Virginia
Where the American story never feels far away.
Virginia Beach · Richmond · Charlottesville · Danville · Roanoke · Arlington · Shenandoah
The Journey
Virginia is one of those states whose size and significance you do not fully appreciate until you actually drive through it and walk its streets.
We have been there many times, sometimes passing through, sometimes staying for a specific place, and each visit seemed to introduce us to another Virginia.
In Virginia Beach, we enjoyed the coast, beaches, and everything the city had to offer. On one visit, Hunt Club Farm became a highlight for the girls, with animals to feed, a petting zoo, and plenty of time to simply enjoy being kids.
We have crossed into Arlington many times while visiting Washington, D.C., especially to visit Arlington National Cemetery. Whether standing at the grave of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg or walking among the endless rows of fallen American heroes, Arlington always has a way of making you slow down.
In Richmond, we visited the Virginia State Capitol, continuing our journey through every capital in America. Outside, the girls especially enjoyed Voices from the Garden, the Virginia Women’s Monument, where life sized statues introduce some of the women who helped shape the Commonwealth.
Richmond also brought us directly into the Civil War story. We visited the White House of the Confederacy and walked through rooms where decisions were made during one of the darkest divisions in American history.
In Fredericksburg, we walked the battlefield and told the girls about the thousands of Americans who fought one another on that ground. It is hard to stand somewhere so peaceful today and imagine what happened there.
Danville gave us yet another chapter. We stayed at The Bee Hotel, inside the former home of the Danville Register & Bee, surrounded by the history of a city that briefly became the Confederacy’s final capital. At the Sutherlin Mansion, today the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, we stood in the house where Jefferson Davis stayed and where the final Confederate cabinet meeting was held.
In Roanoke, we sat near the famous Roanoke Star on Mill Mountain and watched the sun go down over the city.
But none of those moments quite compared with Shenandoah.
We stayed near Front Royal and entered Skyline Drive as the sun began to fall. The Blue Ridge Mountains changed from blue to pink, then orange, then purple as the light disappeared.
The next morning, we returned for sunrise.
Standing there with the girls, watching the colors slowly return to the mountains, was one of those moments where there was very little to say.
Virginia carries centuries of American history. Shenandoah reminded us how it looked before and how it’ll look after.
Jewish Virginia
Our Jewish Virginia journey took us through several very different communities.
In Richmond, we visited the historic Jewish community whose roots reach back to Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome, organized in 1789. Its history lives on through Congregation Beth Ahabah, connecting Jewish Richmond to the earliest years of the United States.
Standing there was another reminder that Jews were not simply later arrivals to Virginia. They were building congregations here while the new country itself was still taking shape.
In Charlottesville, we visited Congregation Beth Israel. Its synagogue building dates to 1882 and is the oldest synagogue building still standing in Virginia. Seeing that historic building in the middle of Charlottesville made the Jewish story feel deeply rooted in the state.
Danville gave us a quieter version of Jewish Virginia. We visited historic Temple Beth Sholom, the beautiful old red brick synagogue that has served the community since the beginning of the twentieth century. In a smaller Southern city, finding a synagogue that had survived generations felt especially meaningful.
From Richmond to Charlottesville to Danville, we kept finding the same thing we found throughout America.
Jewish communities did not need to be enormous to leave a mark. They built, prayed, served their neighbors, and became part of the places they called home.
What Stayed With Me
What stayed with me about Virginia was how easily history and beauty live beside one another.
We stood in Civil War battlefields, Confederate buildings, cemeteries, synagogues, and places that helped shape the country.
Then we reached Shenandoah and watched the Blue Ridge Mountains turn pink and orange as the sun disappeared.
Virginia reminded me that a place is not only the history that happened there. It is also what remains when the noise is gone.
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