Jackson Ward Walking Tour map (click to enlarge)
Visitors to Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site can take a self-guided walking tour of the Historic Jackson Ward, the neighborhood where Maggie Lena Walker lived from 1904 until her death in 1934. Between the late 1800s and the early 1930s, Jackson Ward was a business and residential district for the black elite of Richmond. There were more than 100 black-owned businesses, including banks, law offices, social clubs, and even a hospital.
There are twelve stops on the Jackson Ward Walking Tour. The route covers one mile, and the tour takes about an hour to complete. Information is provided either via a pre-recorded audio presentation or a printed transcript of the presentation. To access the audio during your tour, you can either download and play the MP3 file on a mobile audio device such as your phone, or if you have a connection to the Internet via your mobile device, stream the audio directly from the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site’s Media Presentations web page. I suggest downloading the MP3 file to your device ahead of time so you are not subject to the whims of cell service, which shouldn’t be a problem in downtown Richmond, but you never know. For those without a phone or audio player, download the Jackson Ward Walking Tour Transcript (PDF) and bring a printed copy with you to the park.
You must also print the Jackson Ward Walking Tour Map that goes along with the tour, regardless of how you plan to access the information. You can get a map at the Visitor Center or print one at home in advance. Do not embark on the Jackson Ward Walking Tour without a printed map and either the audio presentation or written tour guide. (Note: The National Park Service’s Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site web page mentions that iPods are available at the Visitor Center for you to use, but these are being phased out and may not be available by the time you visit. Thus, plan on accessing the tour on your personal mobile device.)
Even with the information and map, the Jackson Ward Walking Tour still has its problems because there are no photos of the buildings you are supposed to be looking at. Most are obvious, but there are a few stops where the buildings are not easy to identify. To combat this, National Park Planner has created a “virtual” walking tour with photos and a brief history of the buildings that are part of the tour. You can jump directly to any stop on the tour by using the following links. At the bottom of each page is a navigation menu that takes you to the next or previous tour stop.
Stop 1: The Hippodrome Theater
Stop 2: Mechanics Saving Bank
Stop 3: A. D. Price Funeral Establishment
Stop 4: Third Street Bethel AME Church
Stop 5: Richmond Beneficial Insurance Company
Stop 6: Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church
Stop 7: William Washington Brown House
Stop 8: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson Statue
Stop 9: Rosa Bowser House
Stop 10: Council of Colored Women
Stop 11: Richmond Colored Normal School
Stop 12: Maggie L. Walker House
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on June 22, 2020
