Petersburg

Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The city is 21 miles (34 km) south of the historic commonwealth (state) capital city of Richmond. It is located at the fall line (the head of navigation of rivers on the U.S. East Coast) of the Appomattox River (a tributary of the longer larger James River which flows east to meet the southern mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at the Hampton Roads harbor and the Atlantic Ocean). In 1645, the Virginia House of Burgesses ordered Fort Henry built, which attracted both traders and settlers to the area. The Town of Petersburg, chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1784, incorporated three early settlements, and in 1850 the legislature elevated it to city status.

Petersburg grew as a transportation hub and also developed industry. It was the final destination on the Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System, which opened in 1816, to a city mostly rebuilt after a devastating 1815 fire.  When its Appomattox River port silted up, investors built an 8-mile railroad to City Point on the James River, which opened in 1838 (and was acquired by the city and renamed the Appomattox Railroad in 1847). As discussed below, that became one of four railroads built (some with government subsidies) constructed (with separated terminals to the advantage of local freight haulters) before the American Civil War. In 1860, the city’s industries and transportation combined to make it the state’s second largest city (after Richmond). It connected commerce as far inland as Farmville, Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge and the Appalachian Mountains chain, to shipping further east into the Chesapeake Bay and North Atlantic Ocean. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), because of this railroad network, Petersburg became critical to Union plans to capture the Confederate States national capital established early in the war at Richmond. The 1864–65 Siege of Petersburg, which included the Battle of the Crater and nine months of trench warfare devastated the city. Battlefield sites are partly preserved as Petersburg National Battlefield by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Petersburg rebuilt its railroads, including a connecting terminal by 1866, although it never quite regained its economic position because much shipping traffic would continue to the Norfolk seaport. Still, after the consolidations of smaller railroads and both the CSX and Norfolk Southern railway networks serve Petersburg

Petersburg had one of the oldest free black settlements in the state at Pocahontas Island. Two Baptist churches in the city, whose congregations were founded in the late 18th century, are among the oldest black congregations and churches in the United States. In the 20th century, these and other black churches were leaders in the national Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-1960s. In the post-bellum period, a historically black college which later developed as the Virginia State University was established nearby in Ettrick in Chesterfield County. Richard Bland College, now a junior college, was originally established here as a branch of Williamsburg’s famed College of William and Mary.

Petersburg remains a transportation hub. Area highways include Interstate Highways 85, 95, and U.S. Route highways with 1, 301, and 460. Both CSX and Norfolk Southern rail systems maintain transportation centers at Petersburg. Amtrak serves the city with daily Northeast Regional passenger trains to Norfolk, Virginia, and long-distance routes from states to the South.

Richmond

Richmond is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Greater Richmond Region. Richmond was incorporated in 1742 and has been an independent city since 1871. As of the 2010 census, the city’s population was 204,214 in 2019, the population was estimated to be 230,436, making Richmond the fourth-most populous city in Virginia. The Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state.

The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was briefly settled by English colonists from Jamestown from 1609 to 1611. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737. It became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780, replacing Williamsburg. During the Revolutionary War period, several notable events occurred in the city, including Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech in 1775 at St. John’s Church, and the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom written by Thomas Jefferson. During the American Civil War, Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. It entered the 20th century with one of the world’s first successful electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a traditional hub of African-American commerce and culture.

Richmond’s economy is primarily driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, as well as notable legal and banking firms in the downtown area. The city is home to both a U.S. Court of Appeals, one of 13 such courts, and a Federal Reserve Bank, one of 12 such banks.

Source: Wikipedia

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Photos on this page are for Petersburg and Richmond.

Additional photos for the Civil War ‘Siege of Petersburg’ are published in the Antiquities / Battlefields Section here:

Siege of Petersburg

Petersburg

Union Station

Our visit to Downtown Petersburg was brief due to time constaints, hence limited photos

Richmond

St. Paul’s Episcopal  Church

St. Paul’s Church traces its origins to 1843 when the corner of Grace and Ninth Streets across from Capitol Square was selected as the site for a new Episcopal church. The landmark building, consecrated in 1845, is a masterpiece of the Greek Revival style and a stately complement to Thomas Jefferson’s temple-form Capitol across the street.

Our history mirrors the struggles of our state and our country to establish social justice for all. In our early years, slave labor built the church, many of our members enslaved their fellow Christians, memorials were erected to honor Confederate leaders, and parishioners helped write Virginia’s Jim Crow laws.

Change came in the early twentieth century when St. Paul’s began to transform itself into a “dynamo of power … for missionary service everywhere,” as Rector Walter Russell Bowie said. Over the years church members have led efforts to deal with Richmond’s social problems ranging from poverty to poor public education. We have vigorously opposed state-sanctioned segregation, supported racial reconciliation efforts of the national church, and nurtured a dozen start-ups that continue to advocate for public health, education, and fair housing. Read more about our ministries and committees here.

St. Paul’s is engaged in a History & Reconciliation Initiative (HRI), a commitment to understand and acknowledge the racial history of St Paul’s in order to repair, restore, and seek reconciliation with God, one another, and the broader community.

Source: Our History | St Paul’s Episcopal Church | Richmond, VA (stpaulsrva.org)

Washingon Memorial, Capitol Square

Old City Hall

Old City Hall, known formerly as City Hall, is the former city hall of Richmond, Virginia that was designed by Elijah E. Myers. It served as City Hall from its completion in 1894 through the 1970s. The building occupies its own city block in downtown Richmond, bounded by 10th and 11th Streets to the west and east, and Capitol Street and East Broad Street to the south. The building is executed in a meticulous Gothic Revival style, and was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture.

The above statue is replicated in LIverpool – photos will appear here for completeness (the third point of the triangle in Africa not yet visited!)

The Virginia State Capitol was designed in 1785 by Thomas Jefferson with help from Charles-Louis Clérisseau while Jefferson was serving as U.S. Minister to France. The Virginia General Assembly occupied the Capitol in 1788 and members of the Virginia executive and judicial branches moved into the building in 1789. It is the first American State Capitol designed after the Revolutionary War and the first public building in the New World to be constructed in the form of a classical Roman temple. The east wing for the House of Delegates and the west wing for the Senate of Virginia were opened in 1906 and remain is use by lawmakers today. The Virginia State Capitol is a National Historic Landmark, has been nominated for inclusion on the World Heritage List, is on the Virginia Landmarks Register and on the National Register of Historic Places.

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