Local author Mary Miley Theobald tells the story of Brandermill in her new book. (Photo by Parker Michels-Boyce)
In a bold move for 1974, Chesterfield County gave developers East West Partners the green light to establish Brandermill, Richmond’s first planned community and only the second in the state. Construction began the following year, and in 1977, Better Homes & Gardens magazine and the National Association of Home Builders named Brandermill “The Best Planned Community in America.” Today, Brandermill is home to more than 13,000 residents living in 80 different neighborhoods along the Swift Creek Reservoir and in the wooded acreage nearby. Richmond author Mary Miley Theobald has written Brandermill’s history, “Brandermill: The Natural Place to Be,” available at brandermill.com.
R•Home: How was this book born?
Mary Miley Theobald: Years ago, the Brandermill Community Association started collecting every news mention of Brandermill going back to the 1960s. They started interviewing people, filmed them and typed transcripts of 50 interviews. … There were boxes and boxes collected of paper, newspapers, advertisements, newsletters. The main thrust of this project was Donna Pletcher, who lives in Brandermill and works at the Library of Virginia. She’s a professional librarian and has a real knack for editing.
R·HOME: How did you go about digging through all of the boxes and coming up with the story line?
Theobald: It was really difficult. There was so much material, it was overwhelming. Sifting through everything took weeks and weeks to put into piles. And I tried to look for a story that would be interesting to the average reader, not an academic paper crammed with dates and picky facts. It was supposed to be something that you want to read, that would draw you in and keep you compelled to turn the pages.
R·HOME: What made Brandermill unique?
Theobald: The fact that it was the second “planned community” in the state after Reston in Northern Virginia. It was huge and the only place like it around a reservoir. Local people didn’t know how the development was going to affect the water supply. Would there be runoff? Algae? Fortunately, the developers were dedicated to preserving the environment. The distance from downtown was more than many had considered. A lot of people told the Brandermill Group [later East West Partners] that they were crazy, that no one was ever going to want to live out there. It’s amusing now with all the new roads, but at the time, it was different.
R·HOME: What drew the first “settlers” out there?
Theobald: The developers talked about the idea that if people like to have a vacation home to visit and have that lifestyle one week a year, why not live 52 weeks a year in such a resort community? … Hilton Head was a second-home community for those who could afford it, but this was for everybody, the middle class. Average people could live in a resort lifestyle with the lake, bike trails, wonderful playgrounds, golf, tennis, swimming pools, schools right there. It really was an ideal community, and yet still most Richmonders said it was too far away. In fact, many of the early buyers were from out of state — a huge number from Texas and Northern Virginia, for whom a 30-minute commute was not unthinkable. They couldn’t believe their good fortune!
R·HOME: What was the greatest challenge you encountered as you wrote the book?
Theobald: Getting to understand the ethos of Brandermill because I don’t live there. It wasn’t just writing about how it was built — I had to understand the emotional side of the community, which is what is so compelling to people who live there. It’s a different type of community than subdivisions. There’s more of a sense of belonging, greater interest in preservation and nature and the outdoors … doing things with your neighbors like having a picnic or a barbecue, playing tennis, and the parade for Fourth of July. You just don’t have that in most neighborhoods. It took a while to figure out how to express that.
