About a dozen well-fed horses, waiting their turn to be in the spotlight, grazed on hay along Grace Street near the Virginia Capitol on Monday.
Gawkers snapped photos of the unusual sight and the contingent of men standing nearby in old-timey blue uniforms, extras waiting to be called for scenes in director Steven Spielberg's movie about President Abraham Lincoln.
After weeks of celebrity sightings and closed streets around town, Monday was the last day of Richmond-area filming for the movie, said Rita McClenny, Virginia film commissioner.
"The film has had a significant impact on the Richmond region," she said. "Not only the economics, the revenue and the jobs created, but certainly the excitement scale has been off the charts.
"People that we normally see either in a magazine or on the Web or in a book … they are among us in the community, as a part of Richmond, for the last few weeks," McClenny said.
Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is playing Lincoln, and Sally Field is playing Mary Todd Lincoln. The movie, based on the book "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, is due for release in 2012.
"We are hopeful for a Richmond screening, to share it with the community," McClenny said.
Much of the Capitol grounds was cordoned off with yellow tape Monday, and film crew security staff positioned at entrances kept spectators far away from the action. Some of the brick walkways at the Capitol were covered with dirt, an attempt to give a period feel to the normally well-kept grounds.
"They ran us off," said Kay Knickrehm, who was with Brad Sanders of Georgia. They came to Richmond to take a photo of the George Washington statue on the Capitol grounds for a book he is writing on Washington's Southern tour.
"They did let us take pictures of the statue," said Knickrehm, of Harrisonburg, who has observed the filming from a distance for weeks.
"I've been here the whole time because my son is a patient" at VCU Medical Center. "So we have been walking down here since October, and just watching the progress. I haven't seen anybody the whole time that I've recognized."
Barrett Logan of Chesterfield County and a friend walked around the Capitol grounds Monday hoping to spot a celebrity.
"It seems pretty authentic, the dirt they have strewn all over the grounds here," Logan said.
Some of the A-list actors have dined around town, making downtown and Carytown-area restaurants the place to go for celebrity spotting.
Restaurateur Peter Caserta of Stuzzi Pizzeria near Carytown emailed a photo to news outlets of himself and actor James Spader.
Caserta said the photo was taken in the restaurant's kitchen, and that Spielberg and other members of the film crew also have been to the restaurant.
"They are great people. Three more were in Friday night. They have been in almost every night. It's amazing," Caserta said.
"It's phenomenal, anytime one of the biggest stars in the world is happy with us," he said.
The movie's economic impact on the region is estimated to be $35 million in direct spending.
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