Love Thy Neighborhood

These communities resonate with devoted residents

by

I ♥ the Fan 

Wendy Martin, speechwriter and communications consultant

Wendy Martin has lived with her family in her Fan home since January 2000. A native of New York and a graduate of the University of Virginia, Martin moved to Richmond in 1991 to pursue an advertising career. Two years ago, after hearing a TEDxRVA talk about community by Dr. Danny Avula, she and her family built a table in their front yard on the corner of Grove Avenue and Mulberry Street to better get to know their neighbors.

The Fan is the perfect location for such a social experiment, she says. “The world passes by my front door. … The table gives us an excuse to meet all kinds of people.”

Martin and her family dine at the table at least weekly during warmer weather and hold neighborhood events there once a month — parties, potlucks, concerts. If you happen to be walking by while the Martins are sitting at the table, you’re invited to join them.

Though her children have grown up in the Fan, Martin says she makes sure they know how special their neighborhood is. “The architecture of this neighborhood is unbelievable,” she says. “When I walk down Monument Avenue with my daughter, I tell her, ‘This is not normal and this is where you grew up.’ When I contrast it with the cookie-cutter suburbs where I grew up, I’m blown away.”

I ♥ Ashland 

Samantha Willis

Nestled snugly in the heart of Central Virginia, Ashland is just 20 minutes from downtown Richmond. I was born and bred in western Hanover County, and graduated from Patrick Henry High School. My alma mater may still sit across the street from a cow pasture, but what was once a sleepy little hamlet in Hanover County has blossomed into a bustling mini-metropolis, bursting at the seams with friendly faces and lots of new things to do, see and eat. 

Officially incorporated in 1858, the town was originally established as a mineral springs resort, and was contained in 1 square mile. Presently, Ashland stretches over 7 miles and has about 7,000 residents. Randolph-Macon College, founded by the Methodist church in 1830, sits in the center of town, its campus straddling the railroad tracks.

The Ashland Theater offers a variety of live shows, movies and programs, while the collection of art galleries (Gallery Flux, the Flippo Gallery) will inspire you. Looking for an adults-only good time? Head to Center of the Universe Brewery, which is housed in the former Herald-Progress newspaper building. For a fun outdoor history lesson, check out one of the many nearby Civil War trails.

The Ashland Theater’s cheerful green-and-red marquee has imbued the small town with a hint of Hollywood glamour since 1948. The 333-seat movie house boasts a stage, and now hosts pop-up films and live performances. A renovation campaign is underway to restore the theater to its former glory. 

I ♥ Mechanicsville 

Nicole Cohen

I grew up in Mechanicsville and I still remember when Bell Creek Road was nothing but an empty field. Today, there are rows of shopping centers. Over the years, I’ve had a front-row seat to the town’s transformation — and noticeable increase in traffic.

That growth has transformed what insiders refer to as the “Ville” into a mesh of rural country homes and modern residential neighborhoods just 7 miles northeast of Richmond. 

History runs deep in Hanover County. Hanover Tavern on U.S. Route 301 is one of only a handful of Colonial-era taverns still standing in the United States and today is a great place to catch dinner and a live show from the Virginia Repertory Theatre. Across the street is the historic Hanover Courthouse where Patrick Henry in 1763 argued the Parson’s Cause case, the famous challenge to royal authority believed to have sparked the American Revolution.

Antique shopping is a must in Mechanicsville. The 47-year-old Governor’s Antiques located off of Pole Green Road features more than 6 acres and 6 million items to browse. And for fresh edibles, don’t miss Pole Green Produce, especially when you’re looking for those ripe Hanover tomatoes.         

I ♥ Jackson Ward

Gary Flowers, consultant and radio host 

When Gary Flowers returned to his native Richmond three years ago after 23 years away from the city, there was no question about where he would live. “I am a fourth-generation resident of Jackson Ward,” he says. “Many of my heroes and sheroes left their legacies [here].”

Flowers’ grandparents lived on St. James Street across from Maggie Walker’s corporate headquarters. Both of his parents went to elementary school in Jackson Ward, and his father worked on Second Street, “the cultural and financial epicenter of Jackson Ward” at a time when the neighborhood was known as “The Harlem of the South.”

Much of the neighborhood fell into disrepair between 1970 and 2000, he says, but has since experienced a resurgence. “The housing stock has been restored to what I remember as a child,” he says. 

Flowers, who is vice president of the Historic Jackson Ward Association, is a passionate evangelist for the neighborhood’s rich African-American heritage, sharing his knowledge while conducting 20-stop tours of Jackson Ward. “I carry the torch for those who came before me who were economic, political, civic, legal and artistic giants,” he says.

Flowers says the sense of community in Jackson Ward still runs strong. “Many times, in urban revitalization, historic communities are morphed into social destinations,” he says. And while he enjoys the new restaurants and other businesses that revitalization has brought to the neighborhood, Flowers says Jackson Ward still flourishes as a vibrant, closely knit residential community.

I ♥ Lakeside 

Melissa Scott Sinclair

“Amazing Grace” peals over the rooftops as the bells of Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church sound at noon. Vintage cars pose like models under the Esso sign at the Lakeside Town Center. The other day, a stray herd of goats was seen grazing next to the Hermitage Grocery. 

Lakeside is a little slice of small-town Virginia, in all the best ways. And the worst: Faded Confederate flags flutter in more than a few yards. Celebratory gunfire pops every Fourth of July. Peeling paint and tired roofs attest to families’ financial challenges. But Lakeside has plenty of charm — and not a little contrariness. 

Lakeside was given its name by Maj. Lewis Ginter, who in 1895 named his bicycle club the Lakeside Wheel Club (now the Bloemendaal House at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden) and then built Lakeside Park (now the Jefferson Lakeside Country Club). Richmonders traveled by streetcar to visit the park, which had a zoo, a bowling alley and a dance pavilion.

Lakeside is bookended by two of Richmond’s prettiest green spaces. To the south is Joseph Bryan Park, 262 acres of woods, fields, ponds and streams. To the north is Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, where I’ve wandered for many happy hours.

The best thing about living in Lakeside is that it’s convenient to everything. Interstates 95 and 64 converge at the Bryan Park interchange, as does I-195. In 10 minutes, you can be downtown, in the West End or in Carytown.

I ♥ Woodland Heights

Carren Clarke-McAdoo, artist 

Carren Clarke-McAdoo grew up in Glen Allen, but when it was time to put down her own roots, the city beckoned. After looking at 169 houses from Church Hill to the Fan and everywhere in between, she settled in Woodland Heights.

The historic neighborhood is located south of the James River and east of Forest Hill Park, just a few minutes from downtown Richmond. Clarke-McAdoo’s 1900 American foursquare dates to the earliest days of the neighborhood, which was first advertised as a luxury riverside retreat on the western edge of Old Manchester. “The lovely part of Woodland Heights is that it has a story,” she says. 

Clarke-McAdoo says she was attracted to the neighborhood for its proximity to both the James River and to downtown. “You’re living in the city, but it is still connected to nature,” she says. She likes to spend time looking for driftwood on the James, to use in her art. Clarke-McAdoo runs Woodland Heights Studio, a pottery studio, from her home. She sells her work, both decorative and functional pottery, from a small gallery at the back of her house. 

Each year, Clarke-McAdoo spends two months in Africa, checking on a farm she owns in Senegal and working with artisans in Ghana. Though she looks forward to her trip each year, she is also happy to return home to Woodland Heights. 

“I am always happy to come home just as spring is about to break,” she says. “I love my neighbors, we take care of each other. … You know these are the people you will grow old with.”

I ♥ Midlothian Village

Janet Giampietro

When I moved to Midlothian from the Fan in 2004, a friend who grew up in Westover Hills said to me, “When I was a kid, Sycamore Square was the end of the universe. It felt like you had to pack a lunch to go out there.”

It was a sleepy little place, slow to change, steeped in the roots of its coal-mining past. Old churches and historic houses made up what is called the Village of Midlothian, a compact area that comprises a short stretch of Midlothian Turnpike between Woolridge Road and Route 288 and its immediate surroundings.

As governor, Patrick Henry lived in the Salisbury Hunting Lodge in the area that is now the Salisbury subdivision, and Trabue’s Tavern, home of Lt. John Trabue, Revolutionary War soldier and coal-mining magnate, still stands as a private home on Old Buckingham Road. My family has driven past its historic marker so often, we memorized it.

History is evident all over the village but it’s felt — really felt — keenly at the Mid-Lothian Mines Park, a 44-acre preserve that is swiftly becoming the heart and soul of life in the village.

While we have our share of national chains and big-box stores, what really stands out about our shopping centers is the homegrown feel of our many unique and quirky shops and restaurants. 

Yep, the village has everything. Even a YMCA. Filled every day, naturally, with village people. 

I ♥ Barton Heights

Tara Franzetti, librarian

Tara Franzetti and her husband moved to Richmond four years ago after visiting for a weekend and falling for the city.  “We moved here for Richmond,” she says, “Not for a job.”

The jobs came — Franzetti manages the East End branch of the Richmond Public Library in Church Hill — and two years ago the couple bought a home in Barton Heights on Richmond’s North Side. Originally a streetcar suburb, Barton Heights fell on tough times but is re-emerging with the construction of new townhomes and apartments. House flippers also have descended to renovate and resell the neighborhood’s original Victorian and Colonial-Revival homes. 

She’s gotten to know some of her neighbors through the Little Free Library she set up outside her home. “We wanted to give something back to our new neighborhood,” she says. “It is so full right now you can barely shut the door.”

Franzetti likes that Barton Heights is a diverse neighborhood and proximity to downtown is also a plus. “If you look down the end of our street, you can see City Hall in the distance,” she says.

While Franzetti would like to see more shops and restaurants within walking distance, “I like the idea that we can move into a neighborhood and see it grow while we are living there,” she says. “I feel like it is about to blow up. There is so much potential.”