Where am I? (Part 10)

The test of your knowledge of Richmond continues, and this time, I suspect, it won’t be so easy.

Or maybe it will. So far, somebody always gets the right answer -- and quickly.

Check out the architectural design element in the image above. Do you know what building it adorns? You might, if you’re particularly observant.

If you know, click on the word comments below to give your answer.

Walter, my oldest friend, and Mike, my nephew, came up with the correct answer just minutes after I posted yesterday’s image in Part 9. Walter beat Mike to the punch by a hair’s breadth. The image shows the western entrance to the tunnel under Church Hill that collapsed in 1925, killing a handful of laborers and burying a work train and its locomotive.

The story has a personal connection for me, as many of you who read this blog know already. You can refresh your memories by clicking here.)

(If you’re coming in during the middle of this exercise on how well you know Richmond, you can start from the beginning by clicking here.)

Where am I? (Part 9)

Take a look at the image above. Click on it to enlarge it. Do you know what it is? You’re a real Richmonder if you know this one.

If you know, click on the word comments below to give your answer.
   
Congratulations to my niece Annette, who correctly identified the image in Part 8 as a portion of the defense line around Richmond during the Civil War. The odd thing -- to me, anyway -- is that this miniature piece of history sits in a very modern parking lot. You could walk the perimeter of the site in a couple of minutes. Its very close neighbors are a tire shop and the parking lot in front of the Martin’s grocery store at 5700 Brook Road.

A parking lot might be an unusual place to encounter history. On the other hand, we preserve our history where we can. Wanting to know more about our past in Richmond is what also leads me to favor archaeological research in Shockoe Bottom. I can only imagine the wealth of information that lies just below the surface there.

(If you’re coming in during the middle of this exercise on how well you know Richmond, you can start from the beginning by clicking here.)

Where am I? (Part 8)

Richmonders are passionate about preserving history. Do you know where this particular part of the past (in the image above) is located?

If you know, click on the word comments below to give your answer.

My niece Terry has been nailing the last couple of images, correctly identifying them. She did it again, letting us all know that the image posted yesterday was of the former Home for Needy Confederate Women, now known as the Pauley Center at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The image showed the façade of the building, which faces Sheppard Street on the west side of the museum’s sculpture garden.

After spending several million dollars renovating the building, the museum opened the Pauley Center in 1999. From then until I retired in 2010, my office was in the north wing of that building. The Confederate ladies who once lived there, mind you, could not bring themselves to call it the north wing. Since the building is symmetrical, with wings to the north and the south, it would seem logical to have called them the north and south wings. But the Confederate ladies defied logic and called them the east and the west wings. Their husbands, fathers and brothers had, after all, fought for the South.

My job, of course, was to write for the museum, and here’s a portion of what I wrote as VMFA was preparing to move into the refurbished building. I offer it because I enjoyed doing the research, and it gets the facts straight.

The Home for Needy Confederate Women was chartered in 1898 by the Virginia General Assembly to provide a home for needy widows, sisters and daughters of former Confederate soldiers. The home originally operated at 1726 Grove Ave until 1904 when it moved to 3 E. Grace St.

After a fire in 1916, the home’s Board of Managers decided to build a fireproof structure. The substantial Sheppard Street facility was built in 1932, and the architect, Merrill Lee, modeled it after the White House in Washington. The dignity of the structure was meant to suggest that its occupants should be regarded with respect by society and to provide the residents with pride in their home.

By 1989, only nine women remained in the home, which was no longer economically feasible to operate. The residents were moved to a special wing of Brandermill Woods nursing home in Chesterfield County and control of the building reverted to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Shortly thereafter the property was conveyed by then-Governor Gerald L. Baliles to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

(If you’re coming in during the middle of this exercise on how well you know Richmond, you can start from the beginning by clicking here.)

Where am I? (Part 7)

You guys who read this blog are too good! I’m running myself ragged from one end of Richmond to the other to take pictures as I try to stump you.

Maybe the image above will slow you down. What is it? Where is it?

If you know, click on the word comments below to give your answer.

Terry quickly identified the image I posted yesterday. The task was to identify the location of an old Uneeda Biscuit advertisement. Terry correctly said it’s painted on the side of a building at the southeast corner of 25th and Broad streets.

Uneeda Biscuits, which were actually crackers, first showed up on the market in the late 19th century, a product of Nabisco. It was touted as a cracker that was flakier and lighter than competing versions. It was the first to be packaged in what Nabisco called its “In-Er Seal” package to preserve freshness.  Before the Uneeda Biscuit hit shelves, crackers were shipped in barrels and sold in paper bags. In 2009, Nabisco discontinued the Uneeda Biscuit, saying the product was no longer sufficiently profitable.

I haven’t been able to determine when the advertisement was painted at 25th and Broad.

(If you’re coming in during the middle of this exercise on how well you know Richmond, you can start from the beginning by clicking here.)

Where am I? (Part 6)

How long has that Uneeda Biscuit advertisement been on the side of that building? I don’t know, but it was faded even when I first saw it many decades ago. There used to be a lot more such advertisements back in the day. This one seems to have survived long enough to qualify for permanency.

I drove by it again today. Then I circled the block and came back to shoot a few photographs.

So that’s today’s question. Where is it?

If you know, click on the word comments below to give your answer.

Congratulations to Becky and Terry for correctly naming our last location: The Azalea Gardens at Bryan Park. The park itself is named for Joseph Bryan, the founder and publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It was a gift to the city from the Bryan family in 1910. The azalea garden was begun by volunteers in 1952.  In the next 15 years, those volunteers planted some 450,000 azaleas in 50 varieties.

When the azaleas are in bloom, as they are now, the garden is a beautiful sight.

(If you’re coming in during the middle of this exercise on how well you know Richmond, you can start from the beginning by clicking here.)

Where am I? (Part 5)

After yesterday’s difficult question, here’s a softball for you. I took this picture (above) Thursday afternoon. Where was I?

If you know, click on the word comments below to give your answer.

Now here’s news about our last winner. My niece Terry deserves an E for effort for researching the name of the figure atop the Jefferson Davis Monument on Monument Avenue: The figure is Vindicatrix, but post-bellum Richmonders took to calling her Miss Confederacy. The imposing monument to the president of the Confederacy was designed by two Virginians, Edward Valentine and William Noland. It was said that 200,000 people attended the unveiling, which was a highlight of a Confederate Reunion here in 1907.

(If you’re coming in during the middle of this exercise on how well you know Richmond, you can start from the beginning by clicking here.)

Where are we? (Part 4)

In Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this Cogito series about Richmond places and things, you readers have been really knowledgeable about the city.

So let’s make it a little harder this time.
   
Look at the picture of the Roman wearing a toga in the picture above.

Who is she?

Yes, she actually has a name. Don’t ask me how I know this bit of trivia. But I do.

If you, too, know (remember that Google can be your friend if you use the right search words), click on the word comments below and let me know.

(If you’re coming in during the middle of this exercise on how well you know Richmond, you can start from the beginning by clicking here.)

Going back to yesterday’s image and question, my nephew Mike got it right -- both times. The Bill’s Barbecue that had stood on that now-empty lot for decades is gone. The company shut down its operations in 2012. And Mike was right when he said the restaurant was called Virginia Barbecue before it became a Bill’s Barbecue.

I should point out that Mike and his wife spent some time in their kitchen creating their own version of Bill’s famous sauce. They worked backwards from the ingredients on the label of a bottle of the real thing. The label didn’t list proportions. But after much experimenting, Mike and Becky came up with a version so good that I can’t tell it from my memories of the real thing. They shared bottles of it with the family. I still have half a bottle in my fridge. I’m using it sparingly to make it last.

Thank you, Mike and Becky.