Top 5 Things to do Good for a Rainy Day in Suffolk, Virginia (VA)

While Mills Riddick’s contemporaries may have mocked his Greek Revival home when it was built in 1837, the house now stands as a beautiful reminder of the past. This most impressive structure on Main Street in Suffolk features striking architectural details. The five frieze band windows across the front of the house are rarely seen in eastern Virginia. The front of the mansion is bricked in Flemish bond, and double chimneys rise from both ends of the stately historic landmark. Slender columns of the Greek Revival period frame the main entrance. The interior showcases intricately carved and gilded moldings and elaborate ceiling medallions throughout the main floor of the house. Riddick’s Folly has four floors, twenty-one rooms, and sixteen fireplaces. All four floors are open to the public. The building features elegantly furnished double parlors, a gentlemen’s library, and adult and children’s bedchambers. Our three newest projects are the bathing and dressing room on the third floor, the slave quarters on the fourth floor and their winter kitchen which is housed in the English basement along with the laundry and dining rooms. We also have a tastefully stocked Gift Shop in the English basement which was once the larder or pantry. Riddick’s Folly is a member of: American Association of Museums American Association for State and Local History Virginia Association of Museums South Hampton Roads Museum Forum Time Travelers Southside of the James Attractions Riddick’s Folly is also registered with : National Register for Historic Places Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Virginia Civil War Trails

Our museum contains a collection of items from the Seaboard Airline Railroad, the Virginian Railway, the Norfolk and Western Railroad, and the Atlantic and Danville Railroad. Items include bells from steam locomotives, a light from a steam locomotive tender, cast iron and concrete signs, railroad lanterns, railroad tools, as well as a nice collection of smaller items. The Station is a Queen Anne style building reminiscent of the Victorian age. It has an interesting tower with a beautiful, walnut, spiral staircase. Many original features were saved and restored such as the doors, windows, coffered ceiling, fireplace and porch. The most special part of the building is the HO scale model of Suffolk, circa 1907, that was built by the Tidewater Division of the National Model Railroad Association. Two of the scratch built model buildings won first place in the National Competition for that group. There is more than a mile of electrical wiring underneath the model and the line depicted is the Suffolk and Carolina RR.

We are located in the "Downtown Historical district" in a red brick structure that was built in 1897.