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Once a booming downtown retail district with ornate ironwork decorating storefronts, Richmond’s Grace Street corridor, near the state capitol, had been vacant for decades. Several new performing arts venues and, more recently, restaurants have started to bring the area back to life. In August the city announced a multiphased investment in tourism that will bring a “Liberty Trail” linking 15 national historic landmarks, including several around the capitol. And the state capitol building itself, designed by Thomas Jefferson, and where parts of the Oscar-nominated film “Lincoln” were shot, is fresh off a $100 million overhaul.

— CARRIE NIEMAN CULPEPPER

Pictured: Rappahannock restaurant