I have always heard that Chiswell Dabney Langhorne Perkins (how’s that for a  moniker and  so Virginian) coined the phrase. Chil was a friend of my father and was a truly delightful person. They grew up together in Greenwood, which is a small community about 15 miles west of Charlottesville. While at the University  (that’s the University of Virginia), Chil would see his Richmond friends go home almost every weekend. Since Richmond is east of Charlottesville and appeared to have some mystical allure over his friends, the allusion of Richmond as Mecca was supposedly born. This story has always made sense to be, since Chil was always quick with a bon mot. Even when I was at the University a generation after Chil and my father, I always heard my Richmond friends say "they were going home to Mecca." Sadly, I can’t think of anyone who can validate this since my father’s circle of friends have passed, but I am delighted to perpetuate this myth in Chil’s memory.