If you're headed up to enjoy Old Town Alexandria you might as well do yourself a favor and check out this architectural wonderment.. Click HERE.

Afton, Virginia boasts a 52 room marble palace that Major James Dooley, an executive with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company, built and completed in 1912. Dooley built the house as a token of love for his wife, Sally May, who also loved swans, hence the name of the property. Over 300 artisans were commissioned  to create the palace to replicate the Villa de Medici in Rome. Dooley also owned the Maymont Estate in Richmond. For more information on when the house is open for tours www.nelsoncounty.com 

If you're ever in Gloucester you should make plans to visit the fabulous Ruins of Rosewell, a plantation built with Flemish bond bricks back in the day by the Page Family. They even offer ghost tours in October and other various events that benfit the Rosewell Foundation.  Photo by Albert Herring

If you feel like seeing something super creepy then the DeJarnette Sanitarium is one of Virginia's spookiest asylums still standing today. It's easier to read about it on various sites. Not open to the public but worth gazing at from a distance once you read about its history. Photo by Ken Fager.

Stratford Hall is the birthplace of Robert E Lee but it's also one of the most beautifully preserved buildings I've seen in Virginia. The house tours are lovely and informative and the grounds are gorgeous. There is also lodging available in either of the two guest houses as well as dining. They also host a number of events throughout the year.  Click here for more info.

I was fortunate to catch an architectural tour of Agecroft Hall but standard tours are given daily. Sitting in a residential neighborhood of Windsor Farms in Richmond, Agecroft Hall was actually cartaed and shipped from England and re-assembled in Richmond. Click HERE to read the history and plan a visit.

Literally, right next door to Agecroft Hall, is the Virginia House. Yet another house that was crated and shipped and re-assembled in Richmond, the rich history of the house is better read HERE.  The Virginia House is only viewed by appointment. Call 804.353.4251.

The Wilton House in another historical gem that resides in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. Built in 1753, it was considered the centerpiece of a 2,000 acre tobacco plantation. To plan your visit click HERE.

The Light of Truth Universal Shrine sure is an architectural gem. LOTUS is located in Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville in Buckingham, Virgina, a multi-faith community based on the teachings of Sri Swami Satchidananda. Click here to read about the architecture of the Lotus. When I first moved to Virginia someone told me that actor Liev Schreiber's mother resides in Yogaville Ashram.  Click here to plan a visit.

Simply named The Egyptian Building, this gem hides amongst the surrounding towering buildings of the ever-spreading VCU campus. Located on the southwest corner of E. Marshall and College Streets in downtown Richmond, it was built in 1854 and designed by Philadelphia architect Thomas S. Stewart in the Egyptian revival style and is on the list of National Historic Landmarks.