A People's Guide to Richmond and Central Virginia

An expansive guide for resistance and solidarity across this storied region.
 
Richmond and Central Virginia are a historic epicenter of America’s racialized history. This alternative guidebook foregrounds diverse communities in the region who are mobilizing to dismantle oppressive systems and fundamentally transforming the space to live and thrive. Featuring personal reflections from activists, artists, and community leaders, this book eschews colonial monuments and confederate memorials to instead highlight movements, neighborhoods, landmarks, and gathering spaces that shape social justice struggles across the history of this rapidly growing area.
 
The sites, stories, and events featured here reveal how community resistance and resilience remain firmly embedded in the region’s landscape. A People’s Guide to Richmond and Central Virginia counters the narrative that elites make history worth knowing, and sites worth visiting, by demonstrating how ordinary people come together to create more equitable futures.

Melissa Ooten directs a social justice leadership program and teaches in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Richmond.
 
Jason Sawyer is Assistant Professor of Human Services at Old Dominion University. His work centers community organizing, arts education, and transformative social justice work.
 

Contents

List of Maps 

INTRODUCTION 

1 DOWNTOWN RICHMOND
 
1.1 Devil’s Half Acre | 1.2 African Burial Ground | 1.3 1708 Gallery (former
location) | 1.4 Adams Express Company | 1.5 Walker and Harris Tobacco Factory |
1.6 First African Baptist Church (former location) | 1.7 The Egyptian Building |
1.8 Old City Hall | 1.9 Governor’s Mansion | 1.10 Hotel Raleigh | 1.11 John
Marshall Courts Building | 1.12 Federal Building | 1.13 Kanawha Plaza | 1.14 Sing
Residence (former) | 1.15 Thalhimers Department Store (former) | 1.16 In
Conversation Mural / Mending Walls RVA | 1.17 Spottswood W. Robinson III
and Robert R. Merhige, Jr. U. S. Courthouse | 1.18 Virginia Electric and Power
Company | 1.19 Tredegar Iron Works | 1.20 Belvidere Hill Baptist Church (former) 

2 EAST END RICHMOND 

2.1 Belle Bryan Day Nursery (former) | 2.2 Van Lew Mansion (former) | 2.3 Site of
Battle of Bloody Run | 2.4 Spencer E. Jones III Residence (former) | 2.5 Willie
Mallory Residence (former) | 2.6 CSX Fulton Yard | 2.7 Creighton Court | 2.8 East
End Cemetery | 2.9 The East End Landfill

3 NORTHSIDE RICHMOND 

3.1 Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church | 3.2 Law Offices of Oliver Hill (former) |
3.3 Richmond Planet Offices (former) | 3.4 The Hippodrome | 3.5 Ebenezer
Baptist Church | 3.6 True Reformers Hall (former) | 3.7 Navy Hill School
(former) | 3.8 Virginia First Regiment Armory (former) | 3.9 Richmond Colored
Normal School (former) | 3.10 St. Luke Penny Savings Bank | 3.11 Charles S. Gilpin
Community Farm | 3.12 Overby-Sheppard Elementary School | 3.13 Battery
Park | 3.14 Walter Plecker Residence (former) | 3.15 A. H. Robins Company (former) |
3.16 Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Headquarters (former
location) | 3.17 Bryan Park

4 THE FAN AND WEST END 

4.1 Marcus-David Peters Circle (formerly Lee Circle) | 4.2 Stuart Circle | 4.3 Fan
Free Clinic (former) | 4.4 University Student Commons, Virginia Commonwealth
University | 4.5 Department of Motor Vehicles | 4.6 Richmond Triangle Players’
Robert B. Moss Theatre | 4.7 Rumors of War Statue at the Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts | 4.8 The Virginia Flaggers | 4.9 First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond |
4.10 Byrd Park | 4.11 Phoenix Rising (former) | 4.12 Athena Mural | 4.13 Public
Water Hydrant in Westwood Neighborhood (former) | 4.14 Mekong Restaurant

5 SOUTHSIDE RICHMOND 

5.1 Ancarrow’s Landing | 5.2 Perdue Farms Inc. (former) | 5.3 New Life Deliverance
Tabernacle | 5.4 Sacred Heart Catholic Church / Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon |
5.5 Carrington and Michaux Plant (former) | 5.6 Rudd’s Trailer Park | 5.7 La Mancha
(Southwood Apartments) | 5.8 Broad Rock Sports Complex | 5.9 City of Richmond /
Chesterfield County Boundary | 5.10 McDonough Community Garden |
5.11 Huguenot High School | 5.12 Phillip Morris USA

6 PETERSBURG AND POINTS SOUTH OF RICHMOND 

6.1 Islamic Center of Virginia | 6.2 La Siesta Restaurant (former) | 6.3 Colbrook
Motel (former) | 6.4 213–215 Witten Street | 6.5 Beaux Twenty Club (former) |
6.6 Legends Historical Park and Wilcox Lake | 6.7 Central State Hospital (formerly
the Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane) | 6.8 Matoaca Manufacturing
Company (former) | 6.9 Life Sciences Products Company (former) | 6.10 Hopewell
Municipal Building

7 CHARLOTTESVILLE AND POINTS WEST OF RICHMOND 

7.1 Market Street Park | 7.2 Congregation Beth Israel | 7.3 AIDS Services Group
(former) | 7.4 Charlottesville Woolen Mills | 7.5 Martha “Mattie” Thompson
Residence (former) | 7.6 Muldowney’s Pub (former) | 7.7 Omni Hotel |
7.8 Oakwood Cemetery | 7.9 Hemings Family Residence (former) | 7.10 The
Rotunda, University of Virginia | 7.11 The Lawn at the University of Virginia |
7.12 Memorial Gym | 7.13 Wood’s Crossing | 7.14 Skyline Drive and Shenandoah
National Park | 7.15 Union Hill Baptist Church | 7.16 Dillwyn Correctional
Center | 7.17 Rassawek

8 THE HISTORIC TRIANGLE AND POINTS EAST OF RICHMOND 

8.1 Proposed Site of Chickahominy Gas Power Station | 8.2 Samaria Indian
School (former) | 8.3 Sandy Point | 8.4 Wilson’s Wharf | 8.5 The Brafferton |
8.6 Palace Green | 8.7 Wetherburn’s Tavern | 8.8 Jamestown Church |
8.9 College Landing Park | 8.10 Yorktown Naval Weapons Station |
8.11 Slabtown (former) | 8.12 Werowocomoco | 8.13 Hayes Post Office
(former) | 8.14 Gloucester County High School | 8.15 Pamunkey Pottery
School and Guild | 8.16 King William County Courthouse | 8.17 Scotland
Landing | 8.18 White House Landing | 8.19 George W. Watkins School

9 THEMATIC TOURS 

Monuments and Murals Tour | Virginia Indians Tour | Black Freedom |
Struggles for Self-Determination Tour | Queer Cultures and Histories Tour |
Food Justice Tour

Recommended Reading 
Acknowledgments 
Credits 
Index