5 Goth Places in Richmond, VA
Richmond is a delightfully spooky little city in the heart of Virginia. Starting at the tender age of 18, I lived here for four years during my art school days at Virginia Commonwealth University. This illustrious city helped me spread my wings as a baby bat goth, as I explored this identity and leaned more into who I am. It was so wonderful visiting my old stomping grounds again! And for World Goth Day, what better way is there to celebrate than to share five goth places in Richmond that might delight your little black heart?
What I love about being goth isn’t just limited to the music or the aesthetic, although those are important. To me, goth is also an entire treasure trove of curiosity, creativity, and intellectual pursuits—whether it’s history, art, literature, horror, science fiction/fantasy, philosophy, or the world. And there is plenty of all of that in Richmond.
From cemeteries full of famous dead people to a cosmic heavy metal bar, these are five of my favorite places where it’s good to be goth in Richmond, VA.
Hollywood Cemetery
One of the best goth date ideas is strolling through a cemetery. Set on the banks of the James River, this 19th-century Hollywood Cemetery offers over 135 acres of gardens and trees over the rolling hills. The winding roads and natural beauty offer a peaceful setting away from the city as you walk among the deceased. The historic poplar and oak trees and extensive gardens make this cemetery a registered arboretum.
This is the final resting place of famous authors, generals, and Virginia governors, plus two U.S. presidents, James Monroe and John Tyler. A stone pyramid towers over 11,000 Confederate soldiers’ unmarked graves from the Civil War, which the Confederacy started to keep slavery legal—and lost. Rumor has it that you can hear whooshing and groans near the monument at dusk and dawn. Those might be some of the lost souls crying out to anyone who might hear them. I loved walking among the countless headstones in the forms of angels, crosses, or carved pieces embedded into the earth, the details on long-lost relatives etched into stone.
Goths love going to the Hollywood Cemetery year-round. The flowers are in full bloom in the spring, filling the whole final resting place with beauty. In the summer, the flowers give way to green leaves as the trees provide shade from the blazing sun. In the fall, the leaves slowly change from golden yellows to fiery reds at their prime. Finally, in the winter, the trees let go of all of their leaves and rest before the cycle continues again in the Spring.
One of the best things to do is just get lost and see where you end up. When I last went to the Hollywood Cemetery, I took a woman out on a date. She talked a little about the genealogy of the 19th-century roses that bloom here as well.
Saturn Return
For a little bit of retail therapy for Richmond’s darklings, Saturn Return is a goth shop dedicated to satisfy even the darkest of hearts. The name Saturn Return is a time of great upheaval in one’s life astrologically. But this store helps people connect with themselves through fashion and self-expression.
Draped in crushed black velvet and lace under red light, the anteroom greets you with an antique harpsichord, a wooden coffin, skulls, and dried flowers. It’s a reminder of memento mori, the inevitability of death (like the Hollywood Cemetery) and the impermanence of life. But fear not—these reminders of death make truly life all the more valuable.
Locally known as the “goth cowboy” store, Saturn Return offers vintage clothes to dress up from head to toe. You’ll find band shirts, Victorian lace button-ups, trousers, velvet overcoats, and metal-studded boots. There are also perfumes, handmade cosmetics by small businesses, and hand-wrought jewelry, plus creepy art and antiques throughout the store.
One thing I do want to point out—especially to vegans—are the vintage taxidermy animals mounted on the walls, such antelope, deer, and a coyote. Many vegans consider animals to be with us and not for us. As such, they would find this unacceptable. However, others are more relaxed about vintage taxidermy. In this case, the animal should be honored instead of going into the landfill. What are your thoughts on this?
GWAR Bar
A cosmic heavy metal band of interplanetary misfits, GWAR is known for its over-the-top performances of political and social satire in grotesque warrior costumes—often with fake blood splattering on the audience. While this loud, chaotic music leans more towards punk and metal, it seems to run in the same social circles in Richmond. Even if the music or aesthetic isn’t your thing, you can’t help but appreciate the insane lore behind this art collective. In art school, I once went to a lecture that one of the band members held. Their mission was to make their art so stupid and ridiculous, that it became brilliant. If you’re going to go big, go really big.
GWAR extended their provocative art collective from making music to bar food, as seen in GWAR Bar. The aesthetic of the bar is as grotesque as its costumes: stitched-together skin face masks stretch across the ceiling, while rusty foam spiked clubs hang from chains. Despite the bloody look, this omnivore restaurant serves plenty of vegan bar food. The menu offers buffalo cauliflower wings, deep-fried tofu sandwiches, and BBQ seitan nachos topped with all the veggies. The band is known for its all-or-nothing energy, and they made sure to put that same effort into their vegan selections. All of these dishes would feed you, whether you’re a goth, a starving artist, or a local punk rock supporter.
Fallout
At night, I went to Richmond’s nuclear-themed goth club, Fallout. This apocalyptic bar offers rotating events, such as karaoke, drag queen nights, and even a goth prom. The dance party themes include favorite pastimes, like dressing up like a woodland faerie or a fancy vampire.
On the outside, Fallout is housed in an unassuming, plain white brick building. On the inside, it’s like a hidden cave similar to a World War 2 bunker with its exposed-brick walls, copper pipes, and industrial caged light fixtures emitting a soft orange glow that’s reminiscent of a nuclear apocalypse. Go-go dancers make their moves to 90s industrial rock music inside chain-link cages on the dance floor. People dress up in of black articles of clothing and wild costumes and feel free to be themselves here.
What I love about Fallout isn’t just the apocalyptic theme; it’s the community’s loving intention behind the space. The night club came to life around 2006, when I was a 19-year-old baby bat goth. Here was a safe, inclusive space for people of all backgrounds, preferences, and lifestyles—especially for creatives and queers. Fallout became the epicenter of the Richmond goth community where people could find joy and acceptance among each other while dancing the night away. The night club offers a safe and inclusive environment that’s free from judgment, so that people could have a place to belong to.
Since I’m out on a road trip, I only have a capsule wardrobe. I put on a long, layered black skirt with a black backless tunic, complete with a hip pack, silver moon earrings, and a beaded tassel necklace—complete with my versatile Vegetarian Shoes combat boots.
Edgar Allen Poe Museum
It doesn’t get any more goth than a renowned writer who reinterpreted many Gothic tropes.
Known to be one of the most famous horror writers in U.S. literature, Edgar Allen Poe made great contributions surrounding the macabre, spinning works of psychological terror that feed off the depths of human nature. The deep, intuitive mysteries of life and death weave in Poe’s stanzas and lore.
Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’
The Poe Museum is dedicated to the life and work of this beloved horror author. After paying the entrance fee, I walked through the enchanted garden featuring a stone fountain, thorny rose bushes, and a huckleberry tree planted in 1920, plus twisting ivy crawling up brick walls. A brick shrine houses a stone bust of Edgar Allen Poe, with trinkets lovingly lain as if black crows visited. If you’re lucky, you may see the two “museum guards”—the cats of the museum, Edgar and Tib. (Check out @poemuseumcats on Instagram!)
Known as the oldest residential building in Richmond, the Stone House holds the exhibits of Poe’s early years. While Poe never actually lived in the home, he stood guard at the door during his stint in the military. Inside, there are remnants from his the early years of his life, such as his childhood bed and portraits of his family.
In another building, there are ephemera showcasing Poe’s literary career and the horror and science fiction genres that he helped develop. This gallery also details the most important women in Poe’s life, such as his beloved wife, Virginia Clemm Poe, and his mother-in-law, Maria Poe Clemm. Upstairs is a library of his literary works—from poetry symbolizing a raven as truth and stories that include a mysterious, terrible ticking coming from underneath the floorboards. An art gallery from local artists pays homage to this esteemed writer.
No one knows how Poe died, but there’s a lot of speculation. The official cause of death was “inflammation of the brain,” but what actually caused that? One theory suggests that it was from cholera that he had weeks before. Another says it was his from his excessive alcohol consumption. While delirious, his famous last words were, “Lord, help my poor soul!” After all of the tragedies he’s been through, it’s also possible that he died of a broken heart. There are 27 different theories on why Poe died, and we may never know the true cause.
The Goth Life in Richmond
Visiting Richmond reminded me how much this city has to offer for goths. This city was a formative part of my life as a young adult. It’s held together by a community that welcomes anyone who looks for a place to call home. While it’s a smaller city, it still packs a lot of history, art, and community around here. It’s spooky, and there might be ghosts, but what remains is the appreciation of the dark side of life.
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