Reimagining Your Virginia Museum of History & Culture:
A Dramatic Renovation and Expansion Project

January 2021 – While the museum is temporarily closed to the public, major internal demolition is underway – particularly the work necessary to create the museum’s new Great Hall. Also, with gallery spaces cleared of artifacts, efforts to revitalize key gallery spaces has begun. Many of these gallery renovations are slated to be completed and be available when the museum reopens in April 2021.

December 2020 – Our work to reimagine your state history museum is gaining momentum by the day – running ahead of schedule in some areas. As such, we have selected Monday, December 14, as the first day of our planned winter closure in order to expedite some of our most significant construction. Of course, we are also mindful of surging COVID-19 cases regionally and dramatically-reduced visitation to the museum – both of which also informed our decision to move ahead more quickly with our work. While online programming will continue, the museum will remain closed to guests through early April 2021.

The work we are doing will be nothing short of transformative! We look forward to a very bright future. We invite you to join us on this journey and follow our progress here and on social media.

November 2020 – In planning for our campus redesign, we have had three main objectives:
1. to provide additional guest parking to ease on-street congestion;
2. to make our green space more useful and attractive for museum programs and our community; and
3. to proactively address the growing risk presented by our trees that are well past their expected lifespan.

On the last point, over the past decade, the handsome magnolia trees around our back lot (now more than a century old -- southern magnolias have a usual lifespan of about 80-100 years) continue to slowly fail. Many had already previously fallen or been removed due to core rot and weakness. But at the beginning of November, we began the difficult task of removing many of the remaining ones and beginning the process of renewing this green perimeter for the next 100 years.

In Spring 2021, we will introduce to our grounds 43 12-foot-tall new magnolias of the same variety of those being removed, planting them in a more sustainable arrangement to prevent entanglement or harm to the trees along Sheppard and Kensington Streets. In addition, we will plant 7 oak trees in the empty sidewalk wells along both streets, as well as a variety of new plants across our campus, including 23 new cherry blossom trees, 32 crape myrtles, 12 black gum trees, 3 elm trees, 3 maple trees, dozens of perennials flowers, and 600 boxwoods.

This is the single biggest investment we’ve ever made to our landscaping, and we look forward to welcoming you to this renewed oasis!

VMHC Landscape Plan:

October 2020 – You may have noticed some new fencing along the perimeter of the VMHC property. Construction has started!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Questions? Please contact the Office of the President & CEO at President@VirginiaHistory.org or 804.342.9656.