Richmond delivers on adventure, history and Southern hospitality | Travel
Think of outdoorsy cities and names like Denver or Portland pop up, but in the epicenter of Southern gentility lies a metropolis that surpasses these studly western towns, for it is in leafy, well-bred Richmond, Virginia, where action junkies can easily access a nice adrenaline fix.
In Virginia’s capital, kayakers and whitewater rafters routinely tackle awe-inspiring Class III and IV rapids on the James River within sight of the antebellum mansions and skyscrapers. Don’t have a kayak? Rent one from outfitters that include RVA Paddlesports.
Only in Richmond can you enjoy an adrenaline rush through rapids just before strolling to dinner at restaurants that have secured the city’s place in National Geographic’s “Top Ten Places to Travel for Food.”
The city of approximately 226,000 residents has a stalwart dedication to outdoor pursuits.
Belle Isle, the city’s downtown island in the middle of the James River, offers plenty of wading and swimming possibilities, although the powerful Hollywood Rapids are best observed and not attempted. Access the island by pedestrian footbridge or rock-hopping. Wooded trails, mountain biking trails, single track trails with historic stopping points such as the 1893 Victorian Gothic Pump House, wheelchair-accessible fishing and a rock-climbing wall of granite are also here as part of the James River Park System.
Embracing its rich history and the abundance of gifts Mother Nature bestowed upon her, Richmond, or RVA to the locals, is quite simply a fun town to visit. Even better, the crowds haven’t yet fully materialized.
“It’s kind of an undiscovered cool place to visit, like Nashville and Asheville were until they were overrun,” said Melissa Abernathy, communications manager for the Maymont Foundation, a historic park and estate. “It’s also managed to add major connecting roadways as it grew, making it easy to navigate, and has avoided the growth pains that created traffic nightmares in Atlanta and Charlotte, for example.”
Maymont estate
Abernathy works at RVA’s jewel in the crown. At 100-acre Maymont, visitors can engage their inner history buff while easily clocking their 10,000 daily steps as they stroll through the gardens and arboretum that surround the mansion built by millionaires James and Sallie Dooley in 1893.
The mansion itself is a 12,000-square-foot, 33-room beauty that, unlike many other historic house museums, never experienced intervening families or adaptive conversions to separate today’s visitors from the rarefied Gilded Age world of the original owners. Within six months of Mrs. Dooley’s death in 1925, the mansion became a museum.
The Romanesque-Revival-meets-Queen-Anne style residence, replete with unusual antiques and furnishings such as an unforgettable swan-shaped bed, is open for tours that both display the opulence of the “upstairs” residents and explain the relationship between the owners and the “downstairs” inhabitants who made their lives so pleasant.
The building is at the center of massive green spaces where guests can meander through Japanese and Italian gardens. At the arboretum, the Dooleys planted a tree collection recognized by experts as among the country’s most notable.
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The estate includes Maymont Farm, a popular family destination for hands-on animal encounters and insight into farm life. Surrounding the barn and pastures, guests can enjoy open spaces for picnics and lazing away an afternoon.
Also part of Maymont is the Robins Nature Center, a 29,000-square-foot complex showcasing animals of the James River and Chesapeake Bay. The attraction features an extraordinary multimedia experience replicating lifelike interactions with animals and water in a river environment. Digital pool touch stations with touch responsiveness teem with wildlife and native plants waiting to be discovered. Playful pursuits include rocks to climb, a beaver lodge to visit, kayaks to sit in and more.
In addition to the farm and the nature center, wildlife habitats of Virginia native species such as red fox, black bear and bald eagle, are located between the mansion, the farm and the nature center.
With so much on the program, a day is needed to give Maymont the attention it richly deserves.
Bike-friendly city, and Hotel Greene golf
One of the country’s most bike-friendly cities, RVA offers an extensive network of bike trails and bikes, including the electric variety, seem available at every corner. In the city’s downtown, designated bike lanes are wide and well-defined, allowing cyclists easy access to sights such as the opulent Hotel Jefferson and to must-go food spots that include Lillie Pearl, a family-run restaurant that has perked up foodies’ antennae for its take on Southern comfort food, and is reflective of the city’s obsession with good food and drink.
Bike along Monument Avenue, now no longer in the grip of the “Lost Cause” narrative, since all the Confederate monuments have been removed. It includes a spacious, tree-lined median and some of the most beautiful homes in a city replete with handsome buildings. Stop at Church Hill to take in the view.
Keep on cycling to Hotel Greene, a faux hotel home to “Highfalutin’ Mini Golf.”
After seeing artist Rick Araluce’s immersive exhibit at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., Andrea Ball and Jim Gottier sought the help of Araluce − for 20 years scenic designer at Seattle Opera − for the backdrop to their indoor miniature golf course. Araluce, together with a team of creatives with equally impressive pedigrees, fashioned from the former restaurant at the ill-fated John Marshall Hotel a “golf experience” that weaves and winds through eclectic, golf ball-friendly carpeted corridors, guest rooms, a bathhouse and lounges, none of them real, but all of them fun. The course itself, designed by master mini-golf designer Bob Horwath, is challenging even for experts of the game.
The lobby, which replicates a slightly faded grand hotel, offers a full bar and bar fare. After 5 p.m., the course is restricted to just the grownups, and the servers make sure drink orders are filled promptly, whatever hole is being played. Brunch attracts couples and families happy to make a day of it.
Cycling and walking enthusiasts can continue the adventure beyond the city limits with the Capital Trail, 52 miles of exploration possibilities that begin in downtown Richmond and travel all the way to Jamestown, allowing cyclists the opportunity to visit the past and present capitals of Old Dominion.
Capitol drive and places to stay
When a break is needed, swap the bike for a car for a drive to attractions such as the Thomas Jefferson-designed Virginia State Capitol; the Valentine Museum, the city’s first museum and one that interprets RVA’s history; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.
“It’s really a mini-Met, with a fabulous collection of art from around the world through nearly all periods,” said Abernathy.
Less than an hour away are vineyards galore, as well as the roller coaster heaven known as Kings Dominion.
At the end of the day, return to historic lodgings such as the Linden Row Inn, comprised of seven meticulously restored mid-1800s row houses filled with antiques, yet updated with 21st conveniences. The Inn, part of the National Register of Historic Places, features singular accommodations that include the Edgar Allan Poe Parlor Suite, named thus because as a child, the poet played in the Inn’s courtyard gardens. Local lore claims the property was the inspiration for the enchanted garden Poe mentions in his famous poem, “To Helen.”
Like Charleston, New Orleans and Key West, Richmond has carefully cultivated an attitude that separates it from the generic. Under the hoop skirts, this Southern belle is wearing Lycra and water shoes. She’s an original.
For more, see visitrichmondva.com.
Sonnemberg is a Melbourne-based freelance travel and lifestyles writer.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Kayak Richmond's James River or stroll the grounds of Maymont
