Boldly Go Solo

Solo trip to Richmond, Va., during black history month

Green and white awnings and a small sign are all that distinguish the Richmond home of Maggie L. Walker from neighboring duplexes that have been carefully restored to their appearance circa 1925. What distinguished Walker in her day was her skill at overcoming all the obstacles society could place before a black woman living under Jim Crow segregation laws.

But wait. Maggie who?

Maggie Lena Walker, the daughter of a former slave, was a black entrepreneur and civil rights activist who achieved business success at about the same time as the more well-known Vanderbilts, Carnegies and other Northern captains of industry were making their names. She was a respected resident of Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood during the early 20th century, when the area was experiencing its heyday.

Yes, Virginia, there is a side of Richmond known as the cradle of black capitalism, despite the fact that just a few decades earlier, during the Civil War, the city had served as the capital of the Confederacy.

Art at the Burwell-Morgan Mill in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley

On typical Saturdays in the town of Millwood, Va., volunteers set the 18th-century Burwell-Morgan Mill to work grinding corn, wheat, rye or other grains. They demonstrate the centuries-old method of food production, weighing and bagging the flour, grits or cornmeal for sale, often enlisting visitors to help.

But for three weeks in the spring, and again in the fall, the stones grind to a halt, the water rushing to the water wheel is cut off, and it’s showtime of a different sort.

That’s when Art at the Mill opens.

The show will be open for three weekends, starting April 27 and running through May 12. (Here's the story in The Washington Post on Art at the Mill.) 

For a lovely and relaxing way to spend a day or weekend, take a drive out to the Shenandoahs, wander through the show and picnic on the grass. 

There's something special about buying real art and being in the surroundings that the artist captured.

Wandering solo in Richmond, Virginia, discovering black history

Green and white awnings and a small sign are all that distinguish the Richmond home of Maggie L. Walker from neighboring duplexes that have been carefully restored to their appearance circa 1925.

What distinguished Walker in her day was her skill at overcoming all the obstacles society could place before a black woman living under Jim Crow segregation laws.

But wait. Maggie who?

The answer to that is in the story I wrote on Walker for today's Washington Post travel section. I won't repeat a lot of what is in it, since you can read it for yourself. 

It was cool taking the walking tour in Richmond and learning some of the black history of the Southern city. Including about Bill "Bojangles" Robinson who was born in Richmond.