Richmond's Suburban Developments

[Icetera]

Most of the Civil War sites are in deep Varina. A lot's already been developed over. I know a lot of people would probably come out to woodwork and pitchfork me for suggesting a town built out at Savage Station with the same name... maybe even a communter rail station out there.

I am heading to Southern States to pick up a pitchfork now

[Shakman]

Most of the Civil War sites are in deep Varina. A lot's already been developed over. I know a lot of people would probably come out to woodwork and pitchfork me for suggesting a town built out at Savage Station with the same name... maybe even a communter rail station out there.

There are many Civil War sites closer to the City. I have a book on VA Civil War sites that has shown numerous sites directly to the south and east of the City. In most cases I am sadden to see that many sites have now disappeared. Though if growth is to happen, at least leave the more significant sites in tact. For the smaller site sites, at least a historical marker would be nice.

Ice - Can you pick up a pitchfork for me?

Edited November 14, 2007 by Shakman

[Cadeho]

I know most of the Inner Defense Line is unmarked... those were the huge star forts that individually circled the city. Base #6 is a few blocks from my house and 5 is also nearby, but no one would know unless they studied such things. I do believe I have found a part of the Intermediate Line off Sandy Rd...

[Shakman]

I was shocked to discover that there is a battlefield (used to be one) where Willis Rd and meets I-95 and Richmond Tpk (Rts 1 and 301) and along Kingsdale Road towards Centralia and Rt 288. The battle was called Proctor's Creek and was fought during the Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign. That battle covered a very large amount of land with casualties topping those of First Manassas. I think most of us know what the area is like today, though parts of the battlefield do remain intact.

There are five other battlefields in that area from Grant's 1864 Campaign. (Chester Station, Ware Bottom Church, Port Walthall Junction, Fort Clifton and Swift Creek)

The book I got the info from is called "The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide" by John Salmon.

(For those of you who cannot tell, I am a Civil War buff... and a tourist )

Edited November 14, 2007 by Shakman

[Cadeho]

I have pics from a few months ago at Fort Stevens off Willis Rd. I had just come from Drewery Bluff.

[heykey4]

I have pics from a few months ago at Fort Stevens off Willis Rd. I had just come from Drewery Bluff.

Just reading the posts about the Civil War sites...

Chesterfield has more Civil War sites than most people realize. The eastern part of the county is peppered with remnants of the war. I grew up near Hopkins Road & Centralia Road and they are still artillery embankments in someone's front yard. Plus everything pretty much east of I-95 was battlefield from the Bermuda Hundred Campaign of 1864. That's when the Confederates "bottled up" the Federals in Bermuda Hundred.

Don't want to digress too much from Richmond's Suburban Developments, so I'll tie this in to that.

A lot of Chesterfield sites have fallen victim to development. For years, because it was "south of the river", these sites were forgotten or deemed too far away....I'm talking like back in the 1920s & 30s when Civil War Battlefields were first preserved around here. Plans were then to make as much land in the Bermuda district of Chesterfield part of the National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park. It would have been the Bermuda Hundred Unit. There's a map by the NPS of the proposed park floating around somewhere. I've not seen it, but I know it exists.

I think this plan didn't happen because of the Great Depression and later because Bermuda district is the most level land in the county and also has been zoned industrial making it VERY expensive.

It's a shame, it would been pretty cool...if you're in to history and parks and what not.

There are those who are working to save what's left. The county has had the Civil War sites mapped out and take them into account when zoning requests come in from Bermuda district. I went to a lecture one time by a guy who had GPS mapped all the forts and earthworks in the county.

So anyway, there's a lot there in Chesterfield, it just doesn't make the brochures for the tourists.

[Cadeho]

Thanks for sharing lch4 and welcome! I wish much of the defense lines and battlefields were preserved in tact. I guess too a lot of people saw no use in them and progress bulldozed them.

[burt]

Most of Greg Gilligan's inRich column today deals with activity at Reynolds Crossing:

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/busines...11-19-0011.html

Note the name Altria is not mentioned, but the story does say that Phillip Morris will take over the entire Alcoa building once Alcoa moves to the new 7-story structure still under construction on the property.

[heykey4]

Thanks for sharing lch4 and welcome! I wish much of the defense lines and battlefields were preserved in tact. I guess too a lot of people saw no use in them and progress bulldozed them.

Off Topic: Cadeho, I was reading on the other forum posts from, I presume, you about the Richmond & Rappahannock River Railway. The posts were from 3 years ago...

...I was wondering how far your exploration of that rail line got and have you any photos from the rail line. A person I know has the approaches of a trestle over Boatswain's Creek behind his home in Mechanicsville (Cold Harbor). I was relic hunting there some years ago and found rail spikes in the area.

this is the only way I knew to contact you, so again, my apologies for being off topic...however, I guess it does count as suburban development even though it was developed over 100 years ago and is now vanished from our landscape.

If you have info or care to discuss it, contact me via: email

take care all! have a great weekend.

[Cadeho]

I believe the bulk of my pics are on RCW. I think the only old pics are in the book Burt gave me. I'll have to check. But I could only follow it to a road I forget the name. You can definitely follow it on Google maps or local.live. I'll have to get back to you on the specifics.

[burt]

I believe the bulk of my pics are on RCW. I think the only old pics are in the book Burt gave me. I'll have to check. But I could only follow it to a road I forget the name. You can definitely follow it on Google maps or local.live. I'll have to get back to you on the specifics.

If I recall properly, the Richmond & Rappahannock only got as far as The Pamunkey River before it was abandoned. It's interesting to learn that there are ruins in the Cold Harbor area. I think this was the rail line that began at it terminal in Church Hill -- about 29th and P Streets.

Edited November 30, 2007 by burt

[Shakman]

New Sam's Club slated for eastern Henrico County:

https://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id...A5859C16DD46C14

[burt]

New Sam's Club slated for eastern Henrico County:

https://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id...A5859C16DD46C14

This site also advises that DAVE & BUSTER's 16,000 s/f property at West Broad Village will open in the first quarter of 2009.

[Cadeho]

More metal is rising on the site.

Edited December 3, 2007 by Cadeho

[Cadeho]

What's the new building coming up at Creighton and Laburnum in the Dominion shopping center?

[burt]

A property sale in Eastern Henrico may lead to a new US Postal Distribution Center near I-64 and I-295 which would diminish service at the Brook Road Post Office. From today's inRich:

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-co...12-08-0140.html

[Cadeho]

A property sale in Eastern Henrico may lead to a new US Postal Distribution Center near I-64 and I-295 which would diminish service at the Brook Road Post Office. From today's inRich:

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-co...12-08-0140.html

They have been itching for more land for years. The last time they mentioned moving the main post office altogether to Henrico and city residents really opposed that. They have tons of vacant unused properties nearby and access to the highway is easy. I drop off mail there all the time by hopping on 64 to 95 to Brook and back using Chamberlayne/Belvidere.

[burt]

It's official. The Brook Road Central Post Office will be considerably reduced in size and personnel by 2010 when a gigantic new facility will open near Sandston in Eastern Henrico:

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-co...12-12-0096.html

[heykey4]

It's official. The Brook Road Central Post Office will be considerably reduced in size and personnel by 2010 when a gigantic new facility will open near Sandston in Eastern Henrico:

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-co...12-12-0096.html

Does this mean people will take their bulk mailings to the new facility or still to Brook Road.

...or is too early to tell yet?

[burt]

Does this mean people will take their bulk mailings to the new facility or still to Brook Road.

...or is too early to tell yet?

I'm pretty sure the news report says that 4 sub-stations will be scattered over Metro and that the Brook Road facility would still remain in operation.

[wrldcoupe4]

It says that the existing 4 substations will merge into a new larger single facility in Sandston. Brook Road will become the regional administrative building and have a retail outlet post office as well.

"Currently, our operations are being conducted at four separate facilities around the Richmond area, which is no longer practical for us," Boul

[burt]

A poster who calls himself Spider at RCW lives nearby and says Staples Mill Center (former site of Suburban Apartments near Bethlehem Road) is still on and will break ground in '08. Original plans, he says, have not been significantly altered. It will include about 2100 condos (some in high rises), townhouses, single family homes, an office complex and retail.

I believe there's a rendering somewhere in this thread, but I don't have the strength at the moment to dig it up.

[Downtowner]

NEW HOSPITAL IN GOOCHLAND COUNTY

A new hospital will be built off of Route 288 in Goochland county in West Creek across from the capital one office building. It will be a 100 Bed Hospital. It will serve the counties of Goochland,Hanover,Henrico,Louisa,Buckingham,Powhatan and Chesterfield. Heres the story and video below on NBC12.com.

http://www.nbc12.com/home/12507341.html

[D_C]

It's official. The Brook Road Central Post Office will be considerably reduced in size and personnel by 2010 when a gigantic new facility will open near Sandston in Eastern Henrico:

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-co...12-12-0096.html

HALLELUJA!!!! I feel like going down there and helping them pack! This is the greatest news to hit the northside in decades! For years now, the post office has been routing its large, overweight, speeding tractor-trailer trucks up Brook Road to Brookland Parkway and to the I-95 ramp at Boulevard/Hermitage Road. These monsters wreak havoc on local road surfaces as well as the underground utilities. (2 ancient, large sewer mains run that stretch of Brook Road). These trucks use this route to save a few dollars and a couple of minutes instead of using Chamberlayne Avenue and the I-95 ramp up the road. And it isn't like the city will be missing out on any lost tax revenue. I would be willing to bet that very few employees frequent any of the local businesses. (Not that there are any worth frequenting) The speeding, non-stop large freight truck traffic is also a menace to local residences. Older houses with plaster walls often show the signs of vibrations caused by the overweight trucks bouncing through intersections and hitting the potholes that they have created, not to mention the fact that they are intimidating to children, pedestrians and bicycle riders. Maybe once the U.S. Postal Service has vacated this property, it can be re-added to the tax base, or possibly could offer an expansion opportunity for Virginia Union University.

The Chamberlayne Court Addition neighborhood is tucked away between Brook Road, Chamberlayne Avenue, the main post office and Lombardy. These residents have been living in fear of the federal government taking their homes for future expansion plans that were hinted at about once every 5 years. The postal service would hint at a possible expansion plan, but not specific. Then the city assessor's office would unexpectedly drop the assessments of the houses in the adjacent neighborhood, throwing the fear into the homeowners. Years would go by with no contact from the post office until another half-cocked expansion plan came down the pike and the cycle would repeat itself. Now these residents can sleep a little better.

All I can say is, "good riddance" to them. I know that sounds harsh, but they have totally ignored local neighborhood associations' concerns over their trucks for decades. They are a constant menace and a poor neighbor. An operation of this magnitude deserves to be somewhere like the area where it is going. It will be closer to I-295 and hopefully they will use that route instead of clogging up I-95/I-64 through town.

[wrldcoupe4]

uh oh.. Cam won't be happy...

GardenRidge to close