No Daughter of the Revolution

The last time I was at the State Capitol in 2006, I got to stand on the roof of the state's most famous building.

I didn't get to do that today. But now that the restoration is complete, I did get to appreciate the building in a way that was impossible when I was there in the midst of the renovations as a video reporter documenting it all.

Arriving out of the afternoon  heat, I just missed the hourly guided tour, so I took a brochure and headed upstairs to see the oldest parts first.

An employee walking by stopped me and told me I should begin on the second floor and pointed at my destination and all the staircases required to get to it. "Go quick now, like the Energizer bunny," she advised.

I climbed stairs to arrive at the Capitol Concierge's desk and was rewarded with the best guide I could have hoped for, and even better, it was a private lecture. Who needed the tour group?

She explained about how the extension had been dug out under Shockoe Hill to avoid messing with the look of Mr. Jefferson's "temple on the hill."

Saying that they'd first removed all of the dirt before beginning the excavation and moved it to an off-site location, it turns out it was all brought back when the work was done. "We're funny about our historic dirt in Virginia," she shrugged in her Southern lilt.

She talked about how the renovation continued with an extension almost up until the Queen of England arrived in May 2007 for the Jamestown 400 celebration.

The Queen not only walked from the Governor's Mansion to the Capitol, but up all the portico steps and all the staircases in the building, never once taking an elevator. I was impressed.

Sending me on my way she pointed out the staircase and the elevator, but I told her if the 81-year old Queen could walk it, so could I. "Oh, good," she said. "You were paying attention!"

When I got upstairs to the Old House Chamber, used until 1904 when the new side chambers were added to the original building, it was to a room filled with old-style wooden school desks, the kind that lift to store stuff inside. I had visions of flasks for some reason.

Full of statues and busts, it was the room where Virginia voted to secede from the Union, which gave me a somewhat eerie feeling.

Across the rotunda was the Old Senate Chamber and the matching Jefferson Room containing scale models of the Capitol built of plaster and wood and ordered by T.J. himself before the project began.

The Houdon statue of George Washington, the only statue of the man made from life, is the centerpiece of the rotunda, and as impressive as it is, it's the interior dome and skylights with light pouring through them that made me linger there.

Being the photography fan that I am, I also lingered at the large-format photos of the Capitol throughout history.

There were 1865 and 1870s views and a snowy view from 1915, but my favorite was from 1920.

Taken from an airplane, it showed the surrounding area and it was a fascinating look at downtown Richmond in the Roaring '20s.

There was the Hotel Rueger, Old Dominion Trust Company, and the Murphy Hotel with not one but two signs on it touting it as "Fire Proof."

A painting of the Capitol from before 1858 showed it painted tans and browns (looking far less regal) and I learned that it's only been a white building since the late 19th century.

Another 1797 painting showed the central building sitting lonely at the top of the hill  with a wooden house for the governor on one side and a shanty on stilts that served as a belfry on the other. It was not a grand image.

But it did make me curious enough to investigate the Bell Tower on the grounds of the Capitol when I left. Sure enough, the brick 1825 structure was erected to replace the wooden one.

Back then the bell was rung hourly, so naturally I hoped to climb the stairs to see the bell and admire the view. It wasn't going to match the view from the roof of the Capitol, but it would be something new for me.

Not possible, the ladies at the Bell Tower told me from amongst their Virginia Tourism brochures.

"Wait, are you a member of the D.A.R.?" one asked, sounding hopeful. Uh, no, I'm not.

"Too bad," she said sighing. "We could let you go up if you were." Apparently they were the ones to raise the funds to restore the bell tower in the last decade and fundraising has its privileges.

New life rule: Next time I'm asked if I'm a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, wherever, whenever, I'm lying.