Free in Va.: Virginia Historical Society

The Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Va., dropped its admission fee in 2010 and extended it for 2011!

The society is both a museum and a library. The museum has oddities such as a dead president's hair and a mushroom engraved with a picture of Robert E. Lee. The library is a great source for all things Virginia, including genealogy research.

In February the VHS opened "An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia." A visitor can trace the war's path through the perspectives of escaped slave Siah Carter, a businessman, a Confederate private, a Union lieutenant, and a woman forced to flee her home and become a refugee.

In the right front at the photo below is Siah Carter. The photo shows sailors on the deck of the USS Monitor on July 9, 1862. Carter, 22, an enslaved American from Shirley Plantation, rowed a boat out to the ship.
The VHS says: "Taken aboard the Monitor for a three-year term, he became first assistant to the ship’s cook and served in the Union navy until May 1865. After his discharge, Siah married Eliza Tarrow, a former slave at Shirley."

 Credit: Library of Congress

Here's the scoop:

 http://www.vahistorical.org/civilwar/main.htm 

Even when there's not an special exhibit, the VHS has lots to see. Take a look:
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/04/AR2010030402012.html

It gets better: The VHS is located next to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts www.vmfa.state.va.us/Default.aspx.
where general admission is always free!