Sightseeing In Richmond
Walking Tours
Richmond History Tours, a service of The Valentine, offers 380 guided walking tours of downtown and surrounding areas April through October. Travel tours cover such historic sites as the Byrd Theatre, Carytown, Riverfront, Hollywood Cemetery, Shockoe Bottom, Church Hill, the Court End, Jackson Ward and Richmond's Wall Street. Year-round specialty bus tours also are offered; phone (804) 649-0711.Things to see around Richmond
More than 30 markers and exhibits along Canal Walk, a 1.25-mile interpretive path, convey tidbits about Richmond's heritage. Stretching between 5th and 17th streets, the pathway is adjacent to the north bank of the James River. Visitors can view remnants of the James River and Kanawha Canal that once flowed westward 197 miles to the Allegheny Mountains. Highlights include views of Belle Isle, Brown's Island, Tredegar Iron Works, and the James River and Kanawha Tidewater Connection Locks.
Belle Isle, once home to a Civil War prison camp, can be reached by the pedestrian bridge under the Lee Bridge at 7th and Tredegar streets. A 1-mile walking trail allows visitors to walk along the falls and view the historic earthworks. Brown's Island is the former site of the Confederate Laboratory that exploded in 1863, killing some 50 workers.
Visitors can view remnants of the buildings of Tredegar Iron Works, the most important iron works in the South during the Civil War. The armor used for the CSS Virginia, formerly the USS Merrimac, was manufactured at this plant.
Running along the James River, the Richmond Floodwall is a 1-mile-long concrete levee that varies in height from 7 feet to 30 feet. Highlights of the walk atop the levee include views of the river where walkers can spot various wildlife, including blue herons, Canada geese and turtles.