CONTENTS:

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Part 1
  CHAPTER I. - Long Time Ago ... 17
  CHAPTER II. - British Merchants ... 25
  CHAPTER III. - Modern Antiquities ... 33
  CHAPTER IV. - Main Street ... 43
  CHAPTER V. - Broad Street ... 51
  CHAPTER VI. - The Capitol and Square ... 57

Part 2
  CHAPTER VII. - Old Residences ... 63

Part 3
  CHAPTER VIII. - The Mayor ... 107
  CHAPTER IX. - The Hay Scale War ... 113
  CHAPTER X. - Two Parsons and Ne'er a Church ... 117
  CHAPTER XI. - Cemeteries ... 123
  CHAPTER XII. - Citizens of Yore ... 125
  CHAPTER XIII. - Places of Amusement ... 135
  CHAPTER XIV. - Places of Amusement ... 141
  CHAPTER XV. - Places of Amusement ... 149
  CHAPTER XVI. - Physicians ... 153

Part 4
  CHAPTER XVII. - Newspapers and Printers ... 161
  CHAPTER XVIII. - Publicans and Patriots ... 171
  CHAPTER XIX. - Races and Balls ... 177
  CHAPTER XX. - Societies ... 181
  CHAPTER XXI. - Evening Pastimes ... 193
  CHAPTER XXII. - A Medley ... 199
  CHAPTER XXIII. - Dentistry and Architecture ... 205
  CHAPTER XXIV. - The Sharp Shin and Shin-plaster Currency ... 209

Part 5
  CHAPTER XXV. - The Flush Times in Richmond ... 217
  CHAPTER XXVI. - The James River Canal ... 233
  CHAPTER XXVII. - The Roads ... 239
  CHAPTER XXVIII. - The Bridges and Manchester ... 243
  CHAPTER XXIX. - The Mutual Assurance Society ... 253

Part 6
  CHAPTER XXX. - Manufactures and Mills ... 259
  CHAPTER XXXI. - Tobacco Warehouses ... 269
  CHAPTER XXXII. - The Washington Monument ... 275
  CHAPTER XXXIII. - The Visit of Lafayette ... 281
  CHAPTER XXXIV. - The Museum ... 285
  CHAPTER XXXV. - Lotteries ... 291
  CHAPTER XXXVI. - Church Conversions ... 295
  CHAPTER XXXVII. - The Eagle, the Horse and the Tiger ... 299
  CHAPTER XXXVIII. - Gas and Water. A Fish Story ... 303
  CHAPTER XXXIX. - The Colored Aristocracy ... 309
  CHAPTER XL. - Caret ... 321



PREFACE.

The unpretending character of this little book will probably disarm 
criticism, except from the attacks of such literary prowlers as make their 
assaults on the weakest, that they may be safe from resistance or 
retaliation.

These reminiscences were commenced at a period of illness, to while away 
the tedium of a sick chamber, and would not have extended beyond the few 
pages thus penned to kill time, had not some friends urged the extension 
of them, to serve as a slight memorial of men and things and events, of 
which there were few or no records, and which must soon pass into oblivion 
if not rescued by one of the survivors of them.

Page x

The reader may doubt whether a large portion of the contents deserve to be 
thus rescued; and should this be the general opinion, its judgment will be 
carried into execution, by the book being consigned to the oblivion it 
merits.

What portions of these reminiscences are to be ascribed to false 
impressions on the memory, I must refer to my cotemporaries, being 
unconscious of them myself. In old age, the memory like the sight, 
discerns remote objects, while those which are near become indistinct, or 
imperceptible. But the imagination sometimes plays tricks with both. 
Memory becomes so strongly impressed with what it had frequently heard or 
frequently narrated, as to convert legends into facts, and phantoms into 
realities; and the eye is also deceived by outlines and shadows, into 
seeing objects which have neither form nor substance--

"Giving to airy nothings a local habitation and a name."

The writer trusts that there is nothing in these pages to hurt the 
feelings or wound

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the susceptibilities of any one living person mentioned, or of the 
descendants of one; he can conscientiously assert that there is no such 
intention, and express his regret if his motives should be misinterpreted.

P. S.--When the following pages were penned, the writer had not seen the 
volume published a few years ago, entitled "History of Richmond, by Dr. 
John P. Little;" and having not yet perused it regularly, he is 
unconscious of any encroachments on the Doctor's manor, and he will be the 
first probably to exculpate the writer from any such charge. The Doctor's 
work appears to be one of historical research, to which this lays no claim.

March, 1856.



INTRODUCTION.

It may not be amiss to prefix to these Recollections of the City of 
Richmond, a short notice of its origin.

The following extract from a manuscript volume of Col. Wm. Byrd, of 
Westover, the founder of the City, was written in the year 1733, in his 
journal.

"Sept. 19, 1733.--When we got home we laid the foundation of two large 
cities, one at Shacco's, to be called Richmond, and the other at the falls 
of Appomattox river, to be named Petersburg. These Major Mayo offered to 
lay out into lots without fee or reward. The truth of it is, these two 
places being the uppermost landing of James and Appomattox rivers, are 
naturally intended for marts where the traffic of the outer inhabitants 
must centre. Thus we did not build castles only, but also cities in the 
air." [The Westover Manuscripts, Petersburg.--Printed by Edmond and Julian 
Ruffin, 1841.]

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Peter Jones was one of the party embraced in the term "We," and to him as 
the proprietor of the land, is Petersburg indebted for its name--not to 
Peter the Great.

In the year 1742, the Assembly of Virginia passed "an act establishing the 
town of Richmond, in the county of Henrico, and allowing Fairs to be held 
therein" in the months of May and November, "on the lands of Wm. Byrd, 
Esq., at the Falls of James. river." Shockoe's creek was the northern and 
eastern boundary. The river and a line therefrom along First street to the 
creek, (probably Bacon Branch) was the southern and western.

In 1744, an act was passed to prohibit the building of wooden chimneys, 
"by reason of the imminent danger of fire."

In 1769, "an act for establishing towns at Rocky Ridge, (Manchester), at 
Gloucester Court House, and Layton's Ware House,"

In 1779, "an act for the removal of the seat of government" to the town of 
Richmond--which includes a section authorising an enlargement of its 
limits by the addition of two hundred lots, or one hundred acres.

In 1780, "an act for locating the public squares, to enlarge the town, and 
for other

Page 15

purposes"--locates the Capitol, Halls of Justice, State House for 
Executive Boards, and a house for the Governor, on Shockoe Hill, and a 
Public Market below the hill, on the same side of the creek. "Thomas 
Jefferson, Archibald Cary, Robert Carter Nicholas, Richard Adams, Edmund 
Randolph, Turner Southall, Robert Goode, James Buchanan, and Samuel Du 
Vall, Esquires, were appointed to lay off in such form and of such 
dimensions as shall be convenient and requisite." Two hundred more lots of 
a half acre each were added, and authority given to clear the navigation 
leading to Shockoe landing, "which was much obstructed of late by 
freshets, the natural course of the creek being altered, by which large 
banks of sand have been thrown up, which if not quickly removed, may 
render the navigation to the upper landing useless," i. e. the present 
site of the Gas Works, Carey street.

In 1781, "an act to secure to persons who desire titles to lots, lands and 
tenements, under the Lottery, or under a Deed of Trust of the late William 
Byrd, Esq., a fee simple estate therein."

The Wm. Byrd here spoken of, was a son of the founder, and was as 
industrious in

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spending a fortune, as his father had been in making one. The sale of lots 
in Richmond was perhaps not as rapid as his expenditures required, and 
from the recital in this act, it appears that in 1756 he made a lottery of 
lots in Richmond and Manchester, under the management of gentlemen named 
in the act, and he also appointed trustees to make deeds, (probably to the 
prize holders, though not so expressed). At the date of this act (1781) 
CHARLES CARTER was the only surviving trustee, and he was authorised by it 
to execute the deeds.

In 1782, an act was passed which conferred on Richmond the title of City, 
and incorporated it as such.

In 1788, the City was allowed a Representative in the House of Delegates.