The Shockoe Alliance held its latest community meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 4. (Photo by Rodrigo Arriaza)
Efforts to reshape Richmond's Shockoe Bottom neighborhood are underway as city committees and community groups seek to tell the story of the district’s slave-trade history while looking toward the future.
On Wednesday night, the Shockoe Alliance held its third community Small Area Plan meeting, where attendees were invited to weigh in on nine focus areas classified as priorities for Shockoe Bottom. The areas of focus, which were compiled based on audience feedback at past meetings, included memorializing the district’s history, finding parking solutions, improving its infrastructure and creating more green spaces.
Once it’s completed, the Shockoe Small Area Plan will be released to the public and sent to the mayor’s office for review, according to Shockoe Alliance member Sal Musarra, who led the meeting. It was the latest step in a years-long effort to effectively memorialize Shockoe Bottom’s role in the slave trade — in the early 1800s, it was known as the second-largest center for domestic slave-trading behind New Orleans. The area includes Richmond's African Burial Ground and is the site of the infamous Lumpkin's Slave Jail, also known as the Devil's Half Acre, and the gallows where participants in Gabriel's Rebellion, a revolt led by an enslaved blacksmith, were hanged.
This 1853 drawing by British artist Eyre Crowe of enslaved people waiting to be auctioned in Richmond was part of a Library of Virginia exhibition about the domestic slave trade. (Image courtesy of Library of Virginia)
Plans to build a history museum in the area apparently had stalled, but Preservation Virginia, the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are looking to jump-start those conversations. The three groups recently commissioned and released a report that studies the potential economic impact of a memorial park and museum in Shockoe Bottom to illuminate its past and attract tourists interested in learning about Richmond’s history.
“Shockoe Bottom is a site of international importance, and it is vital that planning be approached in an intentional and comprehensive manner to sustain its economic viability,” Preservation Virginia CEO Elizabeth Kostelny says in a news release about the report.
Conducted by the VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, the report highlights the effects of “heritage tourism” — a segment of the tourism industry focused on telling the stories of past people and events that has become big business in Virginia. It states that construction of a memorial park and museum would cost $46.7 million, but could result in up to 401 jobs and visitor spending estimated between $32 million and $36 million. It also states that for every dollar spent in operations for the memorial park and museum, the city would gain 68 cents in economic activity.
Ana Edwards, a founder of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, wants to see a historic overlay district to protect specific sites in Shockoe Bottom. (Archived photo by Chet Strange)
“The world is watching how Richmond addresses its past, and the steps we take in Shockoe Bottom will communicate whether we are serious about our commitment to historical truth-telling and equitable development,” Ana Edwards, chair of the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project, says in the release. “The Memorial Park proposal defines an inclusive vision for historic preservation and cultural development offering practical economic approaches designed to benefit those most affected by the history of Shockoe Bottom.”
Musarra, who works in landscape architecture and community planning, says that architectural firm and consultant SmithGroup JJR is working with the city on conceptual designs for a structure to commemorate the historic site that could take the form of memorial or museum, but couldn’t say when the concepts would be completed.
The Shockoe Alliance expects to hold its last community meeting early next year, he says.