In early November, we loaded the girls into the car and drove down to Richmond, VA for a 3 night stay. My husband was running the Richmond Marathon, and the girls and I went along to cheer him on. We reserved an Airbnb because the five of us in one hotel room for several nights equals no sleep for anyone. Plus, we saved money by making breakfasts at the Airbnb, and packing lunches to take with us. My husband and I had never been to Richmond before, so we built in a little extra time around the marathon to explore.
On our first full day in Richmond, we drove downtown to the American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar located at 480 Tredegar Street. Stormy was super excited, as she is currently into all things history. The museum is right on the James River, on the site of the Tredegar Iron Works. Cannons that were made at Tredegar fired the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. In fact, more than half of the cannons used by the Confederacy were cast at Tredegar. There is a parking lot for the museum, but parking is free when you purchase an admission ticket. Admission is $18 per adult, youth (6-17) are $9 apiece, and children under 6 are free. You can also purchase admission tickets here for The White House of the Confederacy tours and The American Civil War Museum at Appomattox. By doing so, you do save money as admission for two of the museums is $28 per adult, youth (6-17) are $14, and littles under the age of 6 are still free.
The museum opens at 10am, and we arrived a tad bit early, so we crossed the street in front of the museum and walked down to the small bridge over to Brown’s Island. On Brown’s Island, people were busy prepping for the marathon the next day as the island would be the site of all post-race festivities. From here, we walked the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge across the James River. The bridge is for walkers and cyclists alike, and is built atop the remnants of an old hydroelectric dam. There is a neat installation entitled “Three Days in April 1865,” which recounts how Richmond, capital of the Confederate States of America, fell to the Union army, and many of its inhabitants fled while fire raged across the city. As we walked across the bridge, we could see the remnants of bridges blown up by the Confederate army during the retreat. The views from the bridge are absolutely stunning, and it was a great way to start our mini-vacation. FYI, train tracks run above the bridge, and, if there is a train there, it can be very loud! Rainbow really struggled with the noise levels, and had to return to Brown’s Island with my husband until the train left.
By the time we finished walking the bridge, it was past 10am, and we headed back to Tredegar. Before we entered the museum, we popped into the National Park Service’s Visitor Contact Station at Tredegar Iron Works. It is right next to the museum, and Stormy wanted to try to get another Junior Park Ranger badge. The rangers were very nice, and provided us with the booklets and pencils. We also were able to stamp Stormy’s passport book, which I’d remembered, but I’d accidentally left mine at home. We didn’t stay in the visitor center long, and headed over to the museum where my husband purchased admission for all of us as well as admission to take a tour of the White House of the Confederacy.
The museum was amazing! Both Stormy and I would have enjoyed it more if the youngest members of our party hadn’t kept running ahead making it hard to read everything, but I still think Rainbow got something out of it. She was curious about several of the exhibits, and I helped her read the signs accompanying them. Rainbow couldn’t believe the outfits people used to wear, and she was fascinated by the two bullets that had struck each other midair crumpling into a rose shaped piece of lead. Stormy tried to read everything, she had so many questions, and we could see her thinking things over, making new connections. The museum exhibits unfolded chronologically, year by year, detailing the Civil War and the Reconstruction period. I was so busy trying to absorb what I was seeing and reading that, for once, I didn’t take a single picture inside the museum. When we finished our walk through the main exhibit, we watch a short film in the Robins Theater before heading upstairs to see a few smaller exhibits. The girls all wanted to check out the gift shop, too, but after seeing how much was breakable, I shooed the kids outside where we ate our picnic lunch in the back of the car.
After lunch, we packed up and headed further into Richmond to locate the White House of the Confederacy. Our tour was scheduled for early afternoon, and we didn’t want to get lost looking for it. The site is located at 1201 E. Clay Street. There is no parking lot because, over time, the historic site has been surrounded by the VCU Health Facilities. Parking is available at the MCV Visitor Parking Deck on 12th Street, and is free. We, somehow, ended up in one of the hospital’s parking garage, which made it a little tricky when we had to get back to the car later because we had to go into the hospital to do so. We were not the only members of our tour group, though, that ended up in that same parking garage. The hospital complex can be a bit confusing.
Leaving our car in the garage, we walked over to the historic site. The house was build in 1818, and is now a National Historic Landmark. It served as the Confederate Executive Mansion throughout the Civil War, and tourists can visit it only by guided tour. Today, the mansion is dwarfed by the tall buildings of the hospital complex. We followed a pathway around the left side of the mansion, through a garden, to a tiny visitor center. There were restrooms available, a small gift shop, food to purchase, and a room with detailed information on the mansion’s history. There were also several benches for people to wait on for their tours to begin. We were very early for our tour, but we made use of it by using the restrooms, reading the history, and exploring the books in the gift shop.
The tour started in the visitor center, moved to the garden, and then into the mansion by the front door. Do not bring strollers or expect to use wheelchairs with this tour. There are a lot of stairs to climb, both to access the home and inside the home, and the building is not ADA friendly. One of the first things we were told upon entering the building was not to touch anything, including the walls. My girls were the only kiddos on the tour, but they were listening and paying attention to the tour guide. Our tour started in the main entrance hall where we were greeted by two life-sized statutes, Comedy and Tragedy. The tour guide was amazing! She took us through the home room by room, imparting a lot of information about the Davis’ and the building. We could take photos, but nothing with a flash.
We were most of the way through the first floor of the home when every cell phone in the room went off with a tornado warning. The tour guide quickly took all of us down to the basement of the mansion. Normally, tourists do not see the basement as there have been some issues with a creeping dampness that is ruining the walls, but it was the safest place to be. We were in the basement of the home for over an hour as a series of storms rolled overhead. Stormy used the time to pepper the tour guide with many, many, many questions! She was very accommodating, and answered every question Stormy had. I was beyond impressed with the young woman, and I was impressed at how well my children handled their first tornado warning. After some initial fears, they were curious, and made up games to help the time pass. As I said before, they were the only children on the tour other than one teen, and I was proud of them for behaving so well.
When the tornado warning had lifted, we resumed touring the house, and climbed to the upper floors to view the bedrooms. By the time the tour was completed, I would say Stormy had asked the most questions of anyone in the group, and the tour guide patiently answered them all. As we left the building, my husband asked the tour guide if she could accept a gratuity. It is not every day that a tour guide is on a tour with children, and has to shelter in place during a tornado warning. Very unique situation!
After making our way back to our car, we headed north to the Richmond Raceway to collect my husband’s race packet. From there, we did takeout at a local restaurant, and ate dinner at our Airbnb while watching a movie. It was a long day, and everyone was done! We packed a lot in, but it was worth it. I would love to return to Richmond to see other Civil War sites as would Stormy. Pebble and Rainbow, though, had reached saturation point already on history for this particular weekend, but are gamely hanging in. Tomorrow is race day, time to cheer on Daddy! Happy trails!
https://www.nps.gov/rich/index.htm
https://jamesriverpark.org/t-tyler-potterfield-memorial-bridge/