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HC 1 Glen Allen Baptist Church
The Rev. Alexander Sands organized the Glen Allen Baptist Church on Feb 23,1868. The congregation first met in a rose arbor belonging to Mrs. Susan Sheppard Allen. On July 4,1868, the new church held a feast and raised $400 to build the sanctuary. After the Hopkins family of Walkerton donated this site, church members built a frame structure, with three windows and a door which opened in the winter of 1869. Members of the Glen Allen Baptist Church have worshipped here, in different sanctuaries, since that time.
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HC 2 Shady Grove United Methodist Church
A group of neighbors, meeting in a cooper shop near the present site, organized a church in 1852. With five dollars, they purchased one acre of land from the estate of Thomas Maxwell and erected the first building in 1855. It was used as a school during the 1880s. The present sanctuary, which dates from 1900, now has several additions. The church grounds have increased to more than five acres through gifts and purchases. Until 1954, when it became a separate station, Shady Grove was one of four churches on the Goochland Charge. |
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HC 3 Bethlehem Baptist Church
In 1828, nine people organized a Sunday school in a log schoolhouse, five miles from the Richmond City limits. Students from the Virginia Baptist Seminary, now the University of Richmond, helped it become the Bethlehem Baptist Church. The church received its charter on May 31, 1838 and built a new structure in 1839. It reportedly served as a first aid station during the Civil War, burned about 1870 and was rebuilt. A brick Gothic-style church opened on July 25, 1909. On November 3, 1920, this structure burned. Members dedicated the present building on November 6, 1921. |
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HC 4 Old Coal Pit Railroad Bed
This railroad bed carried coal from the Deep Run and Springfield Coal Pits, two miles to the northeast of here, during the nineteenth century. The line ran south for about six miles to the now abandoned Kanawha Canal on the James River. From there, the coal was transported to Richmond for domestic and industrial use. |
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HC 5 American Legion Post 244
World War I and II veterans organized the Glen Allen American Legion Post 244 in 1946. Sheppard Crump, a member of the First Caucus of the American Legion and later the Adjutant General of Virginia was the first Commander. Dr. Alexander McLeod, World War I veteran and legionnaire, donated the land to build the Post. The first Post shared a steel Quonset Hut structure with the National Guard built from state and private funds in 1949. It burned in 1962. This brick structure replaced it later in the year. |
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HC 6 Four Mile Creek Baptist Church
The Baptist Church of Christ on Four Mile Creek was constituted at Clayton Springs on the 5th of August, 1781. In 1828, church members moved the meeting house four miles west to its present location. In the fall of 1864, Union troops occupied the area and razed the meeting house and surrounding oak grove. Following the Civil War, the congregation rebuilt the church with much community support. These Baptist worshipers had the current sanctuary constructed in 1962. Several area Baptist churches can trace their roots to Four Mile Creek including Gravel Hill, Hardy Central, Saint James and New Life. |
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HC 7 Sheppard and Baker’s Grant
The Sheppard’s Way subdivision was part of the original 400 acre land grant made to William Sheppard and Richard Baker in 1713. They obtained it through the “Headrights System” by paying for the passage of eight people from England to the Virginia Colony. The Sheppard’s descendants lived on this parcel called Meadow Farm until 1993. In 1899, this location was the site of the first Glen Allen School. Elizabeth Holladay, the school’s founder and only teacher, taught here until 1901. |
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HC 8 Locomotive Club of Richmond
In 1852, Joseph and Elizabeth Tyree owned this 400 acre tract of land known as “Woodstock.” After changing hands several times, the Locomotive Club of Richmond purchased 208 acres of the property and built this clubhouse in 1925. Through the middle of the property ran the Richmond and Rappahannock Railroad. After 1977, it was known as the Confederate Hills Swim and Tennis Club. It became part of the Henrico County Recreation and Parks system in 1994. |
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HC 9 Deep Run School
This two-room schoolhouse opened in 1902. Its predecessor, Stand Spring School, had been destroyed by fire the previous year. The school was in use until 1911 offering seven grades of instruction. Wood stoves provided heat for the structure, and the privy was located outside. By folding the center wall of doors, the space converted into one large room for weekly square dances for the entire community. The County of Henrico moved the school to this location from Three Chopt Road in 1996. |
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HC 10 Short Pump
According to legend, just beyond the fork where the Deep Run Turnpike (now Broad Street Road) crossed Three Notched Road (now Three Chopt Road) stood a tavern which was built in 1815. Here, under the rickety old double porch of the rambling frame structure was a short-handled pump. In the days when the tavern was a stage coach stop between Richmond and Charlottesville, the drivers would often say. “I’ll see you at Short Pump.” Thus originated the name by which the area is now known. |
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HC 11 New Market Road
Legend indicates that the road was once an Indian trail. In the early nineteenth century, a “new market” was established in Richmond to replace the old one in Williamsburg. This road was eventually referred to as New Market Road. The 1819 Wood’s map of Henrico names a village called New Market near the current intersection of New Market and Kingsland Roads. Originally called River Road, the name changed to New Market Road prior to the printing of the 1853 Smith’s map of Henrico County. In 1976, the road was designated as a Virginia Byway. |
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HC 12 Glen Allen School
In 1886, Elizabeth Jane Holladay established the first Glen Allen School when she began teaching children in her home. In 1899, the school was moved to a one-room building on Mountain Road. It was relocated to Old Washington Highway in 1911. Constructed at a cost of $10,000, it had no central heating or indoor plumbing. Between 1914 and 1925, three wings were added. In the 1930′s an auditorium/gymnasium and home economics cottage were constructed. The school ended operation at this site in 1978. In 1999, it reopened as The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. |
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HC 13 Elko Community House
In November 1916, a group of approximately 100 Danish and Norwegian Americans established the Windsor Community Farm at Elko. The cooperative farm venture led by Frank and Anna Hurop was unprofitable, but members of the settlement stayed and built this community center in 1924. The hall provided a variety of early entertainment, including vaudeville acts traveling the east coast and musical entertainment by the Georgia Wildcats, Sam Workman, Sunshine Sue, and also the Carter Sisters. The hall still sponsors a variety of activities and is owned by the Windsor Club of Elko, Inc. Many members are descendents of the original settlers. |
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George Thorpe HC 14
On April 3, 1620, The London Company hired George Thorpe to manage the land and tenants for the proposed “university and college” on 11,000 acres on the north bank of the James River above Henrico Town. The agricultural activities of the tenants supported the school, which was established to Christianize American Indian children and introduce them to English culture. Indian attackers killed Thorpe and 347 Virginia colonists on March 22, 1622 at the beginning of the Anglo-Powhatan War. This event brought an end to early efforts to establish a university and college in Henrico. |
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Coal Pit School HC 15
The African-American school most likely took its name from the nearby Springfield Coal Pits. The one room school established about 1905 was once supervised by Virginia Estelle Randolph, the eminent black educator. It had forty-six students by 1913. The school also served as a meeting hall for the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church up until 1918. In 1955, the pupils moved to the larger Vandervall School (now Pemberton Elementary). The County of Henrico purchased the property, and in 1976 Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church established a preschool program here for low-income families. |
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Skipwith Academy HC 16
Grey Skipwith, Sr., a midshipman in the Confederate navy purchased the original site, formerly “Fort Hill”, a Civil War parade ground, in 1890. Lord Alfred Bosson designed Bekeby, an English style Tudor mansion, in 1927 for Admiral Grey Skipwith, Jr. The architecture of this home boasts 14-inch walls, 3 sandstone mantel fireplaces and a circular turret stairway with leaded stained glass windows painted with medieval scenes. A curved driveway to the mansion originally wound through wooded landscaped grounds to Three Chopt Road. Two brick pillars adorned the entrance. For32 years, the building was the home of Mrs. Helen Dixon’s nursery school. |
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Gravel Hill HC 17
Following a successful case before the Virginia Court of Appeals in 1777, the slaves of John Pleasants were allowed to follow the dictates of his 1771 will and were freed. His son, Robert Pleasants then gave seventy-eight former slaves 350 acres of his plantation. A community developed known as “Gravelly Hill”. Here in 1801, a Quaker school for blacks was established and following the Civil War, the Gravel Hill Baptist Church was founded. Gravel Hill Community Center, C. 1930, once a public school, became a Center operated by Henrico County in 1970. |
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HC 18 Deep Run Baptist Church
Founded here in 1742, Deep Run Baptist Church was established as an Episcopal chapel. Modeled after St. John’s Church in Richmond, it was constructed in 1749 with wooden pegs and beams that remain part of the present structure. During the Revolutionary War, the church served as a hospital for wounded soldiers, and the Marquis de Lafayette reportedly used it as a gathering place. In 1791 it became Hungry Baptist Church. In 1819 the name was changed to Deep Run Baptist. Since its beginning the church has continued to serve as a place of worship in this community. |
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HC 19 Westwood Club
Derived from a 1921 design by renowned golf architect Donald Ross, Westwood Golf Club served the public from 1927 to the mid-1930′s. Following a change in ownership, Westwood Supper Club occupied the clubhouse from 1936 until 1950, when the Officers Club of Virginia acquired the site. Eventually extending membership to non-military families and continually expanding, the facility emerged in 1967 as Westwood Racquet Club, offering the region’s first indoor tennis courts. Westwood hosted a Virginia Slims Invitational Tournament in November 1970, which marked the beginning of the professional all-women’s tennis tour. The Westwood Club remains one of the premier racquet clubs in the Commonwealth. |
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HC 20 The Flood of 1771
On May 27, 1771, a wall of water came roaring down the James River valley following ten to twelve days of intensive rain. As water swept through Richmond, buildings, boats, animals, and vegetation were lost. About one hundred fifty people were killed as the river reached a flood stage of forty-five feet above normal. A monument to the flood was inscribed by Ryland Randolph, of Curles, in 1771-72: “all the great rivers of this country were swept by inundations never before experienced which changed the face of nature and left traces of violence that will remain for ages.” |
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HC21 Chatsworth School
Chatsworth School was built circa 1915 as a one-room schoolhouse for the black children of the Antioch Community. Chatsworth was one of approximately twenty black schools in Henrico County supervised by the visionary educator, Virginia E. Randolph. The Rosenwald Fund provided a matching grant to build the school. Anna T. Jeanes Funds supported instruction for students in grades one through four. It was said that the Chatsworth curriculum included everything from bookwork to banking. The school closed in 1956. |
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HC 22 John Marshall’s Farm
Near this location stood Chickahominy Farm, the country residence of U. S. Chief Justice John Marshall. Spending weekends at the farm with his wife, Marshall wrote that farming provided many hours of “laborious relaxation.” Born in 1755, Marshall fought in the Revolutionary War before studying law under George Wythe. As a Henrico County representative at the 1788 Virginia convention, Marshall voted for ratification of the U. S. Constitution. During his 34-year tenure as Chief Justice (1801-1835) Marshall continued his interest in farming, leading to his election in 1811 as president of the organization later known as the Agricultural Society of Virginia. |
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HC 23 Markel Building
The Markel Corporation commissioned architect Haig Jamgochian, a Richmond native, to design their headquarters in 1962. The aluminum clad conical structure was inspired by a baked potato wrapped in foil served to Jamgochian while attending an American Institute of Architect’s dinner. Each floor consists of a single piece of 555-foot aluminum. They are the longest unbroken pieces of aluminum ever used as siding material. Jamgochian personally sledge-hammered crinkles into the 3rd floor siding before contractors finished the job on the other two floors in 1965. The building is a unique architectural example of its era. |
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HC 24 Naval Assault at Drewry’s Bluff
On May 15, 1862 a small federal fleet including the ironclads, the Monitor, and Galena, and three wooden war ships sailed up the James River to try to enter the Confederate capital at Richmond. Their efforts were blocked at Drewry’s Bluff by Confederates with heavy sea coast guns and a channel loaded with sunken vessels. Neither Union ship could elevate its guns to damage Confederates on the high bluff. The Galena received extensive damage during the four hour battle. Two members of the U.S. Naval crew and one U.S. Marine received the Medal of Honor for Valor due to their bravery under fire. The defenders at Drewry’s Bluff saved Richmond from attack by water for the duration of the Civil War. |
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HC 25 Osborne Landing
Osborne Landing was located near here along the north bank of the James River across from the Village of Osborne in Chesterfield County. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries a ferry operated here and the landing was a regular stopping point for commercial vessels until around World War I. The Osborne Turnpike, which connected here with its south of the James segment, was among the earliest artificial roads in the United States. It remained the shortest route from Richmond to Petersburg until 1824, when the Manchester and Petersburg Turnpike was completed. Near here also was the site of the Revolutionary Naval Battle of April 27, 1781 between British General Benedict Arnold and American troops. |
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HC 26 Belmont
Edward J. Warren, a farmer, was the first owner of the house on 100 acres in 1858. Warren, a private in the 34th Virginia Infantry, was captured by Union Troops and held prisoner at Fort Monroe. The property is first referred to as Belmont in the 1880s while owned by New York native William Coggeshall. In 1916, the house and property became the home of Hermitage Country Club and remained so until the early 1970s. In 1977, Henrico County purchased the site from Hermitage Country Club and opened it as Belmont Recreation Center and Golf Course. |
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HC 27 Cedar Hill
Cedar Hill was constructed ca. 1820 and originally stood off Creighton Road near the Hanover County line. During the Civil War, units of Kershaw’s Division of the Army of the Confederate States set up camp at Cedar Hill and built fortifications on the property. Cedar Hill was donated to the Henrico County Historical Society by the St. Paul’s Baptist Church and moved to Meadowview Park by Henrico County Government in 1998. At that time, the house was one of only 10 remaining story and a half frame houses known to exist in Henrico from the early 19th century. |
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HC 28 Courtney Road Service Station
The 1920s were the boom years for construction of gas stations in the United States due to an increase of cars, improved roads and low gas prices. By 1929, there were 143,000 “filling” stations across the nation. Many were built in the “House with Canopy” design of the Courtney Road Service Station, a style that was a 1916 Standard Oil Company prototype. In 1938, the Barlow family owned the station and surrounding land. Selling Sinclair Gasoline and Oil Products, the station was operated by Mr. Millard G. Wiltshire. The station also served as a social hub for the Glen Allen community. |
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HC 29 Forest Lodge Belvedere
This Belvedere, meaning “beautiful view”, was one of three Forest Lodge towers. Forest Lodge, constructed in the 1880s by Captain John Cussons, was a six-story hotel on 1000 acres in Glen Allen, west of the railroad tracks. Cussons created gardens, a hunting preserve, ponds stocked with fish, and a park populated with deer and peacocks. The resort boasted over 100 guestrooms, a grand ballroom, boating facilities and a theatre. Cussons envisioned the Lodge as a popular train stop between New York and Florida. The Lodge was demolished in 1992. |
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HC 30 Galaxy
Irving L. Haggins, an African American, born in 1934, designed his one-of-a kind home in
1956. This self-taught architect and contractor built it in 1967. Inspired by
modernist architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, it combines unusual organic
forms and distinctive naturalistic materials. A sweeping cantilevered roof and
electric windows are two ultramodern features.
Built in a time shortly after the advent of the “atomic age”, the house
pays homage to the progressive ideas of its time. Haggins named his dream house
Galaxy after often working well into the night with only the stars of the
galaxy to witness his labor of love. |
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HC 31 Mercer Hugh Cosby Farm Significant for its ownership by one African-American family dating back to the late 1800s, Mercer Hugh Cosby built the farmhouse in the 1880s on 52-acres. He grew tobacco and had an orchard on the property. The farm passed to his youngest son William in 1952. William Darl Cosby Sr. became a prominent educator in Henrico County, following his service in World War II. He worked as a teacher and principal through the period of school desegregation in 1969. Until his death in 2006, Mr. Cosby was the curator of the Virginia Randolph Museum, a National Register Landmark. |
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HC 32 Nine Mile Road First known as New Bridge Road, the name “Nine Mile” comes from the distance between Richmond and Seven Pines ending at Williamsburg Road. In 1888, Richmond City and Seven Pines Railway Company established a route along the road. This line provided city access for Henrico citizens and excursion trains for Richmonders. In 1892, the line was electrified for streetcars two years after developer Edmund Read founded Highland Springs. The federal government purchased the line in 1918 to provide transportation for workers at the WWI powder-bagging plant. In 1920, banker and Sandston namesake, Oliver J. Sands, Sr. bought the streetcar company. |
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HC 33 Antioch Baptist Church A chapel, built in 1772 at Boar Swamp, was used by Elijah Baker to gather people for worship. In 1776 the church was constituted as Boar Swamp Baptist Church, with Joshua Morris as the first pastor. In 1780 Joshua Morris and fourteen members from Boar Swamp Church established the First Baptist Church of Richmond. In 1846 the church changed its name to Antioch Baptist. The chapel burned twice and the present sanctuary was built in 1870. The church ordained numerous people and brought several people into the ministry, including Charlie Bradley, Pastor, 1957 – 1997. |
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HC 34 Springfield School African-American students attended this two-room 1920s structure. It was one of approximately 22 schools under the supervision of the pioneer educator, Virginia E. Randolph. Multiple grades were taught with students ranging in age from seven to eighteen. Students studied a tradtional school curriculum as well as home economic skills such as sewing and cooking. Following the closure of Springfield School around 1950, the structure became a private residence and students were sent to Virginia Randolph, Quioccasin or Union School. The County of Henrico moved the school from Shady Grove Road to this location in 2011. |
