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Monday, June 11, 2012

Richmond from Libby Hill Park - April 1865

147 years ago. April 1865. Hard to believe that's when this picture was taken.

This should be a familiar shot to Richmonders: Looking West from Libby Hill Park in Church Hill, down Main Street towards downtown. This was taken just at the end of the Civil War, and the burnt district can be seen on the left in the high-rez picture. The state Capitol is on the right in the distance. There's a lot of action going on in the street, although much of it is blurred. A fantastic shot.

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress

8 comments:

  1. Is this roughly the same scene from recently? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredtcampbell/3566872520/

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  2. Yup, this shot is just a little more to the right.

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  3. This is a very cool shot. It helps put the ship canal into focus. You can trace the canal west by following the tops of the masts. Then you can see where it jogs north and suddenly there are a bunch of canal boats rafted together. You can also see the stone bridge which goes over the canal before the Haxall bldg. I believe it turns north again just on the other side of the burned out Gallego bldg. Studying the redigitized Library of Congress pictures of Richmond online is becoming my new past time. You see new stuff every time. Thanks!

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  4. Thanks Bruce. Yeah, the Library of Congress has some great pics. This is actually two shots that I combined in Photoshop. They both had great details, and one was focused a bit left, the other a bit right. I didn't want to leave anything out!

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  5. Why does the state capitol appear to have a steeple? Or am I looking at the wrong building in the right distance? (Forgive me, new to the area...)

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  6. I hadn't even noticed that Chris...it sure does appear to have a steeple.

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  7. Wonder what's going on with that...I guess it's a trick of the angle but it actually looks like it comes down into the roofline. How odd.

    Definitely a cool photo though.

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  8. The steeple seen in the photo is from Saint Paul’s Church which used to have a spire style steeple.

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