I am continuing my quest to see all the state capitols. I am in Richmond this weekend to see the Virginia state capitol. However, today, I just wandered around. I spent most of the day walking along and near the Richmond canal walk. Richmond has a couple of disjointed canal that were originally part of a large system so that ships could avoid the James River rapids. The canal walk is lovely. The original building of the canal and the restoration of it are impressive engineering projects. They have restored much of the system, and you can even take a boat ride along part of it. [I did, and some of those photos are included.] Railroads and then highways were built alongside and on top of parts of the canal system. My tour guide on the boat ride noted that there is one part where you can see 18th century (the canal), 19th century (the railroad), and 20th century (the highway) transportation systems all in a single frame. I thought that was an interesting and insightful observation. The canal also is both inside and outside the Richmond flood wall, which is another impressive piece of engineering. A canal was built to bypass the James River rapids, and a wall was built to protect against James River floods.
