Richmond Renaissance – Day Eleven
My Facebook feed has a surge in vacation pictures. Everyone is on vacation right now it seems– especially at the beach. It is nearly time to transition to back to school schedules and people are grasping the last crumbs of summer. My blog is still on vacation for at least the next 10 days. I will finish up our Richmond adventures and hope to take you on a virtual trip.
On day 11 of our Richmond adventures, my children started a different two-week camp in a different location. Instead of being in downtown Richmond, we were on the outskirts in Henrico County. I was so used to the downtown area that it was a bit unsettling to have to reshift our base of operations to a different place. There was a new driving pattern to remember, a new schedule (since both girls were in full day camp) and I had to figure out new places to visit.
Our first stop was Meadow Farm, also known as Crump Park. This area has been used as farmland since 1713. During the Civil War, Dr. John Sheppard and his wife lived here along with their 9 children. Union troops passed through the farm en route to the Battle of Yellow Tavern in 1864. The farm was passed down through the Sheppard Family until it was donated to Henrico County in 1975 by Sheppard Crump and his wife Elizabeth. The 1810 farmhouse still stands and is open as a museum.
One thing we have had to learn about Richmond is that almost everything is closed on Mondays. The best time to visit Richmond is on the weekends. During the week, there is a patchwork schedule of open days. The museum and outbuildings at Meadow Farm were also closed on Mondays so we walked the property instead.
There are many miles of nature trails to walk. The one we chose had excellent signs helping you to identify native trees. One of my favorite native trees is the Loblolly Pine that has extra long needles.
As we were emerging from the woods, a man out walking his dog commented on my son’s red hair. We chatted for a bit and he said, “Is that your first child?” pointing to my son. I explained that it was actually my third child.
“What?” he gasped in surprise. “You don’t look old enough to have three children. You look like you’re barely out of high school. Way to go, mama!”
Now, I don’t believe this for a second but I have to say it was one of the nicest compliments I have ever received. Men, please tuck this gem away to be used sparingly and in the right circumstances. Hallmark should hire this man to create a set of “flirt” cards. Where there is a line like this one, I’m sure there are others.
After our walk, we ate our lunch in the park. Meadow Farm has a wonderful playground and the creativity of the Henrico County playground designer (first seen at Three Lakes Nature Center) was in full display.
It was pretty hot so I dragged my son away from the playground to check out a few other tourist sites in the area.
Henrico County has a 1920’s service station replica across from Meadow Farm. It doesn’t seem to be used for anything other than a display but it was interesting to see. The sign indicated that this service station used to be a social hub of activity in Henrico County.
A little ways down the road was another attraction, a section of “Forest Lodge,” build in the late 1800’s by John Cussons. Mr. Cussons was an adventurous man, born in England, immigrated to the United States, spent time out west with the Sioux Indians, joined the Confederate Army in the Civil War, was imprisoned by the Union and sent out west again to serve out his time until the end of the war. He returned to Virginia where he began several entrepreneurial efforts including creating the first flip-top and perpetual calendars. He built Forest Lodge as a retreat to entice travelers going between Florida and New York. Forest Lodge was razed in 1992 but this section was preserved.
On the lawn around Forest Lodge were these foamy balls. It looked like someone had taken a can of shaving cream and spritzed it randomly all over the lawn. (Some research suggests that these are probably the “nests” of spittlebug nymphs.)
As we were leaving Forest Lodge, a car pulled up and a man called out, “Do you know what you’re looking at there?” I said yes and that it was an interesting lodge from the nineteenth century. He went on, “I’m from the County Board of Supervisors and I told them to put that there. It was just an ugly corner before. I just wanted to make sure you knew what it was. . . . . What’s that stuff on the lawn?” I told him it looked like some sort of insect or maybe shaving cream. He said he was going to look into it and drove off. It was a real small town experience to meet a local official like this.
Another short distance down the road we came to Walkerton Tavern.
The sign out front said it was open so I opened the door and wandered in. A surprised employee appeared. I explained that we were just touring and wanted to know if we could poke around. She took us on a tour of the house, built in 1824. It first served as a tavern but ran into financial difficulties. It then became a post office, store, voting precinct and a Civil War hospital for Union cavalrymen. The house has been added onto several times since it was built and the County is still in the process of furnishing it with period accessories. It is primarily used now as a meeting space and wedding reception area. Barack Obama used it as a campaign stop in the last presidential election while Mitt Romney used Meadow Farm just down the road.
The most interesting aspect of the Walkerton Tavern is a movable wall. You can change the configuration of the room from one long meeting hall to two smaller rooms by moving the wall (and associated door frame).
We had made it to the end of quite a long day on our new schedule and picked up my daughters from camp. Already, I could tell our Henrico County adventures would have a slightly different flavor than our Richmond city adventures but I also knew we were going to have fun.