Town of the Week

Ashland, Virginia
October 7, 2000
(rebroadcast from September 7, 1996)

Head over to Ashland, Virginia; just listen in.

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"Give me liberty or give me death." Those stirring words by Patrick Henry were delivered in the Hanover County courthouse during the Continental Congress of the 1770s. The courthouse in Ashland, Virginia is one of the oldest still in existence.

Patrick Henry and Henry Clay are two of the notable natives of Ashland, which is located about 15 miles north of Richmond on I-95. The Henry Clay Inn overlooks the train station in the heart of town, and is the base for a walking tour of Ashland, which includes Randolph Macon College. Ashland's original business district was destroyed by fire in the 1890s but was quickly rebuilt.

Ashland has had three names in its existence; Adams Shanty, Slash Cottage, and Ashland, from the Kentucky home of Henry Clay. A well-known Ashland tourist attraction is Paramount's Kings Dominion with rides, water park and a replica of the Eiffel Tower. With a fast- growing population of 75,000, it's a turn of the century Victorian-appearing railroad town, and our Town of the Week, Ashland, Virginia.