical garden but none of them came to fruition and the property languished. By 1981, a group of botanists, horticulturists and interested citizens banded together to form the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Inc. to uphold the will of Arents. However, a lawsuit ensued. An amicable settlement allowed the formation of the Garden. The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden was chartered by court decree.

This temple-front, four-room plan house with an Adamesque interior has undergone remarkably few changes since Marshall's ownership. It reflects much of its original appearance, combining Federal characteristics such as Flemish-bond brickwork, a Roman temple pediment, and Neo-classical motifs along with Georgian elements such as rubbed brick lintels, an English-bond brick water table, and paneled interior walls and wainscoting.

Marshall owned a square in the fashionable residential area known as Court End. Many of his friends and relatives bought four lots that comprised a square or city block. These properties, which included their homes, support buildings and gardens, were known as "plantations-in-town." Marshall's square included the residence, his law office, a laundry, kitchen, carriage house and stable, garden and carriage turn-around.

The Museum boasts 28 permanent exhibits depicting prominent themes and events from the Holocaust. The newest exhibit, The Nuremberg Trials Courtroom Exhibit, officially opened in May 2008 and is the only existing replica of the famous courtoom that set the standard for modern international law. Also included in the museum, is a replica of the famous Chor Schul (synagogue) in Lithuania, as well as a cattle car and Survivor’s Room for quiet meditation and reflection. As a specialized collection, the Virginia Holocaust Museum houses approximately 4,200 books, videos, and periodicals dating from the 1930's to the present. Like the museum itself, the Library focuses on Holocaust history, education, comparative genocide studies, and the sociology of intolerance.