ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 24, 1996 TAG: 9611220001
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: RANDY KRAFT ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL
Until recently, when I heard the name of this city, the first thing I thought was ``capital of the Confederacy.''
But I've learned Richmond is rich in museums, historic homes, restaurants and cultural attractions that have little or nothing to do with the Civil War.
Too many people still think of Richmond as a ``sleepy Confederate town,'' said Anne Atkinson of the Metropolitan Richmond Convention & Visitors Bureau.
She explained that Virginia's capital isn't trying to abandon its Civil War heritage, but is trying to show that it offers much more.
``Our position in the marketplace is history - four centuries of history,'' ranging from Colonial to Victorian times, said Susan Motley, Richmond's tourism director.
``But we never avoid our Civil War history, nor do we want to. That would be crazy.''
Motley said someone could spend a week just exploring Richmond-area Civil War sites, including a driving tour following Lee's retreat in the war's final days.
Many travelers pass through Richmond, heading south down Interstate 95 toward Florida, northeast up Interstate 64 to Monticello at Charlottesville or southeast down I-64 to Williamsburg, Norfolk or Virginia Beach.
``People know about Williamsburg and they know about Thomas Jefferson and Charlottesville, but Richmond is an unknown,'' said Rose Lane Nimmo, a guide on a van tour through the city.
Visitors may learn that Patrick Henry gave his famous ``give me liberty or give me death'' speech at St. John's Episcopal Church here, not in Williamsburg. And that Pocahontas lived near Richmond, not Jamestown. And that the torpedo was invented in Richmond - in a bathtub.
Some in Richmond still speak the name Robert E. Lee with reverence (his equestrian statue is higher than George Washington's). Yet its museums aren't shy about exposing past sins of slavery.
And there's a certain poetic justice that a sculpture of black tennis star Arthur Ashe has joined five heroes of the Confederacy along Richmond's famous Monument Avenue. It is one of the loveliest city streets I've seen, not because of the monuments, but because of the handsome homes with pillars and upper-level porches that line it. The wide avenue was designed in 1890, after grand boulevards of Europe, to be a home for aging heroes of the Confederacy, said Nimmo. ``Our city is a treasure trove of 19th century architecture.''
Richmond was burned twice: in 1781 by British troops led by turncoat Benedict Arnold, and in 1865, either by the retreating Confederate army or by rioting citizens.
Three of my favorite places in Richmond are Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia Historical Society and Maymont.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts calls itself one of the nation's top 20 art museums. Modern and spacious, it covers the world of art, both historically and geographically. It is noted for its French impressionist paintings, sporting art and contemporary galleries. I
Virginia Historical Society is a full-fledged museum. A new permanent exhibit, filling the heart of the place, ``The Story of Virginia, an American Experience,'' focuses on the state's key role in our history. (Eight U.S. presidents came from Virginia, more than from any other state.)
If you tour just one historic house here, make it Maymont. You'll be amazed by the elegant and elaborately furnished ``gilded age'' mansion. The 100-acre Victorian estate has lovely gardens, a nationally recognized arboretum, a zoo and a children's farm.
Other highlights include TheatreVirginia and the magnificent Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts, a restored movie house.
Other stops included the State Capitol, Valentine Museum and Edgar Allen Poe Museum.
The unusual capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson, lacks an exterior dome, yet has a rotunda dome with a skylight. Beneath the rotunda is the Houdon statue of George Washington, considered the most valuable marble sculpture in the United States. The life-size statue is the only one for which Washington ever posed.
In the capitol's House of Delegates is another statue of Lee, the only man in U.S. history offered command of opposing armies in the same conflict.
Valentine focuses on Richmond's history. It's part traditional museum, part historic house.
The small Poe museum claims the largest collection of Poe artifacts. The famous American author never lived in what is now the museum, part of which is in Richmond's oldest building. But Poe was raised in Richmond and his mother is buried here.
``In Germany, they know Richmond not because of the Civil War, but because of Poe,'' said Jack Berry, tourism bureau president. ``He is much more popular in Europe.''
I visited four James River plantations between Richmond and Williamsburg: Shirley, Evelynton, Sherwood Forest and Berkeley.
One could spend nearly two hours at each place, so trying to enjoy all four in one day is a challenge. Escorted house tours feature first floors. Owners live on second floors. Visitors explore the grounds on their own.
My favorite was Shirley. It overlooks the river and is surrounded by cotton fields. Settled in 1613, it is Virginia's oldest plantation. A willow oak, second oldest tree in Virginia, is out front. The brick house is 260 years old. Ask about a haunted painting (other plantations also claim ghosts) and a 31/2-foot pineapple on the roof.
The brick mansion at Evelynton was built in 1937. The original house was torched by Union soldiers. The most amazing thing about Evelynton was seeing a glamorous painting of Lisa Ruffin Harrison, our tour guide, hanging in the house. She wasn't the only family member who showed us around a plantation or the only one related to a president.
Sherwood Forest was the home of John Tyler, 10th U.S. president.
Tyler, who died in 1862, was a slave owner who supported the Confederacy in the war.
``Taps'' was composed at Berkeley plantation while the Union Army was here in 1862. It also claims to be the site of the first Thanksgiving in America.
Metropolitan Richmond's largest attraction is Kings Dominion theme park, about 20 miles north of the city. Tourism officials report it gets 2 million visitors a year, more than Busch Gardens at Williamsburg.
Next trip to Richmond, I would like to cruise on Annabel Lee, a riverboat operating south of the city, and go white-water rafting on the James River's rapids - passing Belle Island, once a prison camp for Union soldiers.
I'd like to explore Hollywood Cemetery, resting place of Presidents Tyler and James Monroe, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Civil War generals Stuart and Pickett. About 18,000 Confederate soldiers are buried there, around a stone pyramid.
Also on my must-see list are Ginter Botanical Garden, Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond Children's Museum, Virginia Aviation Museum, Old Dominion Railway Museum, Black History Museum of Virginia and Maggie Walker National Historic Site (she was the first woman and first black to start a U.S. bank).
And, of course, there's the Museum & White House of the Confederacy. And those Civil War battlefields.
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: RANDY KRAFT/Allentown Morning Call. 1. Many of Ricmond'sby CNBplantation houses (left) sit on the banks of the James River just
outside the city. 2. A statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee (above), stands
in the Virgnia state capitol's House of Delegates. color.