Tag: Richmond

The history of the world would have been very different (and I doubt in a positive way) if this man, Jefferson F Davis, had been able to lead the Confederate States to a victory in the American Civil War. Davis was the only President of the Confederate States as it was a short-lived office, but for the years he was in power (1861-1865) he was a very important political figure around the world. By most accounts, he wasn’t the most competent of leaders and his time in office was very troubled to say the least. His support for slavery has also meant that his historical reputation has gone from one of respect at the time to one more of contempt, although as with everything, views differ.

As this tablet suggests, Davis had previously been the Secretary of War between 1853 and 1857. Davis had close links to Richmond, it’s where he lived and was inaugurated as President and hence that was why he was buried here at Hollywood Cemetery, although other US cities put in claims as well. He had died and was buried in New Orleans, but his remains were quickly exhumed and transport to Richmond.

I’d like to think that his statue is safe in this graveyard, but images of Davis have been attacked throughout the United States over recent years. Davis was arrested after the end of the Civil War and many people tried to unite the nation that had nearly split in two, with Davis not being adverse to helping with that. Certainly a controversial figure even today, it was certainly interesting to see where he was buried.

As I mentioned earlier, there are two Presidents buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, John Tyler and James Monroe.

The grave of John Tyler (1790-1862), who was President between 1841 and 1845, and there is something quite thrilling about seeing where a former leader of the United States is buried. Perhaps I just need to get out more, but there’s some considerable heritage here.

Tyler was the tenth President of the United States, slightly unexpected as his predecessor William Henry Harrison had only lasted for one month before dying and that’s still the shortest period in office for a US President. There’s an historians’ view of former Presidents at https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2021/?category=6 which puts Tyler towards the bottom of the list, although not as far down as Trump so that’s one thing.

Tyler had fifteen children, a record for any US President which is unlikely now to be surpassed, and in terms of his political legitimacy, some of his political opponents referred to him as “His Accidency”. This was a tricky route to navigate as Presidents hadn’t previously died in office and some thought that Tyler should just temporarily manage the responsibilities of the President and not take over the entire role which is what he ended up doing. This whole situation wasn’t formally resolved until the 25th Amendment to the Constitution in 1967, but credit to Tyler for managing to stay in the post for the full four years.

The burial of Tyler took place in 1862 and Jefferson Davis started to get involved with that whole arrangement, ignoring Tyler’s wishes for a simple funeral. Tyler was buried under a Confederate flag, the only former US President not to have been covered with the flag of the United States.

There are two former Presidents buried at Hollywood Cemetery, James Monroe and John Tyler.

The grave of James Monroe (1758-1831) who was the fifth President of the United States, serving between 1817 and 1825, and one of the Founding Fathers. Often noted for the Monroe Doctrine, which defined the foreign policy of US politics for over a century, as well as being one of the people responsible for the Louisiana Purchase earlier on in his career. That purchase is still staggering, Monroe and others were meant to go and buy New Orleans from the French for no more than $10 million, but he managed to buy half of what is now the United States for $15 million.

Quite an ornate exterior, Monroe was initially buried in New York at the Marble Cemetery and wasn’t re-interred here in Richmond for 27 years. I’m not entirely sure what he would have thought about that little arrangement.

And here he is in a painting by Samuel Morse from 1819. Two potential quiz questions here, Monroe died on Independence Day, 4 July, the third of the first five US Presidents to do so, but none have since. Also, with the exception of George Washington, he’s the only US President to have a capital city named after him, in this case, Monrovia in Liberia.

This large pyramid is located at Hollywood Cemetery and was erected here in 1869 to commemorate the 18,000 Confederate men who lost their lives in the Civil War and were buried here. The cemetery itself prefers the interpretation not that the Civil War was “a lost cause” but that it united the nation and set the foundation for the future.

The pyramid stands 27 metres high and was designed by Charles H Dimmock (1831-1873).

The 1869 stone marking that the pyramid was erected by the Hollywood Memorial Association.

Some of the thousands of Confederate graves which have been well cared for.

Located next to the pyramid, this feels slightly out of place in the cemetery……

OK, my final post about the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond…. This is one of the best known graves because of the cast iron Newfoundland dog. The dog is guarding the grave of a little girl (there’s not agreement on her first name, although her surname was Rees) and it’s traditional to place toys here to commemorate her life. As to why the dog is present, many historians seem to agree that it was placed here in the early 1860s during the Civil War to prevent it being melted down for the war effort, although it could just have been placed here by the little girl’s family. Whichever story is true, this is now an iconic location for the city of Richmond.

There are a number of cities in the United States who are doing great things with public transport in a country where the car dominates nearly everywhere. There’s also Chicago where the public transport system is, frankly, outdated if we were in the 1950s. But I’ll be coming onto that complaint in a few days. Indeed, I might spread those complaints out over several posts as the system is so ineptly run I can’t recall seeing anything as badly planned in any city I’ve been to.

Anyway, unlike Chicago, Richmond is pioneering with its work on public transport and there will be a little more on this as I returned to the city after going to Williamsburg. One of the things that they’ve done is make public transport free until 2025 and it certainly seems from my observation of passenger usage to be very popular. Every bus stop also has a code which then gives live information on where the buses are, which wasn’t entirely perfect but it worked well enough.

I double checked that it was definitely free when boarding, just in case I had got muddled up, but, all was as expected. As free as a bird…. Unless it’s a caged one. I digress I think.

And the bus sailing off after safely depositing me near to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I’d better add that’s where I wanted to get off, I wasn’t removed from the vehicle. But, a very impressive effort from the city of Richmond to increase the usage of public transport, I was very impressed.

I’ve never seen anything like this before, which were some protesters standing outside of a women’s health centre in Richmond, next to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The banner is the centre’s as abortion is still legal in Virginia, but the men standing nearby with the “Baby Lives Matter” had a megaphone and were saying what they thought about the abortion advice that was being offered inside. There was a lot of “you can adopt your baby rather than murder it” which was it’s fair to say quite emotionally charged language for anyone sitting inside.

Anyway, I’ve heard of this sort of protest but it’s the first time that I’ve seen anything like it. The midterms are on 8 November here and the abortion issue is a huge one in the United States, perhaps slightly favouring the Democrats for these elections more than the Republicans.

I’ll try not to get too distracted and write hundreds of posts about artworks at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which means that I might have to limit myself somewhat given the number of photos that I took. Roy Lichtenstein is one of the defining American artists in my limited knowledge of this sort of thing, although he himself has said that he didn’t like his work being defined as American, he thought that it was more industrial.

This artwork was painted in 1964 and as the gallery says, it all questions where the lines are drawn between advertising and art. I liked the heritage of this as well, acquired by Sydney and Frances Lewis in 1980 as part of their collection before they donated it to the gallery in 1985. The couple built up an enormous set of artworks as they exchanged items from their mail order catalogue to up and coming artists, a rather clever tactic.

I won’t offer any more analysis than that as it would just sound trite, but this felt like being in an American gallery looking at a proper piece of American art. As for the value of this, I have no idea and I can’t imagine that it would ever be sold, but in 2017, ‘Masterpiece’ by the artist sold for $165 million.

And continuing with my theme of my favourite artworks in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, this is a painting by John Salt who I have to confess that I hadn’t heard of. Born in 1937, he died in December 2021 and has a pub named after him in London which is something that I’m very impressed about. He was an English artist and his works are based around photo-realism and I had to get close to this before I realised that it wasn’t a photograph.

Salt went to Baltimore to study in 1967 and although he intended to return at the end of his course, he remained in the United States until 1978 when he came back to the UK and settled in Shropshire. I’ll use the gallery’s text about this artwork as it’s better than anything that I could write:

“Although bathed in strong California sunlight, this scene could be from almost anywhere in America. While Salt clearly delights in the play of light on glass and metal, the directness of the image addresses classic themes of waste, destruction, and even mortality, as the abandoned car, in human terms, has finished its life span.”

The gallery bought this artwork in 1971 after it was painted, funded by a grant from Sydney and Frances Lewis. It’s another example of an artwork that just shouted American at me, which felt extra appropriate from an English artist. It’s also got something of a haunting feel, a car left to be scrapped and no longer of use.