Paying homage President Obama recognizes American service members who gave their lives for the nation during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Northern Virginia. The president places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns with the assistance of Sgt. 1st Class John C. Wirth.

This bust of Richmond’s great lady, Maggie L. Walker, sits on Lombardy Street in front of the regional Governor’s School that bears her name. Mrs. Walker, an advocate for civil rights and economic empowerment, is best known for being the first African-American woman to found and become president of a bank. The school dedicated the bust last year in celebrating her 150th birthday on July 15. Members of the Maggie L. Walker Class of 2011 led the effort to raise the money for the commemorative bust. It is a bronze replica of a plaster bust of Mrs. Walker that sculptor Paul Beneduce created in 1934 for Richmond’s celebration of Maggie L. Walker Month, which took place two months before her death.

Burying the past A small group of mostly young people took shovel to dirt and buried a Confederate flag near the James River on Memorial Day in a symbolic funeral for the symbol of racial hatred. The ceremony was themed “A Belated Burial: Capital of the Confederacy.” It was part of a conceptual art project called “The Confederate Flag: 13 Flag Funerals,” that was streamed online in which participants buried or burned Confederate flags in 13 Southern states

Darlene Scott, one of the event organizers, addresses the group after the Confederate flag was buried in a symbolic funeral Monday at Intermediate Terminal near the James River.

The event was held nearly two months after thousands of area residents, tourists and city and state officials marked the 150th anniversary of Richmond’s emancipation by Union troops that led to the end of the Civil War and freedom for millions of enslaved people.

Cone flower in North Side

Honoring veterans and family time More than 800 people came out Monday to salute fallen veterans during a morning ceremony on Memorial Day at the Virginia War Memorial in Downtown. Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his wife, Dorothy, accompanied by their children, carry a wreath that was placed at the feet of the statue Memory and the Torch of Liberty eternal flame at the memorial on South Belvidere Street.

Also at the ceremony, Col. Terence W. Singleton of the U.S. Army Reserve’s 94th Training Division salutes, and Donald Richardson of the Mark Matthews Chapter of the Buffalo Soldiers in Petersburg removes his hat during a prayer.

In addition to honoring the war dead, families and friends spent time together at cookouts, parks and enjoying the outdoors along the James River.

At Byrd Park, brothers Rashard and Winston Thornton check to see if the grilling chicken is done.

Bernadette Miller and her granddaughter, Dekea Williams, shower affection for their Chihuahua, Peanut.

At Fountain Lake in Byrd Park, Kyjuan Ross, 9, looks on as his 5-year-old cousin, Nahjir King, casts his fishing line.

Tredegar Beach near Brown’s Island is the place to be for fun in the sun and the water.