Specters & Shades of Court End Ghost Tour

Meet your guide in Court End, one of Richmond’s oldest neighborhoods. Here, glass-clad towers rise alongside some of the city’s oldest surviving houses, creating a distinctive modern urban landscape shaped by centuries of history. Your guide will introduce the neighborhood and share eerie tales, dark-history vignettes, and stories connected with places that have vanished from the streetscape. This is an outdoor walking tour.(20 min)

Pause outside the former home of John Marshall, the influential fourth chief justice of the United States. Your guide will discuss Marshall’s place in American history and the unexplained activity reported at his remarkably preserved home, including stories associated with his wife, Polly. This is an exterior stop; the tour does not enter the house.(15 min)

Pause outside the William H. Grant House, a handsome nineteenth-century residence that later became part of Sheltering Arms Hospital and now serves as VCU office space. Your guide will trace the building’s changing uses and share stories of the echoes of the past said to linger within. This is an exterior stop; the tour does not enter the building.(15 min)

Pause outside the historic White House of the Confederacy while your guide shares a sorrowful story connected with the surrounding streets and Jefferson Davis’s young son, Joseph, remembered as “Little Joe.” The narrative offers a more personal glimpse into the neighborhood’s past beyond its familiar Civil War associations. This is an exterior stop; museum admission is not included.(10 min)

Pause outside the Egyptian Building, a remarkable medical-school landmark distinguished by its elaborate Egyptian Revival architecture. Your guide will explore the building’s long association with medical education and share the enduring story of “Old Chris,” one of Court End’s best-known spectral figures. This is an exterior stop; the tour does not enter the building.(15 min)

Make a brief stop near Richmond’s imposing Old City Hall, a landmark of High Victorian Gothic architecture. Against its dramatic stone exterior, your guide will share a dark-history vignette drawn from Richmond’s civic past. This is an exterior stop; the tour does not enter the building.(5 min)

Pause outside The National, the lone surviving theater from Richmond’s once-thriving Theater Row. Your guide will explore its place in the city’s entertainment history and introduce the resident spirits said to linger after the final curtain. This is an exterior stop; the tour does not enter the theater.(10 min)