The 13 security checkpoints on the presidential inauguration’s parade route in Washington were guarded by soldiers from the Virginia Army National Guard. “We have the checkpoint mission,“ said the state Guard’s Maj. Cotton Puryear on Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday.

The electric atmosphere surrounding the inauguration of Barack Obama resonated beyond Capitol Hill and Washington’s borders yesterday. Venues across the Richmond region welcomed those wanting to witness the historic event and share the moment with others.

Johnnie Taylor shook her head, raised her arms and mouthed a silent prayer as the band struck up “Hail to the Chief” for President Barack Obama. Taylor, 60, recalled her youth as a civil-rights activist who was yanked from a lunch-counter stool during a Woolworth’s sit-in.

On a normal day in an eighth-grade classroom, there’s no shortage of fidgeting, whispering and giggling. But yesterday, it was silent in Mrs. Wilcox’s Algebra I class at Tuckahoe Middle School. All eyes were on the television.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, ill with a brain tumor, was hospitalized yesterday but quickly reported feeling well after suffering a seizure at a post-inauguration luncheon for President Barack Obama. “After testing, we believe the incident was brought on by simple fatigue,“ Dr. Edward Aulisi, chairman of neurosurgery at Washington Hospital Center, said in a statement released by the senator’s office.

When the PT-109 float neared the reviewing stand during his Jan. 20, 1961, inaugural parade, President John F. Kennedy looked over his shoulder. Kennedy’s gaze found William C. Battle, the man who had managed the Kennedy campaign in Virginia.

Virginia’s top elected officials had box seats yesterday to witness American history. And they came away humbled, overwhelmed and energized. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine sat with other governors on a raised platform about 30 feet behind President Barack Obama’s right shoulder. “You could look all the way down the Mall to the [Washington] Monument and all you saw was people. That was the thing that struck us the most, especially when people waved the flags. The moving tableau of red, white and blue; flashbulbs just going off like popcorn,“ Kaine said.

Prayers for President Barack Obama and Americans offered by a diverse group that included a rabbi, a Muslim woman, a Zen Buddhist, a Hindu leader and an ordained African-American minister moved more than 300 people at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church yesterday. The downtown interfaith service on Inauguration Day attracted a diverse audience who listened to faith leaders—some speaking in different languages—briefly pray about a specific topic.

Even to the amazement of transportation officials, people and traffic flowed well in Northern Virginia for President Barack Obama’s inauguration. “We’ve had a pretty smooth day,“ said Jeff Caldwell with the Virginia Department of Transportation, “considering what we thought the day would be like.“ Public concern had revolved around the potential for traffic backups on key roads like Interstate 95 and an overload on the public transit system in Northern Virginia and Washington as hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the national capital region.

A big crowd didn’t seem to mean many big problems at street level during the inauguration of Barack Obama. While there were reports of a variety of problems—from ticketholders being turned away to pedestrian crosswalks being closed—the mood of the crowd seemed more awe-struck than irritated. From the edge of the White House north of the parade route all the way around the far end to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument in the hours leading up to Obama’s swearing in, people crowded nearly every space, but it was hard to find many signs or sounds of discontent.

WASHINGTON Barack Obama was sworn in yesterday as the nation’s first African-American president, summoning a country riven by war abroad and a battered economy at home to “begin again the work of remaking America.“

Washington visitors get ready for the inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.

Betty Reed stood in the bright sunshine on the gently sloping lawn just in front of the Washington Monument, impervious to the cold, willing to wait just a bit longer for a day she thought would never come. She was a long way from the Capitol and Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln’s Bible, but this close to history. “It’s not important that I see. It’s important that I hear,“ said the 77-year-old grandmother from Pensacola, Fla.

For Cathy Thomas of Midlothian, the inauguration of Barack Obama “was a pinch-me kind of day.“ Not only did the first black American become president, but two busloads from Richmond—including Thomas—witnessed it on the National Mall. “It’s just so many emotions,“ she said. “A day in my time, a day in my time. On the night he won the election, all I could say was, in my time. Today was a day I never thought I’d see, but I was part of it. It meant so much to be here. It was a great day.“

Singing on the National Mall, the parade route, a sea of people.