You might check the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods
web site
<www.richmondneighborhoods.org> for a link to the application
(successful '08)
for the Shockoe Bottom area to be on the National Register of Historic
Places.
There is also other information on the history.
On Feb 26, 2009, at 3:38 PM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) wrote:
> Mick,
>
> I don't know the details and don't have a list of the petitioners
> handy.
> I know that Gregg Kimball has a keen interest in that episode, and of
> course Phil Schwarz has been working through all of the material in
> great detail. I had better yield to my learned colleagues.
>
> You might wish to see this article from this morning's Richmond
> Times-Disgrace:
>
>
>
> Published: February 26, 2009
>
> If former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder's slavery museum is being
> abandoned in Fredericksburg, some Richmond officials say it's time to
> talk about the project -- or something like it -- for Shockoe Bottom.
>
> "I really feel, that from the very beginning, it should have been in
> Richmond" because of the city's role in the slave trade, said Del.
> Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond.
>
> McQuinn, a former member of the Richmond City Council, and City
> Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson said they want to talk to Mayor Dwight
> C. Jones about approaching Wilder to see if his U.S. National Slavery
> Museum might find a home in Shockoe Bottom in light of signs that the
> project may have shut down in Fredericksburg.
>
> The Main Street Station train shed and nearby Seaboard Building
> could be
> used until a permanent museum is built, McQuinn said.
>
> "It's not something that he's considered, and it's not something
> that's
> been brought to him," said Jones' press secretary, Tammy D. Hawley.
>
> Wilder has not returned calls in recent days, and there's no
> indication
> what his plans for the long-sputtering museum may be.
>
> The nonprofit museum, selected for Fredericksburg in 2001 over sites
> in
> Richmond and at Hampton University, has not paid a $24,093 real estate
> tax bill that was due Nov. 15 for its 38-acre property on the
> Rappahannock River.
>
> The museum's phone system is set for outgoing calls only. Messages
> left
> yesterday with its Washington-based public-relations firm weren't
> returned.
>
> Lawrence A. Davies, a member of the museum's board of directors and a
> longtime friend of Wilder, said he has no idea where the project
> stands.
>
> Davies, a Baptist minister and former mayor of Fredericksburg, said
> it's
> unusual for him to have not heard from Wilder for so long: "I can only
> hope he will surface in some form soon."
>
> The buzz about the museum comes about two months after remains of the
> Lumpkin's Slave Jail were unearthed in a parking lot in Shockoe Bottom
> and as Richmond officials face major decisions about the area's
> future.
>
> Highwoods Properties has proposed a minor-league baseball stadium as
> part of Shockoe Center, a $363 million development that would include
> shops, offices, hotels and residences.
>
> The proposal calls for retail on the first floor of the Main Street
> Station train shed.
>
> On the building's second floor, GRTC Transit System is planning an
> open-air downtown bus-transfer center, a project designed to reduce
> bus
> traffic on Broad Street and in downtown. Long term, the center also
> would support regional efforts, including light rail, said John M.
> Lewis
> Jr., chief executive officer of GRTC.
>
> With preliminary designs complete, the $70 million transfer center
> is at
> "a very important crossroads" for approval and is being positioned for
> funding through the federal stimulus package, Lewis said.
>
> The city hasn't yet approved the project, but Jones supports the idea,
> as well as preservation of the Lumpkin's site, Hawley said.
>
> However, City Councilman Bruce W. Tyler said he believes the transfer
> center should go elsewhere, in part to allow for proper
> commemoration of
> Shockoe Bottom's role in the slave trade.
>
> The Lumpkin jail, owned by Robert Lumpkin, held slaves from 1840 until
> the end of the Civil War, a period when Richmond served as the
> nation's
> largest domestic slave market.
>
> Tyler argues that the transfer center would be too expensive and fears
> that its ramps could end up isolating the 12,000-square-foot
> archaeological site from the rest of Shockoe Bottom.
>
> "I believe it's time for Richmond to enter into a serious discussion
> about developing a heritage center, where Lumpkin's jail is a key
> component," he said. "We have to decide what's more important" -- a
> transfer center or the area's history.
>
> McQuinn, who leads the Richmond Slave Trail Commission, said she has
> some concerns about the transfer center but said it's worth seeing how
> it might be fashioned with the slave-jail site and a potential museum.
>
> "Somebody's going to have to begin the discussion so there can be some
> decisions made," she said.
>
> Lewis defended the transfer center as a sound investment and a good
> use
> for the historic train shed. An initial environment assessment
> submitted
> to federal authorities shows the project won't have an adverse
> impact on
> the slave-jail site, he said.
>
> "I don't know what the needs are for the museum," Lewis said. "I think
> it's a great concept. What happens on the first floor is entirely up
> to
> the city. We're only taking up the second floor."
>
> The developers for Shockoe Center said they haven't been in contact
> with
> Wilder but are interested in talking.
>
> "I think we would be receptive to discussions with the National
> Slavery
> Museum and people associated with them," said Ralph L. Axselle Jr., an
> attorney for the developers. "Richmond is, in many respects one of the
> most appropriate places to memorialize and honor one of the most
> difficult periods of our history."
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Nicholls
> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 3:29 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VA-HIST] Gabriel's gallows
>
> I have a puzzle--well actually many, but may I inflict one on those
> who
> know Richmond circa 1800? Of the 25 Henrico executions in the
> aftermath
> of Gabriel 18 were at the "usual place of execution. After
> 15 of these executions 13 men petitioned to have the site of execution
> moved, but apparently to no avail, though their petition did
> unintentially delay the execution of two men and a final pardoning
> of a
> third. In 1804 the city agreed to work with the county in creating a
> gallows near the magazine, which was probably up Shockoe a bit, near
> the
> gallows and African American cemetery that shows up on Young's map of
> Richmond ca 1809. However, it does not appear that the 13 petitioners
> whose families were disturbed by the sight of the executions lived
> where
> they might look into Shockoe and see the gallows. Samuel Mordecai in
> Richmond in by-gone days 2nd ed.
> p. 97-98 describes John Harvie's mansion on Gamble's Hill overlooking
> the armory and says "The house was planned by Mr. Latrobe, the
> architect
> of its neighbor, the Penitentiary; the intermediate ground embraced
> Gallows hill, the edifice on which was rendered in a great measure
> useless by the Penitentiary..." A gallows there would have been more
> in
> sight of the petitioners. Have I just mistakenly assumed the site of
> the
> executions in Richmond was always in Shockoe, or is this something
> that
> is a puzzle to me only--I would appreciate any hard knowledge specific
> to 1800--Mick Nicholls
>
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