Snapshots of RVA: VMFA, Byrd Park
These are pictures I took on a cloudy/almost rainy day while running through the lawn and gardens at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,...
Special ‘Snapshots’ Post: Bethlehem,...
In September, I visited Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for the 2015 Runner’s World Festival and Half. I did a bit of running during the...
Special ‘Snapshots’ Post: Washington, ...
These are photos from a trip to Washington, D.C., and Historic Jamestowne. This trip to Washington included stops at the Jefferson...
These are pictures from a trip to Maymont, which is an estate that was first donated to the City of Richmond and is now run by the Maymont Foundation, a nonprofit. The estate has gardens, a nature center, a wildlife area, and the estate mansion. I made this trip in October 2014.
These are pictures from a trip to Petersburg National Battlefield Park, which I visited in September 2014. The battle that took place here was decisive in the Civil War, as the Confederacy’s loss at Petersburg led to the later evacuation of Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. I came in at the eastern front visitor center and saw battery 5 before bad weather made me leave.
During my first few weeks in Richmond, I learned the city has a lot that makes it unique — the city has a lot of personality, which you can see in murals all around town, festivals almost every weekend and RVA bumper stickers on almost every car you see on the street. RVA is the nickname for this city — and there’s a good chance you’ll hear “RVA” used more often than “Richmond” when people here talk about it. The pride people feel for this town is reminiscent of the pride people feel for a college in a college town — and it’s quite contagious.
In addition to that personality, there’s a lot to see here. Richmond is unique in that there is a lot of history here. Virginia played a role as one of the original Thirteen Colonies in the United States’s independence, and you can see signs of the founding fathers here — the Virginia State Capitol, located in downtown Richmond, was designed by and is known as an object of pride for Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. And the history doesn’t end there — Richmond played a part in one of America’s most difficult chapters as the capital of the Confederacy, and indeed, the executive mansion of the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, stands as a historic landmark just a few blocks from the Virginia State Capitol.
Richmond has the makings of an urban city and an industrial town at the same time. There is a financial center with several high-rises in downtown Richmond, and in south Richmond are the remnants of old factories and industrial facilities. Throughout the city, many buildings that were previously factories are being converted into loft apartments. RVA has evolved over time, and you can see that the town continues to evolve to this day.
But despite all the development over time and recently, nature is a big part of this area. The James River splits the city into two parts and is a big part of the city’s personality. The James is known as a popular outdoor attraction for swimming and kayaking. Part of river actually has rapids, which are rare in this region. Along the river are forested areas and nature trails. Walking those trails, it’s hard to believe you’re still in the city — but those trails and those natural areas fall within the city’s lines. It’s a remarkable combination of nature and development.
All of this combines to provide many picturesque scenes and sights. After I took pictures of a trip to Brown’s Island here, the idea occurred to me to post the pictures here, rather than just have them sit in my computer’s pictures file. (This is why this introductory post appears after some of the pictures posts. Think of those other posts as a soft opening of sorts to this blog.) As I document my adventures here through pictures, I’ll share them on this blog.
If you live in RVA and know of any neat places that I should check out, please feel free to let me know on Twitter: I’m @veryChrisP.
Cheers!
-CP
These are pictures from a trip along the James River Park System. I made this trip on the first day of fall of 2014 — and as you can see in the pictures, it was a great day to be outside. The trip began at the James River Park System’s Reedy Creek entrance, extended to Belle Isle, and to Brown’s Island — and back.
This trip began at Gambles Hill Park — where I was able to find a parking spot on a Sunday afternoon when parking was at a premium — and ended at the Manchester Bridge, near the intersection of 9th Street and East Byrd Street, and included parts of Canal Walk.
For the inaugural post of Snapshots of RVA, I took a trip to Brown’s Island Park near downtown Richmond in September 2014. I was originally looking for the bridge that runs from there to Belle Isle, but I didn’t realize that the bridge I was looking for — the pedestrian walkway under the Lee Bridge — was further to the west. Instead, I explored Brown’s Island and snapped these pictures.
The Cross Florida Barge Canal was intended to connect the west coast of the state with the east coast, thereby allowing merchant vessels to move from one side to the other without having to circle around South Florida. This map shows where the canal was planned, and the parts that were actually constructed. Courtesy: Florida Memory
We traveled on the Rodman Reservoir to Kirkpatrick Dam, which is on the Ocklawaha River, on an airboat with the state Department of Environmental Protection. Above is a slideshow of what we saw.
Captain Erika Ritter gives tours along the Ocklawaha River on a pontoon boat, in large part because of her unique attachment to the river. She grew up along it, and it was as she was growing up that the Cross-Florida Barge Canal was planned and partly constructed. It was ultimately stopped, in – as she put it – her front yard. She reflects here on what it was like growing up along the river, and in the midst of such a major project.
As part of our project, we went on a tour of the Ocklawaha River with Captain Erika Ritter. Captain Erika gives tours of the river on a pontoon boats. Above is a slideshow of what we saw.
