Richmond Dispatch

I love discovering new things and new places... and being pleasantly surprised. Yesterday I drove down to Richmond with Marni for a delightful day. We met up with Chad and Melissa for a tour of the John Marshall House (yes, I finagled my way into a tour over the phone on Friday... supposedly they are closed to individual tours in January and February, but when I told him I'm a descendant of Marshall and I'd only be in town for a day, he made special arrangements for us). It was a beautiful 18th-century home (although I'll be honest--I was a bit suspicious about some of the period pieces in there and some of the stories told. Did John Marshall really sit in that embroidered chair and read Jane Austen? Really?) and I am proud of my ancestors (go, go, judicial review!). And there were some very cool parts of the house--the shutters built into 8 panels to fit just perfectly into the wall, the tromp L'oeil floor canvas, the crown molding, the pompoms (18th-century!) on the baby quilt...

We had lunch at a delightful Irish pub (nothing like yummy potato soup!), then Chad and I headed to the Virginia state capitol. The building was designed by Thomas Jefferson and the U.S. Capitol was patterned after this one. It was beautiful--unfortunately all my pictures inside turned out pure black (do you think Thomas was holding his finger over the lens simply because I said I didn't love Jefferson as much as Lincoln?).

The pristine white against the blue sky was breathtaking.

Being an army officer over a bunch of Southern soldiers, Chad really wanted to go to the Museum of the Confederacy. It was interesting... all this stuff about the War of Northern Aggression and the bumper stickers around! Too bad we didn't have time to stop at the Civil War Museum at Tredegar for a nice little comparison.

Seriously seen on a black truck... I love me some Confederates in the Attic...

All in all, I must say that I really like Richmond. There was so much to do and so many great architectural delights all over the city. I loved rounding the corner as we looked for the Confederate White House to see this Egyptian-style hospital in the middle of the VCU Medical School complex. So many other Art Deco and Art Nouveau buildings. Who knew in Richmond, Virginia?