#9: RVA Trolley Tour

Everyone should get the opportunity to explore their hometown from the perspective of a tourist.  If you can do it on a trolley, even better!  As most people know, Richmond is saturated with history.  Having grown up here my whole life, I often take for granted the Civil War generals who are immortalized in statues along Monument Avenue.  As I walked the city streets when I lived in Church Hill, I definitely disregarded the significance of historical sites that pepper nearly every corner of the neighborhood.

Richmond is home to the first electric trolley line in the US.  The trolley line started running in 1888 and was shut down in 1949 to make way for the advent of the bus system.  The trolley was resurrected a few years ago as a tourist attraction.

Cruising through the streets in the elevated trolley allowed me to observe the streets without the distraction of traffic or hurrying to my next destination.  From the trolley vantage point, I was able to appreciate not only the Roman, but also the French influence in our architecture; the ornate ironwork outlining many homes as well as the absence of it due to the effects of the Civil War; and the contrast of buildings which have stood the test of time and those which have fallen to the hands of renovation. 

Our city is rich in history and unique in its patchwork of multiple cultural influences.  The trolley tour gave me a new appreciation of the vast history and culture which have surrounded me, and inadvertently influenced me, my whole life.  I look forward to learning more about the river city and enjoying her impressive testimony of time in the coming years!