Capital Country
Clickable icons on the map below go to more information about the historic site, plantation or other attraction.
Connecting the state and Confederate Capital of Richmond with the colonial Capital of Williamsburg, Route 5 boasts political, architectural and social history at every bend.
Capital
Country
A visit to 
Capitol Building in Richmond, designed
by Thomas Jefferson, or
St. John's
Church,
where Patrick Henry delivered his famous "Give me liberty, or give me
death" speech, provides a perfect sendoff for this byway tour.
Stop by at least one of the Civil War sites within the
Richmond National
Battlefield Park
and get a real sense of the four-year struggle between
Union troops trying to capture the Capital of the Confederacy and the
Confederates defending it.
Then visit the historic
plantations
in rural Charles City County along
Route 5 and be swept back to a time of hoop skirts and harpsichords. Two of these
plantations were home to U.S. presidents. William Henry Harrison lived at
Berkeley Plantation until his death in office in
1841. Succeeding him in office was John
Tyler, who purchased nearby Sherwood Forest plantation in 1842 while serving as
president.
Also on Route 5 is
Shirley
Plantation which is an 800-acre working plantation with a land grant dated 1613 and still
operated by the tenth and eleventh generations of the original owners, the Hills
and Carters.
The byway ends in
Colonial Williamsburg where you can park your car and take
a carriage ride through the town where the customs, crafts and lifestyles of the
past are accurately recreated.
