Located in the Shockoe Slip district of downtown Richmond, the Center sits on the site where Jefferson's statute was enacted into law by the Virginia General Assembly on January 16, 1786.

Championed through the Virginia General Assembly by James Madison, the statute was the first law of absolute religious freedom enacted in the young nation and served as a template for the religion clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would be ratified five years later (1791).

The First Freedom Center is connected to the newly finished Courtyard and Residence Inns by Marriott (and owned by Apple Hospitality[8] ) and features 2,200 square feet of installations that "delve into America's experience with religious liberty from its European roots through today" [9] According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, "The museum features statues of Jefferson and James Madison, along with exhibits and displays that trace and celebrate America’s experiment with religious liberty, from the 1600s through today.

One wall will feature changing exhibits that highlight current events related to religious freedom.

Outside is a 27-foot spire and a wall etched with a paragraph of the 1786 statute, which laid the foundation for the religious freedom guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.