You are here

Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont » Richmond Metropolitan Area » South of the James » Southside Suburbs: Woodland Heights, Forest Hill Annex, Westover Hills » Forest Hill Park

Forest Hill Park

-A A +A
1889, A. Langstaff Johnston, civil engineer. 1934, public park improvements. James River on the north, Forest Hill and Semmes avenues on the south, and various streets on the east and west

Johnston laid out this park of approximately 100 acres concurrently with the Woodland Heights subdivision. In 1889, with the exception of some granite quarrying, the park was largely in a natural state, and the initial improvements consisted only of paths and bridges. The park was intended as an amenity for Woodland Heights residents and as a “Mecca of the lovers of nature,” as promotional literature touted it. Apparently, nature was not a sufficient attraction, and after 1900 the Virginia Railway and Power Company constructed an amusement park to increase streetcar ridership. Closed during the Great Depression, the property was deeded to the city of Richmond in 1934. The city demolished the amusement park and built modest amenities such as picnic shelters.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
×

Data

What's Nearby

Holden Rhodes House (Old Stone House)
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Woodland Heights Baptist Church
Norcroft Apartments Community Center
Maymont

Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Forest Hill Park", [Richmond, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-RI357.

Print Source

Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont, Richard Guy Wilson and contributors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 288-288.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,