Fans of Lin Manuel Miranda’s smash-hit musical Hamilton and holistic history-telling alike will enjoy their visit to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture for the new exhibit, Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and the Virginians. In Founding Frenemies, VMHC, formerly the…
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and sharing a delicious meal with family. And the best part? Unlike many other holidays, there is no pressure to buy gifts for anyone. Thanksgiving is about…
In the thirty-seven years that “Buffalo” Bill Cody ran his world-famous Wild West Show, he brought it to Richmond nine times from 1888 through 1913. These visits from the former Pony Express rider created weeks of anticipation. Cody’s romanticized dramatizations of…
It was spring 1894, early in President Grover Cleveland’s second term. A new company offering chocolate confections had recently been founded in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, in a town called Hershey. Avant-garde dancer and choreographer Martha Graham was born on May…
By the late 1960s, Shockoe Slip had become a rundown, little-known part of town. The decline of the nearby canal and tobacco warehouses had left the once-bustling commercial center mostly vacant in a changing economic landscape. At a time when…
One of the deadliest diseases in human history has been known by many names: phthisis, tabes, schachepheth, consumption, and white death. A highly contagious bacterial infection of the lungs, the diseases now known as tuberculosis has plagued humans for at least…
My family has the privilege of not having to think about race very much. Being white in a racist society affords us the power to ignore that our whiteness informs every interaction we have with the rest of our culture.…
On June 19, 1972, a weak Category One hurricane hit the gulf coast of Florida. By the time it reached Virginia a few days later, Hurricane Agnes was just a tropical storm, although its fourteen inches of rain combined with…
Through the 1980s, Richmond was home to a thriving punk music scene. In general, East Coast punk bands toured from New York to the Carolinas, getting regular gigs. Situated on I-95, Richmond was a natural and profitable stop on the…
In 2015, National Geographic magazine identified Tangier Island, Virginia, as one of its twenty must-see places in the world. The tiny island shared the list with exotic destinations, such as Okavango Delta in Botswana and Eastern Bhutan in the Himalayas.…
