Hollywood Cemetery Ride (May 4, 2014)

 Beautiful day today for a ride, second in two days. This time out on the motorcycle in Richmond to see the famous Hollywood Cemetery. Founded in 1849 the cemetery holds a number of famous people including two US Presidents, the only President of the Confederacy, and two famous generals...George Pickett (who has been on this page in the past) and JEB Stuart who rests in the site seen here.
JEB was not his name...that was James Ewell Brown Stuart, but his friends called him Jeb. He was perhaps the leading Cavalry commander of the war....working in the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee. However, he did get the blame (for the cavalry also did collect info on enemy troop movements for the army) at Gettysburg. General Stuart was killed late in the war and was buried here. There is also a statue to the general on Monument Ave in Richmond, Virginia. 

This is the Pyramid (seen by it is my trusty motorcycle) which is a monument to the over 18,000 Confederate soldiers buried in the  Cemetery. As is the case with most Civil War cemetery sites, most of the dead are unknown. Often it was difficult to collect the dead, and as (at least until the battle at Cold Harbor which is located just outside of Richmond, VA) soldiers did not wear name tags it was often impossible to tell who they were.
The cemetery is just a beautiful place and is one of the nicest cemeteries I have seen (also of note is the beautiful Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky). I have visited here often and it is a favorite place in Richmond to see, and one I really recommend if you come to the city.
It is also a popular place to have picnics and there are tours of the grounds that are worth doing. On June 2 Jefferson Davis birthday usually is celebrated with cannon and a few hundred motorcycles I am told...might have to check that out.

Good view of the James River from up there, nice view of it here, still flooded (though less than Friday's peak) from the rains of last week.
I did get a few more miles in, did a little tour of the area around Richmond though had to avoid the blocked roads downtown from the bicycle race going on over the weekend.
With the visit the ride today was a lot shorter then the 124 miles of yesterday...today was around 25 miles, but the shorter and closer to home ride was a lot of fun and a nice way to spend an early Sunday morning in the RVA.