Did Someone Forget to Mention "Hilly"?

24 June 2022--We went into Richmond this morning, the capital of Virginia, and as we were going to see the capitol building, we ran into this sign pointing out that this was the spot of the old state capitol where Thomas Jefferson wrote the VA statute establishing religious freedom--a statute later adopted as the concept of separation of church and state in our constitution.  I think, based on what happened today, our Supreme Court members might want to take another look at this.

  

Two things stood out today.  One was that Richmond, or at least the capital area, is a very hilly place, and the other is that no matter where you went there was massive construction happening.  So although the couple places we went should have been able to be covered in about the space of a mile, we must have walked 5 miles trying to get to there--and all of it seemed to be uphill! lol

The capitol building sits on 12 acres with lots of statues, the governor's mansion, etc., to see on the outside.  We couldn't enter thru the front doors, or even get a really good picture due to construction.

 

Here is a display honoring the "women's movements", different people from different eras going back to Martha Washington.  Cathy is standing with Adele Clark, a suffragist born in 1882 and only died in 1983--wow--101 yrs old, and would I have loved to talk with her!  I only posted the 2nd lady here because I was fascinated by her hat--lol.  Seemed like a bird somehow got caught up in there.

  

Here you have a towering George Washington, and then in the 2nd pic is Stonewall Jackson.  I was surprised to see him because Virginia has removed a lot of their statues honoring Civil War era generals, and Stonewall was one of them.  Must have slipped thru the cracks?

  

Honoring those that brought the Brown vs Board of Education suit to the Supreme Court.

  

The Governor's mansion is on the grounds, and is the oldest in the country still in use...built in 1813.

  

Some very pretty gardens.  I have seen the flowers in the 2nd row before, but no idea what the bush in the 1st pics are.  Just very pretty.

  

  

Thomas Jefferson actually designed this building when he was the Ambassador to France.  In the rotunda is this statue of Washington, (made in 1796), a bust of Lafayette, and busts of the 7 other presidents of this country that came from Virginia.  Other than Washington there is Jefferson (3rd), Madison (4th), Monroe (5th), Harrison (9th), Tyler (10th), Taylor (12th, and then Wilson (28th).  There will be a test at the end of this post. lol

   

This room is where the delegates voted to secede from the union and also where Robert E. Lee accepted command of Virginia's military forces.  It's also where Aaron Burr, former US Vice President, was tried and then acquitted of treason.

  

Not unusual for state seals and state flags to be different, but here they are the same.

  

This was just a random painting of Pocahontas, with no explanation as to why she was there.  I found myself wondering if she really went around wearing pearls, or was she a republican and no one ever told me?  Blow up the pic and you'll see she's wearing a very "white woman's" necklace. lol  

 

Outside the capitol grounds, on opposite sides of the building, are the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and the old city hall.  The old city hall building was begun in 1886, and was a much more interesting building that any others we saw from the outside.

   

Except, of course, if you ran into this building built in 1844.  Now who would ever think an Egyptian-style building would be built in America in the 1800s?  

   

It seemed to take us forever to walk to the Confederate White House, where Jefferson Davis lived during the Civil War.  Other than the hills and the construction, I forgot to mention that a dominant feature of the capital is the Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Medical College.  They both have numerous buildings--the Egyptian building is part of it--so between the construction fences blocking our way and the buildings occupied by these schools we were constantly running into dead ends as we tried to get from point A to point B--once again, seemingly always retracing our steps uphill! lol

Ten days before he was assassinated and 2 days after Davis left this house, Lincoln met here with prominent confederates to try to start reconstruction.

  

 

Heading back to the canal district where we had parked, we saw this display telling us about how a slave escaped back in 1848 after his wife an children were sold.  If I got in that box I knew I'd never get out, so I coaxed Cathy in. lol

  

And last, but not least, we went for a late lunch at "Bottoms up", a pizza place our friends Dayle and Dale told us about.  It's in a trendy spot under overhead train tracks.  A train actually went over us, so we had to shout for about 15 minutes until it passed.  Thanks Dayle and Dale! lol 

Off for a little more sightseeing tomorrow--and praying for flat ground!