Henrico's police department used the building from 1941 to 2005. Henrico County purchased the property in 1883 and added onto to the simple farm-style home to house the poor as Dabbs House became the Almshouse. Lee famously planned his defense of Richmond here, and the boots of some of the South's most important military leaders trod on the Dabbs House steps. 'In 1862 this actually serves his Robert E Lee's first headquarters when he takes over the Army of Northern Virginia,' Sanders said. Josiah Dabb built gothic style houses in Halifax, Va., she said, and apparently retired here with his wife and slaves. 'But in 1859, Josiah and Mary Catherine Dabbs moved into the house.'

'We don't know much about the original owners,' said Dabbs House historical interpreter Clarissa Sanders. You may know the Dabbs House Museum and Henrico County's Visitor's Center has had many lives, starting when it was built in 1820.

Which brings us to one of most historic houses in the Richmond area, which happens to have a massive A-bomb shelter below. Perhaps we're hearing more conversation now about the threat of nuclear attack than we have in a generation or so, thanks to less stable nations with those weapons (or trying to develop them) and a new president here not afraid of discussing that option.īut we can flashback to the '50s and '60s, when the threat was very real.Ĭhildren and adults were taught to 'duck and cover' and citizens as well as municipalities were building bomb shelters.

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