For the Fourth of July, Intern Sarah made me a Richmond-esque itinerary which can be summed up in two words: History & Beer.
By following the handy dandy Google Map Sarah made me (I know, isn’t she awesome), I began my 4th of July at the Greater Richmond Convention Center for The Valentine City Center Walking Tour.
A photo posted by angelaWCVE (@angelawcve) on Jul 4, 2015 at 9:27am PDT
The tour began at 10AM and Intern Sarah gave me clear instructions to accomplish the following RVA activities by the end of the day: learn 3 pieces of Richmond history, visit at least 2 breweries, and eat at 1 food truck.
First, I knocked out the history lesson and here are the three Richmond facts that stuck with me after a very long day.
For one, the city of Richmond was segregated, which was enforced through zoning laws and policies. Broad Street was the dividing line between racial communities.
While this dark historical fact mars Richmond’s past and present, the resiliency of the human spirit shines through as you walk down Jackson Ward’s “Quality Row.” There you will find the home of Maggie Walker, the first businesswoman to lead a bank, which is just one of her many historical accomplishments.
And when you turn the corner onto Second Street known as “The Deuce” you come upon The Hippodrome, which hosted legendary artist like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. So cool!
Another fact I learned is that the fence around the Virginia State Capitol was built, not to keep the people out, but the livestock in. Go figure.
And the VCU Medical School’s “Egyptian Building” was completed in 1845!
This seemingly out of place construction was built before cameras (1888), before the Civil War (1861), and a mere 3 years before the most famous obelisk in the United States broke ground, the Washington Monument (1848).
And this building goes all out! There are hieroglyphics framing the doorways and mummy shaped symbols lining the iron fence.
Thomas Somerville Stewart’s 21st Century motto would probably be “Go Big or Go Home.”
Just a little word of wisdom, if you are looking to go inside public buildings, such as the historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church or City Hall, I recommend not going during a national holiday when everyone is off of work. Nothing will be open, an understandable fact that you may not realize until you are standing on the other end of a “Closed for July 4th” sign.
We then went on a brewery tour of our own design!
We started at Legend Brewery for lunch and then walked over to Blue Bee Cider for their release party of Firecracker “a limited-edition dessert cider made with ginger-infused eau de vie.” Yum!
My sober friend then drove us to Isley Brewing Company where we sipped on blueberry beer while playing the picture version of Apples to Apples.
Then, like the rest of Richmond, we made our way to Hardywood Brewery, which is striking distance from The Diamond, which was scheduled to launch fireworks immediately after the Richmond Squirrels baseball game.
(^I’m actually eating my new favorite food, a bánh mì hotdog from The Hungry Turtle. So good!!!^)
But the summer rain pushing that plan back by about two hours.
And woke up to an AWESOME fireworks display at 11:15PM!
Truly, it was one of the best I’ve ever seen! Definitely worth the wait.
So yeah, I guess that’s how you do Fourth of July in Richmond, Virginia! ... I’m still tired from the weekend though, I think I need another nap.
