We had time for one last short trip before the move. The timeline aligned with my birthday and my wife let me decide where to go (and plan it). I picked Richmond. More than anything it's the best beer town anywhere near DC, though there's other (i.e. history) stuff we wanted to check out too. We left on a Friday morning and returned Saturday evening.
Richmond, VA is the capital of Virginia and was also the capital of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Today it's quite the hipster town, explaining all the great beer. My wife has work friends that live there and we went down three or four times while living in the mid-Atlantic. It's not a bad drive from Frederick, in theory a little less than three hours, but there's always traffic on the beltway around DC and all along I-95 (especially near Fredericksburg) due to construction and whatever else. This time we left too early in the day to utilize the I-95 toll roads (which were open going into, not away from, DC) and had to go more slowly than I liked, though the boys handled it pretty well.
When we got to Richmond, the first place I took us was Monument Ave. In previous trips I wanted to see the increasingly controversial statues of Confederate leaders along that main thoroughfare. It seemed obvious to me they weren't long for their position of prominence, regardless of the fact they'd been there more than a century, and their continued existence and the history involved intrigued me. I'm from about as far north (in the lower 48) as you can be, so I certainly have no loyalty to these men. But they were Americans, and heroes to the people in Virginia. Most of the immortalized showed remarkable skill on the battlefield, which is what made them famous and loved in the first place. They were also obviously and ultimately traitors. Hopefully we can agree it's more complicated than the statues solely represent racism, though admittedly I don't have major qualms with their removal from a place of honor either. We shouldn't pretend our history didn't happen and we shouldn't oversimplify the people who made it. Anyway, I was right and most of the statues were pulled down last summer in the unrest stemming from the death of George Floyd. Robert E. Lee just came down, in September of this year, only weeks before our visit. I'm happy to have seen Lee and Stonewall Jackson while they were standing. It was interesting, this time, to see what Monument Ave looks like now. There aren't many monuments, though there are pedestals. Lee's old location has an absolutely crazy amount of graffiti all over it. I wonder how long it'll stay like that.
Enough about statues, there were better things to explore and beer to drink. To entertain the toddler we spent a couple hours at the Science Museum of Virginia after seeing there was an area for little kids. It turned out to be the most boring spot in the whole place. The Hot Wheels exhibit was the biggest hit and the Speed area had quite a few fun activities, like racing animals of various speeds (or Usain Bolt!) and playing air hockey against a robot. Plus there are old trains outside the architecturally cool old building, which used to be a station. Most of all I liked the massive pendulum swinging in the lobby. Each day they reset and start it, and it knocks down a pin stationed around a large circle (one every 15 minutes) in order to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. Next we were off to Bingo Beer Co. This brewery was chosen because they have a considerable arcade inside, with Skee-Ball, a bunch of pinball machines (including Hot Wheels again, plus Stranger Things and other current themes), and various other things. It was here that our son learned about Mario Kart and I'm concerned (or elated?) that may become a new obsession. Let's just say we had a blast, at least until it was over because he was not a fan of that. The beer was pretty good at Bingo too, as they had some unusual styles to accompany the great atmosphere.
To end Friday we went to Triple Crossing Beer - Fulton for dinner. Unlike everything else we did that day, which was very close together, Fulton is clear on the other side of town. They have amazing thin crust pizza baked in a fancy brick oven (get the Bahn Mizza!), the best beer from the weekend (including actually great haze and a stellar Bitter) and we had exceptional service too. The boys were popular with the other guests and the employees and we all had a great time. I would most definitely go back, or buy their beer anytime.
Saturday's plan was a little more ambitious considering we didn't have any toddler entertainment planned and it included a longer drive home afterward. That's because we drove a little farther south and went to Petersburg, site of the long siege that immediately preceded the end of the Civil War. We never made it down for the 5k through a Civil War reenactment, which would been pretty incredible, but we could at least check out the battlefield.
For the history bit, after Grant was named head of the entire Union Army in early 1864 he moved decisively against Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, something his predecessors often refused to do. During the Overland Campaign in May/June 1864, Grant forced Lee into defensive positions around Richmond even though the Union took heavy losses along the way. He eventually took the army over the James River and threatened Petersburg, knowing that if he could take the city Richmond would fall as well. When initial movements against Petersburg failed to result in its capture, they dug in. Over the next nine plus months the Union army slowly surrounded the city and choked its supply lines. Battles between Union and Confederate troops featured an early version of trench warfare, something that became notorious 50 years later in The Great War. It was Robert E. Lee's last stand, and his flight on April 2, 1865 directly led to Appomattox Court House and surrender a week later. Appomattox is the battle that's always remembered, but the Confederacy was broken for good at Petersburg.
Because this was a long lasting siege and not a battle that took place over a day or so, it's a little harder to visit and understand its entirety than Gettysburg or Antietam. There is, however, still a driving tour through the 'Eastern Front.' The Visitors Center is the starting point, located where initial Union excursions were made against the city in 1864. Near there you can see the Dictator, an enormous cannon that was famous at the time even if it wasn't all that effective. A little farther down Siege Road are some recreated fortifications to show how positions were held by the two armies. You can see the location of Fort Stedman, Lee's last attempted offensive maneuver of the war and the final Confederate attempt to break the siege. The short tour terminates at 'the Crater.' This was certainly a curious chapter of the engagement around Petersburg and we made sure to attend a pre-planned Ranger talk there, which was well worth it.
It turns out the Union soldiers got bored sitting around. Some of them were coal miners who hatched a plan to dig under Confederate lines and blow them up. Union leadership wasn't all that keen on the idea but them them go about it anyway. It was the Union generals themselves that messed it up in the end, not granting the diggers the requested amount of gunpowder and not adequately preparing the attackers for what to do after the explosion. It was all too typical of Union blunders during the war, where capable Confederate leadership frequently were able to soundly rout them. The Battle of the Crater ended after a large number of Union soldiers ended up inside the massive hole they created instead of advancing to take the city. We also learned this battle included some pretty appalling treatment of black troops ('USCTs'), such as documented examples of white Union troops killing black Union troops in order to have a chance to surrender to the enemy. That's the kind of conditions the Union found (and put) itself in.
After leaving the battlefield we briefly drove through Old Towne Petersburg. It's pretty fascinating the town was something like the 7th biggest city in the South at around the time of the Civil War. Today its population is only about 30k. Lot of history there though, in addition to the siege it had one of the nation's first black settlements, Pocahontas Island dating to the 18th century, and it was also the site of a battle during the Revolutionary War.
We left Petersburg and started the drive north toward home, but not before stopping at The Answer Brewpub for lunch. They have some of the craziest and most experimental beer I've ever had. Their sours, some of which are basically blended smoothies, are the ones that need to be tried. My favorite was the Triple (or Imperial) Three Scoops. They also have very strong and dessert-y stouts and good haze too. This was the one place we'd been before where I wanted to return and was a large reason for making the drive in the first place. The food, which is Asian themed, is great too (get the Mekong's Crispy Springrolls!).
It was finally time to go home. The drive wasn't so bad considering we still had about three hours to go. All around it was a really fun trip, and one I was glad we made before leaving the east coast.
I thought I'd finish by summing up what I think are the best places in Richmond for beer, because that's a crucial part of this post and not everything was mentioned above. A short list:
Triple Crossing - my preference for haze, two locations
The Answer - crazy experimental stuff, especially sours
Stone - west coast powerhouse, secondary brewery
Blue Bee - cidery with some super tasty creations
Of course there are so many places in the city. If you simply drive into the Scott's Addition neighborhood you'll probably be extremely happy anywhere. In addition to Bingo I also wanted to check out Ardent and Väsen but there was only so much time.
That's all for today. Smell ya later!
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