Richmond

William Byrd II founded Richmond in 1737 at the fall line of the James River, and named it for Richmond, London, because the view of the river's bend reminded him of the Thames back home. The city replaced Williamsburg as Virginia's capital in 1780, a move meant to put the government further from the coast and closer to the center of the state.

The James River Park System now runs more than 600 acres along the river through the middle of the city, including Class IV rapids at Pony Pasture that make Richmond one of the only state capitals with real whitewater in its downtown. It exists largely because of one denied camping trip: in 1966, a scout leader who'd been turned away from an island offered the city its first 380-acre tract instead, and that donation became the seed of the whole park system.

Thomas Jefferson designed Virginia's State Capitol from Paris in 1785, working with French architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau to model it on the Maison Carrée, a Roman temple in Nîmes, France. It's one of only twelve U.S. state capitols built without an exterior dome. The building served as the Confederate capitol during the Civil War, and today the same rotunda hosts the Virginia General Assembly, the oldest continuously elected legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, tracing back to the House of Burgesses in 1619.

The Virginia State Capitol is Jefferson's only executed piece of full-scale monumental architecture, and it still runs the state: the General Assembly meets in the same building tourists walk through. Jefferson chose the plainer Ionic order over the ornate Corinthian columns of the actual Maison Carrée, and construction ran from 1785 to 1788. Inside, the rotunda holds Jean-Antoine Houdon's life-size marble statue of George Washington, which the General Assembly commissioned in 1784; Houdon traveled to Mount Vernon in 1785, made a plaster mask of Washington's face and took detailed body measurements, then sculpted the statue in marble from those studies.

Sally Bell's Kitchen traces its start to 1924 and is known for its boxed lunches: the current menu lists a sandwich, a side and a cupcake, with a deviled egg half and a cheese wafer included, and Visit Richmond says the potato salad is made from scratch daily. The James Beard Foundation named it an “America's Classic” in 2015. It's on West Broad Street; the restaurant's site lists Monday–Friday hours of 10 a.m.–2 p.m., and Visit Richmond describes it as takeout only and closed weekends.

Scott's Addition is, in Visit Richmond's words, the beverage district of Richmond: once a bustling industrial zone, it is home to breweries plus several cideries, a meadery and multiple distilleries.

14 breweries within 10 miles of Richmond, 2 of them brewpubs with a kitchen.

Brewpub locations from Open Brewery DB (MIT)

Richmond has no NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL team of its own; NASCAR fills part of that gap twice a year at Richmond Raceway, a short track that's hosted Cup Series racing since 1953.

15 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Richmond in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.

• National Air and Space MuseumDistrict of Columbiaabout 95 mi
• Shenandoah CountryVirginiaabout 95 mi
• Washington, D.C.District of Columbiaabout 95 mi
• Washington, D.C. — U.S. CapitolDistrict of Columbiaabout 95 mi
• AnnapolisMarylandabout 110 mi
• Harpers FerryWest Virginiaabout 120 mi
• BaltimoreMarylandabout 130 mi
• FrederickMarylandabout 130 mi
• Kitty Hawk (Outer Banks)North Carolinaabout 140 mi
• Ocean CityMarylandabout 140 mi
• RaleighNorth Carolinaabout 140 mi
• DoverDelawareabout 150 mi
• LewesDelawareabout 150 mi
• Rehoboth BeachDelawareabout 150 mi
• Cape MayNew Jerseyabout 180 mi

Budget one full day for downtown Richmond — the Capitol, the Civil War Museum and a walk along the James — and a second if you want Maymont or the Fan District without rushing.

Spring and fall run milder than summer: average highs are 71°F in April, 78°F in May, 82°F in September and 71°F in October, against 89°F in July, per the National Park Service's Richmond climate table, and the Park Service advises checking the weather before walking around the city in summer heat.

The James River Park System has no single entrance — the city describes it as a linear park along both sides of the James River from Huguenot Flatwater to Ancarrow's Landing, with separate areas such as Belle Isle and Pony Pasture. Visit Richmond lists the main access to Belle Isle as the pedestrian footbridge from Tredegar Street on the north shore. Brown's Island, which connects to the system, is closed to public access during construction, with full project completion anticipated in early 2027.

Parking downtown includes city meters and pay stations, and the General Assembly lists a Capitol visitor parking deck at 20 N. 9th Street at $5^* an hour or $20^* a day, credit or debit only. We were unable to confirm the current on-street meter hours or weekend enforcement.

*Fees subject to change, please check vga.virginia.gov for updated information.

Virginia State Capitol

Address

1000 Bank St, Richmond, VA 23219

Hours

Guided tours Mon–Sat 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Sun 1–4 p.m.

Price

Free

Link

vga.virginia.gov

We checked fees, opening hours and closures on 2026-09-21. These change without notice — confirm with en.wikipedia.org, vga.virginia.gov, visitrichmondva.com, sallybellskitchen.com and venturerichmond.com the week you travel.

Straight-line distance from Richmond, not drive time.

• Richmond International (RIC) — 8 miles
• Newport News Williamsburg International (PHF) — 61 miles
• Charlottesville Albemarle (CHO) — 68 miles