Each year, for over a decade, about 30,000 Virginia kids were bused to Richmond’s museum district for a visit to the Story of Virginia, an exhibit featuring the usual portraits and artifacts. Last year, the Virginia Historical Society closed the show and began a $20 million renovation, creating a modern new museum and a whole new experience for those interested in Virginia’s past.
Workmen put final touches on 10,500 square feet of exhibit space this week, working around about 700 objects from 15-thousand years of human history. There are Native American artifacts like a mysterious dugout canoe which experts say was created using metal tools.
“Either Europeans were adapting a native technology and using it to navigate the creeks and rivers of Virginia, or there had already been trade and the natives were adopting European metal tools.”
Paul Levengood is the historical society’s CEO. He says the new Story of Virginiafeatures the usual cast of characters – Washington, Jefferson and Madison , but we also learn about one of the state’s first congressmen – a Southsider who would show up for sessions wearing hunting boots, carrying a whip and bringing his dogs into the chamber. There’s a Conestoga wagon and an original smokehouse, reconstructed inside the museum, its walls covered with wanted posters for runaway slaves like 35-year-old Sandy, a skilled shoemaker who made his getaway on a white horse. The man hoping to get him back – Thomas Jefferson.
There’s also an interactive game that allows players to assume the identity of a runaway.
“You have to make decisions, and those decisions lead you to new places, so it’s all shot with actors on location, and then it’s engineered to make those decisions lead you to a place where you either succeed in your escape or fail.”
Moving closer to the 20th century, we learn that Richmond was home to the first electric street cars, and the Story of Virginia includes one of them, complete with wooden seats and a speaker broadcasting from another era.
The car also carries new electric appliances from the 20th century, like the hair dryer, toaster and an electric iron.
Levengood says those things freed women to demand a vote, take jobs and play greater roles in their communities.
“I mean think about if you were doing laundry and ironing in the early 20th century by hand, it was enormous labor savings. It opened up whole new worlds.”
The museum will open its doors to the Story of Virginia every day from 10-5. Admission is free.
