Category: Virginia history
-
The Cultural Purge Continues
We can be grateful, I suppose, that this action won’t melt down the statues and recast them into disfigured artifacts for anti-colonialist museum exhibits.
-
“Reinterred and Reinterpeted” Needs Revision
by Kamron M. Spivey A quick walk across Washington and Lee Universityโs campus โ or a skim through recent museum publications โ reveals a troubling pattern of factual inaccuracies, weak sourcing, and careless historical interpretation. These problems are not isolated mistakes. They raise legitimate concerns about the reliability of the universityโs forthcoming chapel galleries and…
-
Why We Can’t Build Anything Anywhere Near Anything
Is there a creative solution that would preserve the historic site of Powhatan’s birthplace while allowing development to proceed? Or will this become a zero-sum game like everything else in our society? Press release from the Southern Environmental Law Center: Today Preservation Virginia named the site of WaHลnSeNaKah (Powhatan)โs birthplace one of Virginiaโs most endangered…
-
The More Things Change at UVA, the More They Stay the Same
Despite the shake-up in leadership at the University of Virginia, at least one senior administrator regards Thomas Jefferson with antipathy. Kenyon Bonner, chief student affairs officer at the University of Virginia, delivered the keynote address to the graduating class of 2026 during Final Exercises. The Daily Progress provided this excerpt: โGraduates, you symbolize the possibilities…
-
Confederate Monuments’ Uncertain Future
Some have been banished or destroyed, and others are threatened, while one is slated for reinstallation. by Catesby Leigh For a vocal minority, the memory of 2020โs โSummer of Love,โ with its orgy of โBlack Lives Matterโ sloganeering, occupied zones, and statuary vandalism, shines brightly. Itโs not hard to see why. The expulsion of Confederate…
-
Off the Interstate: An Old Church Still Serves its Community
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Along Rt. 30 in King William County is the community of Mangohick. There is not much to see there, except a very old church whose congregation is still very much active. The Mangohick Baptist Church was built between 1730-1732.ย It is listed on both the Virginia Historic Landmarks register and the National Register…
-
A Plea to Save Capitol Square Statues
Delegate Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, delivered the following speech on the floor of the House of Delegates yesterday. — JAB Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to a bill that will shortly come before us. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, please allow me to meditate with you as a student of history and, for over…
-
Before Deeds and Zillow
The Arlington-Culpeper Grant Sparked Bacon’s Rebellion and Redefined Virginia Real Estate Virginia real estate history does not begin with subdivisions or courthouse deed books. It begins in political exile. In 1649, after the execution of King Charles I during the English Civil War, Englandโs monarchy collapsed. His son, Charles II, fled Europe and depended on…
-
Why Stonewall Jackson Is Still Worth Honoring
by Donald Smith The Capitol Square Preservation Council, which has the mission to review any major changes to the monuments in Capitol Square. Although it still exists, it has been defunded and no longer operates. These are my prepared remarks for the presentation I would gladly offer to the council, should it convene again, to…
-
The Surreptitious Disappearance of the Capitol Square Preservation Council
by Don Smith Breathtaking. Unsettling. Healing. Those meant-to-catch-your-attention words come from an article by the British newspaper The Guardian on the โreimaginedโ statue of Stonewall Jackson, currently on display at a contemporary โartโ museum in Los Angeles. Now, as members of The Guardianโs target audience — progressives — take full control of Virginiaโs state government,…
-
Bill & Ed’s Excellent Richmond Adventure, Part 2
by Jon Baliles As mentioned in Part 1, Richmond lost two giants of history and change at the end of 2025 when Ed Slipek died after a brief illness and soon after, Bill Martin was struck by a car in the crosswalk on Broad Street, only two blocks from The Valentine Museum, which he had…
-
Tim Kaine Wants to Erase Robert E. Lee
by Kerry Dougherty You can always count on Democrats to engage in vacuous virtue signaling, especially during Black History Month. This year itโs Sen. Tim Kaine offering proof that attending Harvard Law School doesnโt automatically confer knowledge on students. As our country struggles with immigration, election integrity and budget matters, Kaine is consumed with something…
-
Bill & Ed’s Excellent Richmond Adventure
by Jon Baliles The end of 2025 in Richmond was a rough and painful one as the city lost two of our dearest friends, visionaries, change agents, and just down right kind-hearted people that collectively did more to inspire change and keep it on the front burner to make this city a better place. I…
-
America’s Greatest of All Time
by Chap Petersen In a few days, our country will enter its 250th year. Some of us are old enough to remember the “Bicentennial” of 1976, which was the celebration of a younger, less introspective, nation. But America is no less greater. Indeed, the achievements of our Founding Fathers grow more noteworthy with time as…
-
One Man’s RPV Advance is Another Man’s Valley Forge
Virginia Republicans have a lot to consider as they select their new RPV Chairman. by Shaun Kenney First things first โ if you havenโt watched Ken Burnsโ American Revolution on PBS, I hope you have a few history books at your side to confirm whether or not the good guys actually won the war, because…