Richmond is Virginia’s capitol and full of U.S. historical sites. It also boasts cool street art and some delicious treats! Spending a holiday weekend during the cold months meant no crowds, easy to find parking and the sites were still open!
Richmond Highlights over New Years’ Eve Weekend 2017
- Belle Isle Pedestrian Bridge
- Maymont
- Hollywood Cemetery
- Carytown – Street Art, Carytown Cupcakes, Lamplighter Coffee
- Virginia State Capitol
- Shockoe Bottom and Main Street Station
After sipping our free hotel coffee, we headed into Richmond. It was a cool morning and we parked near 300 Tredegar Street in order to take the Belle Isle Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge is really unique and gives you some great views of Richmond.
After a little exploring, we got back in our car and drove to Maymont. We parked outside the gate and walked onto the property, which is beautiful! The mansion itself is gorgeous, but we didn’t take the tour (I’m 99% sure I did as a kid though, because the whole place felt nostalgic to me). There appears to be a lot to do, like a nature center, the mansion tour, etc. if you have time and are interested.
The Hollywood Cemetery was a must see for us. Before you drive into the cemetery, there’s a map you can get or take a picture of, which we found to be really helpful as we didn’t want to miss any of the historical figures like James Monroe and John Tyler. I think because we were here on a holiday weekend during a cold month, this is why it wasn’t busy at all and even enjoyable to drive around and park where we wanted to take pictures.
We drove to Carytown next and found a free parking spot on a side street. This street is a must see with its cool street art, the delicious cupcakes at Carytown Cupcakes (you really can’t get just one) and the yummy coffee at Lamplight Roasting Company.
As it was approaching 1 pm, we made our way to the Virginia State Capitol which has pretty short hours on Sundays and is closed on holidays, like New Year’s Day. Again, I think because it was a holiday weekend, we basically had the place to ourselves and one of the docents gave us an excellent tour.
The statue of George Washington in white marble under the rotunda is incredible and has a lot of details that you may not notice without a tour guide or doing some research ahead of time. We had a little bit of time afterwards, so we explored the Capitol grounds which included seeing the Governor’s Mansion on one end and St. Paul’s Church at the other.
Our last stop in Richmond before making the two hour drive home was Shockoe Bottom historic area. We found another side street parking spot and checked out the artwork along the street before making it to the train station. The train station is beautiful inside with an art exhibit, a mini visitor center and because it was NYE, they were setting up for a party upstairs. Don’t miss the opportunity to take a picture with the “Love” sign in the Main Street Station.
Let me know what we have to see next time we make it to Richmond! Did you guess right? The cemetery grave site pictured above was for James Monroe.
Treat Yourself to Travel 