January 15, 8 am - VUU, Shockoe Hill Cemetery, and Jackson Ward *
Details
I’m implementing a new JRH policy for the history hikes I lead. This will be to financially support our community volunteer projects. Examples:
Restore Gravestones at Shockoe Hill Cemetery
https://www.meetup.com/James-River-Hikers/events/278996042/
The D2 chemical we used for this Meetup cost $157.
Paint over graffiti
https://www.meetup.com/James-River-Hikers/events/279111718/
The paint and equipment we used for this Meetup cost $42.
You can choose one of these options to be paid at the beginning of the Meetup. Cash or check to James River Hikers.
$5 donation
$12 JRH cap
$15 JRH short sleeve t-shirt. Sizes S, M & L
$28 JRH sweatshirt. Sizes L & XL
If you prefer merchandise, inform in advance via note in the space below your choice of product and size, and I’ll attempt to have it set aside for you.
This is a 5+ hour 6 mile hike with an abundance of history. Some of my hikes include much historical commentary, and others are primarily just hikes. This one is in the former category so expect to make frequent stops to discuss the historical sites we'll come by.
This hike begins at Stuart Circle where Monument Avenue meets Franklin Street. Parking can be arranged on the street level of the One Monument Avenue apartments parking structure behind 1st English Lutheran Church off Lombardy Street located at the southwestern side of Stuart Circle.
Park in one of the spaces reserved for OMA (One Monument Avenue)
The address for the First English Lutheran Church is 1603 Monument Ave, Richmond, VA 23220.
First we'll tour the campus of Virginia Union University that was first put into operation shortly after April 3, 1865, the date when Richmond was liberated by troops of the United States Army.
Here is a history of VUU:
https://www.vuu.edu/about_vuu/history.aspx
Next we'll hike to Shockoe Hill Cemetery (1822) burial place of Chief Justice John Marshall (1835),
Revolutionary War Hero Peter Francisco and Elizabeth Van Lew Union spy.
We'll then walk to Hebrew Cemetery (1816) and see the graves of 30 Jewish Confederate soldiers and the 1866 elaborate ornamental iron fence surrounding the plot.
We'll visit the site of the Second African Burial Ground. Check out this article
Human remains found at East End Cemetery this summer may have been used in medical experiments
and this video
Until The Well Runs Dry: Medicine & the Exploitation of Black Bodies
They reveals much about Richmond's historic black cemeteries.
From there we'll hike to Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church founded by nationally celebrated Rev. John Jasper in 1867.
Then we'll visit Jackson Ward which was both the "Black Wall Street of America" and had a section that literally resembled New Orleans's Bourbon Street non-stop. Maggie Walker House. Maggie Walker was nationally acclaimed as a champion for oppressed blacks and women. "Bojangles" statue,