Restoration of the 1818 cast iron fence (including many of its 7,000 individual pickets and 350 fence posts) around Capitol Square was completed in 2009. The fence is the oldest and largest example of a cast iron fence in the United States and is listed with the Department of Historic Resources, the first step in qualifying for National Historic Landmark status for Capitol Square. Donors including the Roller-Bottimore Foundation, Marietta McNeill Morgan and Samuel Tate Morgan, Jr. Foundation, The French Heritage Society and the Commonweath Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution funded the project.
18th century woodwork
In 2007, restoration and documentation of the Capitol’s 18th century woodwork is made possible with a generous donation from the Cabell Foundation, matched by the Commonwealth of Virginia. This discovery was a key element of the UNESCO World Heritage Application, the highest designation a natural or manmade site can achieve.
New Capitol Exhibit
The Virginia General Assembly, in partnership with the Capitol Square Preservation Council, presents an exhibit in the east exhibit gallery of the Virginia State Capitol entitled, A Stand for Peace: Winston Churchill and the Call for Unity. Opening on the 70th anniversary of Churchill’s historic March 8, 1946, address to a joint session of the General Assembly in the House Chamber, this exhibit uses photographs and the words of participants and observers to look at the events of that significant day at the dawn of the Cold War era.