Richmond
Transportation | Dining and entertainment
Richmond | Shopping | The arts | Family
Sports and outdoor activities | History | The region/area
The Richmond metropolitan area offers diverse cultural, recreational and historical opportunities. The area includes the city of Richmond as well as Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, New Kent and Goochland counties, each offering residents wonderful neighborhoods and schools — public and private. With a metro area population of about 1 million, the area provides the amenities of a large city while still able to maintain many smaller-town charms.
Transportation
Two interstates (I-64 and I-95) transverse the city, providing easy access east/west and north/south, respectively. In addition, the Richmond Metropolitan Authority downtown expressway and I-195 provide rapid access to areas along the south of downtown and to the communities of the West End and Southside (south of the James).
The Richmond International Airport is located 10 miles east of downtown off of I-64 serviced by both major and discount carriers. Additionally, the city has access to other large airports in the region including Norfolk International Airport, Dulles, National and Baltimore-Washington International Airport, affording one the opportunity to choose the best price and ease of travel to any destination.
Amtrak service also provides service along the East Coast/Northeast corridor with two stations in Richmond, including the Staples Mill Road station on the Northwest side of the city and the Downtown-Main Street station.
Dining and entertainment
With hundreds of restaurants throughout the metro area, excellent fine, casual and family dining is never hard to find. Whether your preference ifs for one of the large national chains or for the unique experience of the smaller independents, you will find the right place for any mood or ethnic craving. For the adventurous spirit out to explore the local scene, the restaurants in Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom, on Main Street, west of the Monroe Park Campus, or tucked away throughout the Fan and Museum district provide a wonderful starting place, though gems are to be found throughout the metro area.
More detailed information regarding the dining and nightlife activities of the city can be found in the local publications, including Richmond Magazine or Style Weekly, or at Richmond.com.
Shopping
Shopping in Richmond is exceptional. Opportunities range from the Sunday Shockoe flea market, the Saturday Mucho Market and the Thursday Grower’s Market all in Shockoe Bottom to high-fashion stores and boutiques.
Carytown on West Cary Street and the shops “On the Avenues” at the intersection of Libbie and Grove provide a variety of restaurants, specialty stores and boutiques for the unique gift, rugs, antiques, accessories or articles of clothing. For those with a hunger for chocolate, make sure to visit For the Love of Chocolate in Carytown for an experience that will not disappoint.
Numerous malls are located throughout the metro area, including Richmond’s two large outdoor fashion malls — Stony Point Fashion Park and Short Pump Shopping Town Center, featuring high-end national stores, designer stores and the large retailers, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom’s, Dillard’s and Hecht’s, to name a few. Both malls also offer a variety of large national restaurants while Stony Point provides the only guaranteed holiday snowfall nightly in December. Plenty of other malls are scattered throughout the area.
The arts
The city is home to the Richmond Ballet, the Latin Ballet of Virginia, the Richmond Symphony and the Virginia Opera. In addition, there are a number of professional theaters, including the Barksdale Theatre, the Swift Creek Mill Theatre, the Chamberlayne Actors Theatre and Theatre IV, which provide a variety of mainstream and experimental offerings. During the summer, the Shakespeare Festival performs at the historic Tudor mansion, Agecroft Hall, transported from England in the 1920s to its current site on the James River.
Also during the summer be sure to enjoy free performances held at the Dogwood Dell 2,400-seat amphitheatre in Byrd Park between June and August as part of the Dogwood Dell Festival of Arts. This festival features musical, dance, improv and children’s shows spanning the diverse spectrum of genres.
VCU’s Monroe Park Campus boasts one of the nation’s premiere arts department with students and faculty annually showing their works to the local community and contributing to the thriving cultural diversity and energy of the city.
For those interested in a more hands-on approach to pursuing their inner artist, workshops in all media, dance, music and theatre are offered through a variety of organizations including the city’s own Pine Camp Arts & Community Center (phone (804) 646-5733). Additional workshops are available through private arts organizations such as the Hand Workshop Art Center. In the museum district west of downtown, one finds the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, housing the state’s premier collection with works of fine art from across the globe.
Family
The city of Richmond and each of the surrounding counties, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, New Kent and Goochland offer their residents wonderful public educational opportunities. The state’s Governor’s Schools provide exceptional opportunities at the high school level for particularly gifted students within the metro area. Excellent independent and parochial schools also are available.
The Children’s Museum of Richmond provides a wonderful place for children to explore in an interactive and educational environment and is a favorite destination among the local families. Next door, the Science Museum of Virginia also gives visitors a very hands-on experience in the physical and scientific wonders of our world.
Maymont is another wonderful outdoor family destination with its children’s farm and exhibits of wild animals — including deer, elk, buffalo and bears — indigenous to the state on the grounds of this former estate open free to the public. The Nature Center provides a look at the James River and the animals — for which it is home. The Dooley Mansion also is open for tours at a fee.
Sports and outdoor activities
Personal fitness is important for everyone — our residents being no exception. The university has a number of gyms/facilities available to our residents at a nominal cost, along with a variety of private gyms/fitness centers throughout the metro area.
The city’s parks also provide numerous outdoor opportunities. The largest of the parks is the nearly 450 acres of preserved land lining the banks of the James River and downtown’s Belle Isle. Within the park one can bike, hike, jog, rock-climb, picnic or just take in the sun on a rock at river’s edge. But, the most popular and spectacular feature is the James River with numerous sites to put in a raft, canoe or kayak and “get away” from the city. While much of the river is Class I-II throughout the western extent of the park system, the city boasts the only Class IV rapids within a U.S. city as one passes Belle Isle and downtown’s financial district, making the James “the best urban whitewater” in the country. Guided rafting tours also are available through the Richmond Raft Company.
The city also is home to the Richmond Braves, the AAA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, the Richmond RiverDogs, the city’s professional hockey team, and the Richmond Kickers, the city’s professional soccer team. Enjoy NASCAR at the Richmond International Raceway or take in horseracing at Colonial Downs. Of course, the VCU Rams provide collegiate men’s and women’s action.
History
Richmond and the surrounding counties are certainly rich in history. The first permanent English settlement was established in Jamestown in 1607 with settlement in the present-day Richmond starting a few years later. The first hospital in North America was built here shortly thereafter in Henricus (the area in which Pocahontas and her father, chief Powhatan, lived).
In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech at St. John’s Church in the present-day Church Hill district. Six years later in 1781, British troops burned the city under the command of Benedict Arnold. George Washington designed the James River and Kanawha Canal while Thomas Jefferson designed the state capitol, both in downtown Richmond. Following the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederate States of America, the Confederate White House was located in Richmond (the house still stands immediately adjacent to the VCU hospitals, next to the visitors’ parking deck).
In 1865 large parts of the city were set ablaze as the war came to a conclusion with President Lincoln visiting the city two weeks later as Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.
In the century to follow, the city witnessed much change. And, despite being divided by racial segregation, the city was the birthplace of much African-American entrepreneurship leading to the city being called the “birthplace of black capitalism” largely arising from the activity in the Jackson Ward district where among others was the home of Maggie Walker, an ex-slave’s daughter, who in 1903 chartered St. Luke Penny Savings back to become the first women bank president in the U.S. and which is the oldest surviving African-American bank in the country (now Consolidated Bank and Trust Company). The fist elected African-American state governor in the U.S., L. Douglas Wilder, also calls Richmond home and currently governs the city as mayor.
This history lives in a variety of local museums and libraries including among many: Henricus Historical Park, The Library of Virginia, Museum and White House of the Confederacy, Valentine Museum, Virginia Historical Society, The Richmond Civil War Visitors Center (operated by the national Park Service as part of Richmond National Battlefield Park), Black History Museum and the Maggie Walker House.
Known as the city of monuments, Richmond remains a city with a rich and diverse history — a history not content to live in he history of the past but to create the history of the future.
The region/area
Richmond is advantageously located geographically to provide an array of opportunities within quick access.
Three theme parks are closely located with Paramount’s King’s Dominion north along I-95, Busch Gardens’s 50 miles east off I-64 in Williamsburg and Water Country USA also in Williamsburg.
History abounds in the region including the beautiful historic Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown and the Battle of Petersburg. Or, visit the homes of some of the eight U.S. presidents from Virginia, including Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. George Washington’s Mount Vernon, James Madison’s Montpelier, Monroe’s Ash Lawn-Highland or Woodrow Wilson.
Waterfalls, hiking and scenic skyline drive are found throughout the mountains, one to two hours west of the city, including Shenandoah National Park. Get away to enjoy sailing, cabs or quaint towns along the Chesapeake Bay. Escape to the ocean at Virginia Beach or the North Carolina Outer Banks. Or, enjoy a quick drive to the National Zoo, Smithsonian Institute or any number of activities in Washington, D.C. All of these adventures are within an easy drive of Richmond.
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