A Tour of Historic RichmondWilliams, Frances Leigh
History
A Tour of Historic Richmond
Williams, Frances Leigh
Richmond (Va.) -- Description and travel; Richmond (Va.) -- History
Bringing your eyes along the crest of the same hill sloping down towards
the river, you will see Hollywood Cemetery, where lie buried two
Presidents of the United States, James Monroe and John Tyler; the
President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis; General
J. E. B. Stuart, Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, “the pathfinder of
the seas;” Fitzhugh Lee (General R. E. Lee is buried in Lexington,
Virginia); George E. Pickett and some 18,000 Confederate soldiers,
including the Virginians who fell in Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.
Immediately beneath Gamble’s Hill curve are the remains of the once
vital Kanawha Canal, Virginia’s earliest great westward transportation
system, of which George Washington was the first president in 1785.
Across the canal is the Tredegar Company, iron manufacturers, which has
rounded out more than a century of service, having furnished munitions
in the country’s last four wars. Here was rolled the armor-plate for the
“Merrimac,” which, with the “Monitor,” made history in Hampton Roads in
the first battle between iron-clads.
Leaving the park we pass on our left a remarkable structure, known as
Pratt’s castle, constructed in the 1850’s. ¶ _Proceed on Fourth Street
to Canal, right on Canal to Fifth, left on Fifth to Main._
Old Homes
Here on Fifth Street, between Cary and Main, are several examples of the
stately houses which made life in Richmond in the nineteenth century the
gracious thing that it was. On your right are two old homes which have
passed from the hands of the families that built and loved them. At the
southeast corner of Main and Fifth Streets used to stand the Allan home
where Edgar Allan Poe lived to young manhood with his foster parents. On
the northwest corner of Fifth and Main Streets is an interesting
octagonal house, built prior to 1814 by an early mayor of Richmond. ¶
_Proceed on Fifth to Franklin, right on Franklin to 707 East Franklin._
General Lee’s Home
This upright house, typical of many built by the wealthier Richmonders
in the early nineteenth century, was lent to General Robert E. Lee as a
home for himself when he could be in Richmond and for his family during
the latter years of the War Between the States. It is now the home of
the Virginia Historical Society, which has built a fireproof structure
in the rear for its priceless collection of papers. Many interesting
things on view here merit a visit. ¶ _Proceed east on Franklin to Ninth
Street._
Federal Reserve Bank
On your left, from Eighth to Ninth on Franklin Street, is situated the
Federal Reserve Bank for the Fifth District, which embraces Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and
part of West Virginia. ¶ _Intersection of Franklin and Ninth._
Old Bell Tower
[Illustration: _Old Bell Tower_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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