City: Richmond, VA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (804) 358-4901

Address: 428 N. Blvd.

Description: To do this museum justice, plan on at least two hours to wander about. The Story of Virginia, An American Experience—a multi­media, multi-gallery march through thousands of years of Virginia history, from well before it was Virginia or America to the day before yesterday—could take much longer if you watched every video and read every explanation. If among the hundreds of artifacts in this massive and comprehensive history of Virginia you can’t find something to interest you, you aren’t trying. Tales of hardship and struggle mix in with those of triumph and creativity. Sit and watch the 12-minute introductory film to get your bearings. Interactive exhibits help engage children (or adults), including a Powhatan farmhouse, a dollhouse-like replica of Wilton, and a streetcar you can walk into. The vastness of the exhibit and the themes covered in it—prehistoric peoples, Native American life, the age of exploration, contact with the English, westward expansion, slavery, war, segregation, transportation, women’s rights—make you almost believe that all of human history happened in Virginia. The Virginia Historical Society is closed on Mon. Free admission.