Virginia

My first attempt at visiting the Virginia State Capitol in downtown Richmond taught me the importance of planning ahead.

During my 2021 road trip, I left West Virginia first thing on a Friday morning hoping to get there in plenty of time to get to the North Carolina State Capitol the same day. I worked through much of this road trip and only took four days off work to swing through the southeastern United States, so I was a bit rushed. After going through the Washington, DC suburbs and enduring the hell-on-Earth that is I-95 between Washington and Richmond, I arrived at a capitol complex ripped up by construction very late afternoon and had to move on. 

The second visit in 2022 was a success. I took more PTO this trip, which afforded me extra time to make these visits. There was still construction, but I planned much better this time by leaving West Virginia earlier in the morning and taking a more direct route. Downtown Richmond is a busy place, but I found a church parking garage a couple of blocks away.  

Thomas Jefferson designed the Virginia State Capitol in 1785 in collaboration with French architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau while Jefferson was U.S. Minister to France. This is the first state capitol built after the Revolutionary War. It served as the capitol building for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.

This is one of 11 capitols without a dome, but it does have a skylight in the rotunda featuring a statue of George Washington.

The capitol is used exclusively by the Virginia General Assembly, made up of the Senate and House of Delegates and the oldest elected legislative body in the United States. The General Assembly offers more information about the capitol, including the history, planning your visit, and exhibits inside and in Capitol Square.

The wings housing the current Senate and House of Delegates chambers were built in 1906; the old Senate and House of Delegates chambers are preserved in the older, central part of the building. The Old House chamber is where Virginia ratified the U.S. Bill of Rights and Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Virginia forces during the Civil War.

For my fellow Texans, there is a bust of Sam Houston, who was born in Virginia. Since Queen Elizabeth II had died shortly before my visit, flowers were displayed beneath portraits of her and Prince Philip commemorating their 2007 visit.

The capitol sits in Capitol Square, which has monuments to prominent Virginians. Highlights include the George Washington Equestrian statue, the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial, and Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women’s Monument.

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