AS I WALKED ALONG East Clay Street in downtown Richmond, past the VCU Hospital and its sprawling medical center, it would be easy to dismiss the gray, unassuming building, number 1201, for any other historic mansion in the city. But that would be a mistake. For this is the Confederate White House (right), the former Read more about SHAPING THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE[…]
WHEN YOU LIVE in a place known as “The River City,” there is bound to be some connection between the flowing waters and the local businesses. In just a few short conversations, it is apparent how much the James supports Richmond, not only through leisure, but through economic stimulation. “Richmond is very, very unique,” Travis Read more about REPAYING THE RIVER[…]
WALKING CARY STREET in Richmond, I’ve met a number of street musicians, who generally range in skill from primitive (homeless guy with ukulele) to moderately talented performers on guitar, banjo, fiddle, trumpet, clarinet, and harmonica. Samantha Pearl is in a different category altogether. She too plays on the sidewalk with her guitar case open for Read more about THE PEARL[…]
“The map says we’re close, it’s definitely around here somewhere.” “Is that it?” “No, I’m pretty sure that’s just a construction site. Wait, there’s a marker!” It had been half an hour since we first passed under the railroad trestle framing the Welcome to Shockoe Bottom sign on the sidewall of a Main Street building. Read more about DEVIL’S HALF-ACRE[…]
ACROSS THE STREET from the gravel parking lot, a crumbling concrete path leads into the trees. Weeds have grown through the cracks and glass shards litter the spaces in between. Off to the left, a rusted metal dumpster sits silently; small yellow flowers bloom at its base. The sign reads Gillies Creek Park. In the Read more about FULTON HAD EVERYTHING[…]
Patti Wright and her son own Pop’s Market on East Grace Street and work to use community strength to drive equitable downtown development. Photo by Will Hogge. PATTI WRIGHT SMILES as she remembers: It was like yesterday. “People would line up for hours just for the chance the meet the ‘real’ Santa. He had an earpiece and Read more about SMALL BUSINESS SQUEEZE[…]
FROM THEIR FRUIT AND VEGETABLE STANDS at the 17th Street Market in Shockoe Bottom, sisters Rosa Fleming, 79, and Evelyn Allen, 81, have watched and lived through the roller coaster existence of Richmond’s “Bottom” for 75 years. Their family has worked these stands as vendors for four generations—over half of the 279 years that the market has been in existence. Read more about Surviving the Flood[…]
TO REACH EVERGREEN CEMETERY, you take the bus from downtown Richmond: Board at 7th and Marshall, pay $1.50, then ride about 20 stops until you arrive at Nine Mile and Echo. As you step off the bus, there is no sidewalk, just short grass and dilapidated houses and power lines. Then you walk along empty Read more about EVERGREEN CEMETERY: RESTING IN PIECES[…]
It is a beautiful day at Clay Abner Park, in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood. I don’t know what I expected from a park in the heart of one of Richmond’s oldest, poorest, and predominately African-American neighborhoods. But it is a perfect Sunday in late April. Spring has swept through the city at last, and the Read more about SCORCHED EARTH[…]
By Hunter Ross SPEND A FEW HOURS walking the banks of the James River, as I recently have, and you will easily see the degradation humans have caused. Local college students nonchalantly throw their empties onto the banks, cigarette butts are strewn over rocks, and the water is noticeably polluted in many places. This pattern of disrespecting Read more about EXPLOITATION AND DESTRUCTION: A Brief History of the James[…]