Last summer, I moved to Richmond from Gainesville, a small college town in Florida. In both cities, restaurants and bars are the most popular entertainment options. However, eating and drinking out can be a costly option, and even if you’re not broke, it can become old hat after a while. Meanwhile, it seems like a lot of longtime Richmond residents are unaware of the fact that there are TONS of interesting things to do in this city that cost little to no money.
Last summer, I moved to Richmond from Gainesville, a small college town in Florida. In both cities, restaurants and bars are the most popular entertainment options. However, eating and drinking out can be a costly option, and even if you’re not broke, it can become old hat after a while. Meanwhile, it seems like a lot of longtime Richmond residents are unaware of the fact that there are TONS of interesting things to do in this city that cost little to no money. Not just music and art, either, but plenty of nature-related options, as well as many niche clubs. Ever since I realized how much RVA has to offer that most people don’t know about, I’ve made it my quest to dig up inexpensive and awesome things to do in Richmond.
The Virginia State Capitol seems like a really obvious place to start, not only because of its stark location, but because the entire state of Virginia is steeped in history. A visit to the Capitol is comparable to a visit to Williamsburg, only closer, more convenient, and with way cheaper snacks. Once inside the Capitol, visitors will learn about the background of the confederacy (which made Richmond what it is today, for better or worse), and information on the building itself: how and why it was built, and how it was used, then and now.
The Capitol offers free tours all week long to the public. Tours are at the top of each hour, generally, from 9:00am to 4:00pm on Monday through Saturday, and 1:00pm to 4:00pm on Sunday. Tours last roughly an hour and a half, but mine ran a little over two hours, so be aware of this when you’re finding parking–spaces with two-hour limits might not be the best idea. It was the last tour of the day, and our tour guide was clearly very passionate about history, which is in all likelihood why the tour ran over.
Visitors have the option of completing the tour with or without a guide. Having done both, I would highly recommend you go with a guide if you have the time. The first time I went, I wandered aimlessly around, not really knowing what I was looking at. With a tour guide, visitors will get a more comprehensive background on the history behind the Capitol, as well as insight into why the Capitol architecture was designed the way it was. You will also gain access into active rooms of the legislature, which is unavailable to those without a guide.
The tours begin at the bottom of the Capitol hill, at the street level entry way. Outside the Capitol are beautiful grounds, which include statues, fountains, and a bell tower full of visitor information and Richmond merchandise. Once through security, tour participants will be directed to a large room next to the gift shop. This room houses models of the Capitol and its grounds, large informational panels on the history of Richmond and the confederacy and a chronology of secession, and a statue entitled “Brothers,” which is a symbol for the civil war. Past this is a large statue of Thomas Jefferson–a central figure to the Capitol, since he designed the building. “Jefferson developed the idea of the Capitol as a temple to liberty or justice,” our tour guide told us. The first floor also contains rooms used currently for instructional meetings or for viewing live events. At the end of the tour, visitors return to this room and watch a video in which an actor portraying Jefferson takes viewers through the Capitol’s history.
Once at the Jefferson statue, the deliberate architecture becomes apparent. The staircase behind the statue is where “the ground floor of the original structure begins; in all, the building encompasses nine generations of use.” There is a dome inside of the Capitol, but the plans were designed so the dome was not visible from the outside of the structure. Some of the building’s more ornate original elements, such as a gold elevator shaft, are still standing as well. Inside this area, many of the historical figures of the Commonwealth of Virginia are represented in the form of statues or busts, including George Washington. With a tour guide, visitors will learn all of the reasoning behind the symbols involved in the Washington statue.
During the tour, visitors are brought into the old Senate and House chambers. The old Senate chamber includes a portrait of the Jamestown landing. The old House chamber is filled with antique desks you can sit at, and relics like a mace which was used during hearings. The guide provides historical notes about how meetings were conducted, and what issues politicians went over. There are many elements of the rooms whose origins are delineated, including a clock that was giving to the Capitol by Lady Astor, who was from Virginia.
At the end of the tour, we were directed into the 21st century House chamber, which is still in use today. In this area of the building, you will find many people running around in suits. The tour begins hundreds of years in the past, but it certainly ends in present times, where public interest is obviously still alive and breathing. Visitors can find paperwork here on topics currently being discussed and how to contact representatives of the state (live coverage of assemblies can be viewed at virginiageneralassembly.gov).
The Capitol is a beautiful building filled with both ancient history and active political conferences. It’s a dream visit for anyone intrigued by history or politics, or those who want to learn more about how Richmond came to be what it is today.
