One of the luxuries of being a full time RV is traveling slow. Now that we are taking a break from work, we rarely drive two days in a row. It is just not necessary. I have doctor appointments in Texas in March. We need to be there by then. Until then we are slowing making our way down the east coast until we want to go west to Texas. We stopped outside of Richmond to relax on our drive down to South Carolina. This stop was all about Donna once we realized that this is where Edgar Allen Poe was born. There is a museum dedicated to him in this town. It is part of home he lived in as a boy. It was informative for me and a highlight on our tour since he is one of her favorite authors.

We also decided to do some urban hiking on the James River Pipeline. This was a fun experience.

We also visited the Maggie L. Walker historic site. Who is Maggie L. Walker? I didn’t know about her either. She was the first woman to ever create a bank. in 1903 she created the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. This idea came about after she was told that she could not teach anymore because she had gotten married. She hired women to work her bank. She wanted to create jobs for women.

Maggie was the daughter of an enslaved woman and a confederate solider. She was born in 1864. I find her story incredibly moving. Even more, that her family kept that house in the family until they sold it to the Park Service in the 1970s. The home is wonderfully preserved with family relics. You can tour the home but you must sign up.

Our last stop was to find the White House of the Confederacy. We did not go in but I wanted to see where it was located. It is surrounded by the VCU medical complex.