Charlottesville Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

• 
  The Rotunda

  Modeled on the Pantheon in Rome, the Rotunda rises above you as the domed heart of The Lawn on the original grounds of the University of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed it to represent the "authority of nature and power of reason" and modeled it after the Pantheon in Rome.

• 
  The Lawn

  Terraced grass spreads out under your feet on The Lawn, part of Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village and the large court at the historic center of Jefferson's academic community at the University of Virginia. Designed by Thomas Jefferson, this court and its surrounding buildings demonstrate his mastery of Palladian and Neoclassical architecture, and the site has long been recognized as an architectural masterpiece.

• 
  Market Street Park

  Market Street Park, the small urban square you have reached, was known as Lee Park until 2017 and as Emancipation Park from June 2017 to July 2018. This small urban square was purchased in 1917 by Paul Goodloe McIntire to be the setting for a bronze equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee and his horse Traveller — a memorial McIntire had commissioned and later donated, along with the park, to the city of Charlottesville.

• 
  Downtown Mall

  Brick runs beneath you along the Downtown Mall on Main Street in Charlottesville, Virginia. This long, brick-and-concrete pedestrian mall is one of the longest in the United States, stretching eight blocks from 6th St. N.E. to Old Preston Ave., where it extends to Water St. Around you are an array of restaurants, shops, offices and art galleries, and several side streets here are likewise paved in brick and closed to traffic.

• 
  Memorial to Enslaved Laborers

  A broken ring of granite in front of you is the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers on the University of Virginia's main campus, near the University of Virginia Corner, east of Brooks Hall and the Rotunda. Before you is a wall of local "Virginia Mist" granite formed into a broken ring — a deliberate shape that evokes broken shackles.

All 23 stops

• Court Square Park (Charlottesville)

  Your first view here takes in Court Square Park, a 0.4-acre public park in Charlottesville, Virginia.

• Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District (Court Square)

  Your path leads to the Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District, centered on Court Square.

• At Ready (downtown Charlottesville)

  Picture the spot where At Ready (1909) — a memorial of a Confederate soldier popularly known as Johnny Reb — was originally located in front…

• Anderson Brothers Building (Rugby Road-University Corner Historic District)

  Look up at the Anderson Brothers Building, also known as Anderson Brothers Book Store.

• Hotel Gleason/Albemarle Hotel, Imperial Cafe (Charlottesville)

  Pressed brick rises three stories above you at Hotel Gleason—also known as the Albemarle Hotel and Imperial Cafe—an historic hotel and commercial building in Charlottesville…

• Paramount Theater (Charlottesville)

  Picture the Paramount Theater, the building Rapp and Rapp designed and opened in 1931 as a movie theater.

• Downtown Mall (Downtown)

  Brick runs beneath you along the Downtown Mall on Main Street in Charlottesville, Virginia.

• Daedalus Books (Downtown Mall)

  Daedalus Books, the used bookstore in front of you on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall, was established in 1975.

• McGuffey Art Center (Charlottesville and Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District)

  Once William H. McGuffey Primary School, the brick building you face is now the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.

• Benjamin Tonsler Park, Charlottesville (Charlottesville)

  Benjamin Tonsler Park spreads out ahead of you, a Charlottesville park that also served as the location of Balloon 3 in the 2009 DARPA Network…

• Market Street Park (Charlottesville)

  Market Street Park, the small urban square you have reached, was known as Lee Park until 2017 and as Emancipation Park from June 2017 to…

• The Corner (The Corner)

  Seven blocks of bars, restaurants, and coffee shops make up The Corner, where you are now, along University Avenue in Charlottesville from 12½ Street Southwest…

• McIntire Amphitheatre (University of Virginia)

  Opened in 1921, the McIntire Amphitheatre sits ahead of you, a Greek-style outdoor theater at the University of Virginia.

• The Range (University of Virginia)

  Fifty-four rooms in rows make up the Range beside you, a community at the University of Virginia for graduate students.

• Fralin Museum of Art (University of Virginia)

  On Rugby Road, a short distance from the Rotunda, you have found the Fralin Museum of Art, housed in the historic Thomas H. Bayly Building.

• The Rotunda (The Lawn)

  Modeled on the Pantheon in Rome, the Rotunda rises above you as the domed heart of The Lawn on the original grounds of the University…

• The Lawn (University of Virginia)

  Terraced grass spreads out under your feet on The Lawn, part of Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village and the large court at the historic center of…

• Thomas Jefferson (University of Virginia)

  Look toward the statue of Thomas Jefferson, in front of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia.

• Memorial to Enslaved Laborers (University of Virginia)

  A broken ring of granite in front of you is the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers on the University of Virginia's main campus, near the University…

• Carr's Hill (University of Virginia)

  Carr's Hill, also known as the University of Virginia President's House, greets you with its Doric portico, a historic home built in 1906.

• Woolen Mills Village Historic District (Woolen Mills Village)

  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 12, 2010, the Woolen Mills Village Historic District is the neighborhood you are walking through.

• Woolen Mills Chapel (Woolen Mills)

  Woolen Mills Chapel, the Late Victorian building you face, sits at 1819 E. Market Street in Charlottesville.

• Riverview Cemetery (Woolen Mills)

  At 1701 Chesapeake Street you enter Riverview Cemetery, a private cemetery in the Woolen Mills section of Charlottesville.

How it works