"Old Dominion"

Welcome to Virginia

Virginia/Maryland border on I-95
May 21, 2006

It's hard to go somewhere in Virginia without passing someplace historic. All along I-95, I passed numerous signs pointing out early colonial settlements, Civil War battlefields and other monuments throughout the nation's history. The first permanent English settlement was established at Jamestown in 1607 and Old Dominion has been influential in U.S. history ever since. Modern Virginia isn't vastly different than it was 400 years ago: large open fields for crops and farming. It's proximity to the District of Columbia plays an important role, since several key government agencies are located in Virginia, as well as both major airports. Virginia is also one of the four U.S. states to call itself a "commonwealth," joining Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Kentucky.

For all the effort it took to get this picture, this sign is pretty dull. I would assume that the cardinal is the state bird, but that's all it has to offer in terms of other state identification than the name. The first time past, I missed it completely, since it is in a construction zone and I thought it was your typical blue information sign. So looping around to go through construction was fun, and the shoulder was almost non-existent since the lanes were narrowed. Maybe this is a temporary sign during construction, but I doubt it. I just figured that a state with such historical significance could have tried a little harder to incorporate some better imagery into the sign.

Welcome to Richmond

November 5, 2007

Like the commonwealth itself, Richmond has seen its fair share of historical moments. Most notably, Richmond was destroyed by fire during the American Revolution and was the seat of the capital of the Confederacy. Today, Richmond is a decent-sized city in the heart of Virginia and has quite a busy downtown district. It has the typical hard-to-navigate one-way streets and little parking. I was somewhat surprised to see a large memorial to Confederate president Jefferson Davis, as well as a museum of the Confederacy, located so close to the capitol. But the weather was simply awful. I went in mid-May and it was nearly 90º with brutal humidity; I would hate to come back in late August.

As history will tell you, Virginia has played by its own rules since it was founded. So it shouldn't come as a shock that the commonwealth's capitol bears little resemblance to the U.S. Capitol, which has become the de facto model for the states. It takes its architectural influence from another branch of government: the U.S. Supreme Court building. The portico also seems to bear a slight resemblance to the White House, albeit to a lesser extent. The capitol grounds occupy an entire city block in the heart of downtown Richmond, and has an impressive collection of trees and plants around several walkways around the building. One interesting part of the grounds is the location of the visitor's center: it's underneath the capitol itself. The first time I visited, the land in front of the building was barren and the façade was covered in scaffolding. Needless to say, the updated picture much better than the one I took on May 18, 2006.

Miscellaneous Virginia Symbols

State Route Sign

License Plate

Seal

Quarter