"PLACES THAT HAVE NO SIGNIFICANT TIES"
By Annette Elam Wetzel
Member, Richmond-Stonewall Jackson ChapterCurtis Holt was a community activist here in Richmond; he died a couple of years ago. He lived in one of the housing projects and "agitated." I had never heard of Samuel Tucker until this "name change" resolution was introduced. The article in today's Richmond Times Dispatch did not give a biography of either man. It simply stated that the bridges were named by the City Council 60 years ago when they were built and that "the names have no connection to the community served by the bridges."
These bridges, by the way, were once referred to around here as "viaducts" because they carry city streets across a valley (a deep ravine). That valley is where the Confederate States Arsenal (gunpowder storage) was located. It exploded during the War and blew out the windows in the Alms House.
The Alms House was General Hospital No. 1 and was later used by the cadets of Birginia Military Institute for classroom space after Union General Hunter burned the town of Lexington and VMI. Shockoe Cemetery is right across the street from the Alms House, which, by the way, is still standing and still in use. Next door to the Alms House is the Hebrew Cemetery.
Shockoe Cemetery is the burial place of:
- Chief Justice John Marshall
- Peter Francisco
- General George E. Pickett's first wife
- Benjamin Watkins Leigh (who is also buried in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg -- at least, he has a marker there that says he is buried among the Yankees),
- Elizabeth Van Lew, the Union spy who was rewarded by Grant with the job of postmistress of Richmond
- 250 soldiers (Federal and Confederate) who died at General Hospital No. 1 and whose names are lost to history
- The clerk of the first Confederate Congress
The Hebrew Cemetery, across the street from Shockoe, is the only Jewish Military Cemetery outside Israel. It is beautifully maintained by the Hebrew congregations of Richmond and is surrounded by "the most beautiful cast iron fence in the United States."
Just thought you'd like a mini-tour of "places that have no significant ties."
Return to Richmond to Consider Renaming of Bridges