Architecture

Arlington National Cemetery illustrates the evolution of the Virginia cemetery from a potter's field during the Civil War to the most prestigious military cemetery in the United States.

The cemetery contains such significant monuments and sites as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Rough Rider Monument, the mast of the USS Maine, the Confederate Monument, and Freedman's Village. Today not only can one visit the graves of Supreme Court justices, George Washington Parke Custis, Pres. William Taft and Nellie Taft, and Pres. John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, but one can also see the burial places of generals and admirals, Medal of Honor recipients, doctors and nurses, land and space explorers, inventors, and soldiers.

Images of America: Virginia's Presidential Homes takes a visual excursion to the homes of the eight Virginia-born men who served as president of the United States: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson. Virginia, nicknamed the "Mother of Presidents," is the birthplace of these eight men who were key to the success of the American Revolution, the forming of the U.S. government, the War of 1812, the annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and World War I. Coming from diverse backgrounds and classes, their residences ranged from simple wood-frame structures to elegant, brick-pillared mansions and estates. Through images and drawings, this book will bring to life their homes and family life.

By the late 20th century, Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison, had been altered until it would no longer have been recognizable to the couple.

In 2000 the newly-created Montpelier Foundation took over management of the historic home with the seemingly insurmountable task of restoring it to be a visual record of the Madisons' era. Within ten years, the Foundation overcame numerous hurdles, turning Montpelier into a monument to the Father of the Constitution. Over the next decade the site also became a monument to Montpelier's enslaved. The buildings in their community next to the Madisons' home were reconstructed, and award-winning exhibits dramatically illustrate the tragedy of slavery and essential role of enslaved people in Madison's life.

Foundation co-founder William H. Lewis details the nonprofit's ambitious preservation projects and remarkable achievements.

At its opening in 1964, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was named one of the "Five Wonders of the Modern World" by Reader's Digest magazine.

It was the culmination of a concerted, decade-long push by a group of men, led by Lucius J. Kellam Jr., an Eastern Shore native and businessman who dreamed of opening up the remote Eastern Shore to the bustling Virginia mainland. This $200-million, 17.6-mile-long series of bridges, tunnels, islands, and trestle in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay - long dismissed as impractical and even impossible - won the attention of the world at its opening. It also brought an abrupt end to the ferry service that was long a cornerstone of the New York-to-Florida "Ocean Highway," shuttling millions of cars between the Eastern Shore and Hampton Roads.

Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy and once one of the most prosperous cities in the United States, is home to a range of cemeteries that tell the story of American trends in honoring the dead. African slaves were interred in Shockoe Bottom's so-called "burial ground for negroes," US presidents James Monroe and John Tyler were buried in Hollywood Cemetery, and Civil War soldiers were commemorated throughout the metropolis; indeed, the River City has laid blacks and whites to rest in flood zones and on rolling hills alike. During and shortly after the Civil War, Richmond worked to accommodate thousands of new graves. Today, Richmonders work to preserve and celebrate the past while making way for the future.

Arlington began three centuries ago as the farm section of Alexandria County and emerged in the 1900s as a vibrant suburb of the nation's capital. Global notice came after the creation and expansion of Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon and Fort Myer, site of history's first airplane casualty--September 17, 1908. Add in some modern marquee employers--PBS, WETA, Nestlé, the Foreign Service Institute and Amazon--and it's a recipe for accelerating change. Unsurprisingly, residents are increasingly at odds over rising housing costs and demolitions of long-valued homes and businesses. A key to preserving Arlington's character is a deeper knowledge of history. Local journalist and author Charlie Clark provides a compendium of gone-but-not-forgotten institutions, businesses, homes and amusements.

Northern Virginia's cemeteries are time capsules reflecting the region's 350 years of history. They offer a glimpse into the lives and fortunes of the famous, the infamous, and those who are remembered for loving their families, tending to their business, and quietly supporting their communities. There are some 1,000 cemeteries in Northern Virginia, ranging from small family plots to huge national cemeteries covering hundreds of acres. This book presents the history of the region through the medium of cemeteries. Every gravestone has a story to tell. Confederate raiders, freedmen, eccentrics, and nation builders lived and died in Northern Virginia. Sometimes, tombstones are all that remain of their stories. Often, finding their tombstones is the first step in rediscovering the stories of these figures.

Richmond is a classic Southern city, most notable as the Confederate capitol. However, the irony of Richmond is that much of its beautiful architecture was built by Black laborers.

The city's vast and varied collection of architecture provides an archive of African American history, both of enslaved and free peoples. Author Selden Richardson explains how iconic symbols of old Richmond and the generations of Black laborers who helped assemble it are embodied in both the preserved and the forgotten architecture of the city. After you finish this book, it will be as if the buildings in Richmond tell their own stories to you.

The fascinating story of the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, a tricentennial celebration of America's first settlement in 1607, continues to unfold in this companion volume, which explores the exposition's parades, exhibitions, and the people who worked and participated in the days' events. Not only important as a statewide event, the exposition provided the United States government and many other states a stage to display their history and culture for the whole world to see and enjoy. In this second volume, you will continue your visual journey on the exposition grounds, viewing the new wonders of the time--flying machines--and the architecturally diverse State Buildings, such as Kentucky's frontierera fort, Virginia's replica colonial planter's mansion, and Vermont's country cottage. As you thumb through these pages, you will learn the incredible stories of some of the most famous people of the day who attended the exposition, such as William Jennings Bryan and Mark Twain, and the captivating history of the Black Jamestown Exposition Company, a group that
held a separate exhibit along with the festivities of the larger exposition. Also, the exposition served as the starting point for the around-the-world voyage of President Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet, a bold demonstration of America's naval superiority and new role as a leading world power.

Established in 1918, Hilton Village was the first public housing project built in the United States. Spurred on by Newport News Shipbuilding president Homer Ferguson, it was created to house shipyard workers during World War I. The village was the city's first planned community and its first National Register of Historic Places district. Hilton's distinctive cottage-style architecture, reminiscent of an English village, is one of the first examples of the New Urbanism and Garden City movements in America. Along the tree-lined streets are homes and shops that might have been pulled from a Dickens novel. The vision of the leaders who crafted Hilton Village--the shipyard's Ferguson, Harvard University town planner Henry Hubbard, and world-renowned architect Francis Joannes--remains apparent.

Richmond's historic houses of worship cannot be separated from the city's storied past. A young Patrick Henry sparked a revolution with his Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech inside St. John's Episcopal Church on Church Hill. Congregation Beth Ahabah, with its awe-inspiring windows and adjoining museum, is one of the oldest and most revered synagogues in the country. An interstate highway was moved to save the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, where John Jasper asserted, De Sun do move, in the most famous sermon ever preached in the city. Beloved local author Walter Griggs Jr. tells the compelling history of Richmond's most holy places.

In 1907, Norfolk hosted the Jamestown Exposition, a celebration of America's first permanent settlement on April 26, 1607, and an event that marked America's ascension as a world power, in both military might and cultural influence. This exposition came at a time in American history when naval reviews, grandiose celebrations, world's fairs, and international expositions were at their zenith of public popularity. These were the days when American imperialism reigned and expositions were an expression of patriotic fervor as never before seen in this country. In Jamestown Exposition: American Imperialism on Parade Volume I,
readers will experience this historic event from its early planning and construction, meeting the men responsible for its coordination and success, to the pomp and circumstance of the different exhibits of participating companies, states, and foreign powers. The true-life story of Pocahontas, or Matoaka; the Battle of the Merrimack and Monitor, the exposition's most popular exhibit; and the colorful review of the different world navies, such as the Japanese and British fleets, are just a few examples of the fascinating stories touched upon in this first volume.

The Hotel Roanoke is as old as the city of Roanoke itself. It opened in 1882, when the city became the headquarters for the Norfolk & Western Railway, and signaled the city's progress. It has since survived a devastating fire, the Depression and closure after a century of operation. Thanks to the determination of the leaders of Virginia Tech and the Roanoke Valley, the hotel reopened in 1995. Today, the reimagined Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center is once again a symbol of the region's economic vitality. This revised and updated version of Donlan Piedmont's Peanut Soup and Spoonbread: An Informal History of the Hotel Roanoke captures the amazing history of not only a hotel but also the personalities and stories that have made the Hotel Roanoke what it is today--a remarkable blend of century-old tradition and state-of-the-art hospitality.