IATC 100th ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION – JUNE 20-23, 2024

​Celebrating the Past & Igniting the Torch of Tomorrow

Richmond Attractions

Museums

• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts opened in 1936 and is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States.
  The Wall Street Journal stated that VMFA is now a "two-day museum". Open 365 days a year with free general admission. (Also offered in a convention tour.)
• Virginia Museum of History and Culture, owned and operated by the Virginia Historical Society. (Also offered in a convention tour.)
• The Valentine Richmond History Center, a museum focusing on life, history, costumes, decorative arts and architecture of Richmond, VA, including the stately 1812 Wickham House. (Also offered in a convention tour.)
• Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, celebrating the rich culture and moving histories of African American people in Virginia. (Also offered in a convention tour.)
• Science Museum of Virginia, featuring exhibitions, films, labs, makerspaces, events, and The Dome with live astronomy presentations and giant screen films on one of the most technologically advanced digital planetarium theaters in the world
• The Poe Museum: Although born in Boston and dying in Baltimore, Richmond was the site of Edgar Allen Poe’s childhood, adolescence, and many of the events that shaped his prose. Housed in The Old Stone House, the oldest residential building still standing in Richmond. The Poe Museum.
• Virginia Holocaust Museum, depicting the Holocaust through personal stories of its victims.

 
Outdoor Attractions

• Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, one of the Travel Channel’s top ten botanical gardens in North America
• Maymont, a 100-acre Victorian estate and public park that contains the Maymont Mansion, now a historic house museum, an arboretum, formal gardens, a carriage collection, native wildlife exhibits, a nature center, and Children's Farm.
• Hollywood Cemetery, a garden cemetery located on the banks of the James River, that is a registered arboretum and the final resting place of two presidents and other notables.
• Canal Walk (0.5 miles from the hotel) with 22 bronze medallions of historic sites along the walk, and Canal boat rides.
• Brown’s Island (0.5 miles from the hotel) is connected to the Canal Walk serves as a wonderful spot to observe a stretch of urban waterway and connects to the James River Park, a popular venue for outdoor concerts and festivals.
• Pumphouse Park, including views of three historic canals and two granite canal locks.

Golf
Royal New Kent  is about a 30 minute drive from the Omni Hotel.
Independence Golf Club

Historical Attractions

• The Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson and French architect Charles Louis Cleisseau, is based on an ancient Roman temple and Governor’s Mansion, the oldest continuously occupied governor’s mansion in the United States.
• Library of Virginia, the most comprehensive collection of materials on Virginia government, history, and culture, with rich resources on genealogy and rotating exhibits
• St. John’s Church, where Patrick Henry made his “give me liberty or give me death” speech, which is reenacted weekly. (Also included as part of the convention’s bus tour of Richmond)
• Agecroft Hall and Virginia House, both formerly English manor houses relocated to Richmond on the James River.
• Tuckahoe Plantation, the boyhood home of Thomas Jefferson
• Maggie Walker House, home of the first African American woman to charter a bank and serve as a bank president. Her monument that includes a statue is a few blocks from the house.
• Virginia War Memorial, a monument, memorial, and education center devoted to Virginians who served to defend the United States from World War II through today.
• Richmond Slave Trail, beginning at a port of major slave trade, through the slave trade markets beside the Reconciliation Statue, past Lumpkins Slave Jail, the Negro Burial Ground, to First African Baptist Church.
• Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom, neighborhoods in Shockoe Valley on the James River dating back to colonial times and the founding of the city of Richmond.
• Libby Hill overlooks city of Richmond and James River.
• Egyptian Building, an Egyptian Revival style building built in 1845 as the home of Medical College of Richmond, formerly the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College, then part of Medical College of Virginia which is now a part of Virginia Commonwealth University Health.
• Monumental Church, an octagonal design built in 1814 as a memorial to victims of a theater fire in 1811; served as an Episcopal Church until 1965 and then as a chapel for Medical College of Virginia.
• John Marshall House, home of the fourth US Supreme Court Chief Justice.
• Old City Hall, the Gothic Revival historic landmark for its architecture.
• The Jefferson Hotel is a luxury hotel that was opened in 1895 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. The lobby, staircase, and rotunda are spectacular. On site is "Lemaire", a restaurant named after Etienne Lemaire, who served as maitre d'hotel to Thomas Jefferson from 1794 through the end of his presidency.

 
Civil War Attractions

• American Civil War Museum-Historic Tredegar, including the Museum of the Confederacy since 2013.
• White House of the Confederacy, official residence of Jefferson Davis when he was president of the Confederate States of America.
• Chimborazo Medical Museum, one of the Civil War’s largest hospital complexes.
• Richmond National Battlefield Park, home to 13 distinct sites, including Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Grant’s headquarters cabin at Hopewell, Battle of Malvern Hill followed by a defensive position at Harrison’s Landing on the James River at Berkeley Plantation where the present-day version of Taps was revised and first used.
• Pamplin Historical Park, depicting life in the antebellum south and Blandford Church, one of the few churches with stained glass windows designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany

 
Shopping and Restaurants

• Carytown, a unique shopping, dining and entertainment district made up of small locally owned businesses.
• Richmond has close to 1,000 restaurants. This is Yelp’s list of the ten best restaurants near the Omni: Yelp's best 10 restaurants near the Omni. Note that all are within 0.6 mile of the Omni and 6 of the 10 are less than 0.1 mile.
• Richmond is home to over 30 craft breweries and is on USA Today’s list of the top 10 best beer scenes. See the web site: Richmond Beer Trail.
• New Kent Winery is family-owned winery, tasting room, and popular wedding venue in New Kent, Virginia, conveniently located
• Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Stony Point Fashion Park is just minutes from downtown, West End and Southside.

 
Family Fun:

• Kings Dominion: Significant discounts will be offered on admission and a meal to convention attendees to be used in June 2024.
• The Diamond, home of the Flying Squirrels minor league baseball team, a Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club.
• Metro Richmond Zoo, home to over 2,000 animals of over 190 species.
• Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, in Williamsburg.

 
Attractions within an hour’s drive of Richmond:

• The Blue Ridge Mountains, a part of the Appalachian Range and Shenandoah Valley, are only an hour away, with wonderful hiking.
• Jamestown, site of the first permanent English settlement in North America.
• Colonial Williamsburg, world’s largest living history museum.
• Yorktown, where George Washington was victorious over General Lord Charles Cornwallis; location of the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, a living history museum, and other historic sites.
• Henricus Historical Park, a living history museum depicting the colonial English settlement established in 1611.
• Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, near Charlottesville.
• James Monroe’s Highland, formerly Ash Lawn, adjacent to Monticello.
• James Madison’s Montpelier, in Orange, VA.
• Fredericksburg, home of George Washington’s boyhood home Ferry Farm, Historic Kenmore, the home of Washington’s sister Betty Washington Lewis, Chatham Manor used as a Union headquarters and hospital, and numerous battlefields.
• Northern Neck National Heritage Area, between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, originally inhabited by eight Virginia Indian tribes, birthplace of presidents George Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe.
• James River Plantations:
  • Berkeley, home of President William Henry Harrison.
  • Shirley, home of the Hill Carter family, one of whom, Ann Hill Carter, married Light Horse Harry Lee and were the parents of Robert E. Lee.
  • Westover, home of William Byrd.
  • Sherwood Forest, home of President John Tyler.
  • Evelynton, home of William Byrd’s daughter, Evelyn.

 
Near Richmond

• Appomattox Court House, where Lee surrendered to Grant.
• The whole Shenandoah Valley, featuring the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive.
• Washington D.C., a 2-hour drive or Amtrak ride to Union Station just blocks from the US Capital.
• The Carter Family Fold and Memorial Musical Center near Hiltons, VA, in southwest Virginia, for preservation of country, blue-grass, traditional music with weekly performances.
  
  

Institutions of Higher Education

• University of Richmond
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• Virginia Union University
• Union Presbyterian Seminary
• Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA
• Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA
• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
• College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA