The View Down Floyd From Monroe Park*

I'm republishing old posts as I see fit or come across them. This photo was just a matter of being there at the right time. The rest is digital magic which I scarcesly comprehend. I hope you like it.



First published March 2008.

Cool Things You Can Only Do In Richmond

1. James River Park System
2. Tredegar Civil War Center
3. Shockoe Bottom
4. St. John's Church (Give me liberty, or give me death!)
5. The Byrd Theatre
6. Carytown
7. Maymont
8. The Carillon
9. Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens
10. Dogwood Dell
11. Brown's Island
12. The Canal Walk
13. The Fan
14. The Valentine History Center
15. The Museum of the Confederacy
16. Monument Avenue
17. The Capitol
18. The Library of Virginia
19. Richmond Hill
20. Church Hill
21. Virginia Holocaust Museum
22. Virginia Historical Society
23. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
24. Science Museum of Virginia
25. The Poe Museum
26. The Maggie L Walker House
27. The Nickel Bridge (25 cents please)
28. Riverside Drive
29. Forest Hill Park
30. The Flood Wall

Glaring omission: Hollywood Cemetery

*First published in February 2008.

Summer Sizzle Hike - Cancelled

Do you want to see our urban wilderness up close in personal?

Do you want to escape from the everyday, get lost along the river and see just how beautiful and remote the James River can be?

You can do this on Saturday, August 15th. This challenging hike takes you on a scenic 10 mile loop through woods and abandoned quarries along both sides of the river.

Remarkably this all takes place within the city limits of Richmond. No other city in America can boast such a spectacular urban park. This hike will challenge you and show you the river in a new way. If you are game, then call the James River Park hotline for time and place. Reservations are encouraged.

• Fee: $5
• Date: Saturday, August 15th
• Bring water, lunch and hiking shoes
• Sponsor: James River Park
• 804 646-8911

PARADISE PARK MURAL OPENING

Come Celebrate
We made a mural

SAT. AUG 8th
11:30am – 2:00pm
FREE / FUN FOR ALL AGES

NO BS BRASS BAND Parade
March time line up 12:15pm (in the park)

• Visual Arts Center craft table – Make a shaker
• Meet their Giant Parade puppet
• Art on Wheels mobile printing press
• Dance - Eat - March - Create
• Paradise Park is a Fan Pocket Park
  Bordered by Grove, Floyd, Allen & Vine
  (entrance through alleys on N. Vine or N. Allen)
  

More info:

• paradise-park.org
• facebook.com/paradiseparkva
• twitter.com/GeoParadiseRVA
• Email:paradiseparkva@verizon.net
• Donna @ 804 332-5276

ATR Weekend Calendar 7/31/09

Friday July 31st

• Virginia Historical Society - Free Admission - 428 N. Boulevard
• River District Canal Cruises - Canal Turning Basin 14th and Dock St
• 10am – 11:30am "Highlights of Hollywood Cemetery” Daily Walking Tours - Valentine Richmond History Center,
• 10am – 4pm RO White Water Rafting - James River Park
• 11am–1pm Megan Hicks –Storytelling and Origami 11 am - Dogwood Dell-Ha Penny Stage
• 6:30pm – 10pm Fridays At Sunset - Kanawa Plaza
• 7pm – 9pm 'Summer Speakeasy' by Sugar Shack Burlesque! @ Firehouse Theatre
• 7:30pm – 10:30pm Bach Concert - Tabernacle Baptist Church - Grove and Meadow
• 8pm – 10pm Richmond Shakespeare Festival: Hamlet - 4305 Sulgrave Road
• 8pm – 10pm "Thoroughly Modern Millie" @ Empire Theatre - 114 W. Broad St.
• 8pm – 10pm "Driving Miss Daisy" @ Barksdale Theatre - 1601 Willow Lawn Dr.
• 8:30pm – 11pm A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Dogwood Dell -

Saturday August 1st

• Virginia Historical Society - Free Admission - 428 N. Boulevard
• River District Canal Cruises - Canal Turning Basin 14th and Dock St
• 10am – 4pm RO White Water Rafting - James River Park
• 10am – 4pm Children's Museum Moonbounce Mania - 2626 W. Broad St.,
• 11am – 5pm Shockoe Chef Showdown @ Farmer's Market - 1700 E. Main St.,
• 2pm – 4pm "Driving Miss Daisy" @ Barksdale Theatre - 1601 Willow Lawn Dr.,
• 2pm – 5pm Tubing on the James - Wetlands
• 7pm – 9pm Richmond Kickers v. Real Maryland Monarchs - UR Stadium
• 8pm – 10pm "Driving Miss Daisy" @ Barksdale Theatre - 1601 Willow Lawn Dr.,
• 8pm – 10pm Richmond Shakespeare Festival: Hamlet - 4305 Sulgrave Road,
• 8pm – 10pm "Thoroughly Modern Millie" @ Empire Theatre - 114 W. Broad St.,
• 8:30pm – 11pm A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Dogwood Dell
• 9pm – 12am James "Saxmo" Gates @ Bogart's - 1903 West Cary St.

Sunday August 2

• Virginia Historical Society - Free Admission - 428 N. Boulevard
• River District Canal Cruises - Canal Turning Basin 14th and Dock St Richmond VA
• 10am – 4pm RO White Water Rafting - James River Park
• 12pm – 5pm Give What You Can Sundays @ Valentine History Center - 1015 E Clay St.
• 1pm – 3pm 2009 Summer Reenactment Series - St John's Episcopal Church
• 1pm – 11pm A Musical Celebration of the Life of Gary Gerloff - Cafe Diem in the Fan
• 2pm – 4pm "Thoroughly Modern Millie" @ Empire Theatre - 114 W. Broad St.
• 2pm – 4pm "Driving Miss Daisy" @ Barksdale Theatre - 1601 Willow Lawn Dr.
• 3pm – 5pm VMFA Summer Interlude Series - Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road.
• 4pm – 5:30pm Barefoot Puppets – "Trickster Tales" 4 pm - - Ha Penny Stage
• 8pm – 10pm Richmond Shakespeare Festival: Hamlet - 4305 Sulgrave Road,
• 8:30pm – 11pm A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Dogwood Dell

Words and Music Festival - All Day July 25th

Dogwood Dell - Byrd Park
1:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Free

Parks and Rec - Cultural Arts Division presents an all day festival in featuring storytelling, music, crafts and Dancing on Saturday @ from 1:00 pm - 10:00 pm. There will be crafts, face painting and story teling for the kids and music for the whole family all day long. So get off you duff, grab the kids and get down to the Dell, Fun will be had by all.

• 1:00 Crafts, face painting, etc.
• 2:00 All-Community Band
• 3:00 Story telling
• 3:30 Brass Quintet
• 4:30 European Wind Ensemble
• 5:30 Story telling
• 6:00 Original Dixieland Strutters
• 6:30 Richmond Concert Band
• 7:30 Story telling
• 8:00 Original Dixieland Strutters
• 8:30 Prime Time Swing -- dancing under the stars!

The Boulevard Bridge

This spectacular picture is part of the collection on the James River Park Facebook page. Become a fan to see more pictures and be a part of the JRPS team.

Volunteer opportunity:

A mini-clean-up along Riverside Drive and at Pony Pasture along the water and the parking lot, this Monday, July 13th at 9 a.m. A dozen or so people should be able to get the job done. Contact Maureen at fojrp@mindspring.com to sign up.

The Boatman of Brown's Island

Gabriel's Rebellion

Behind a bank branch off Lakeside Drive and Park Ave, lies Spring Park that was the site of some of Richmond's darkest history. Here Gabriel, now known as Gabriel Prosser planned rebellion in the summer of 1800 designed to free all the slaves in Virginia by kidnapping the governor and negotiating their release. The ambitious plan fell apart when severe thunderstorm forestalled a meeting the night of the rebellion and two participants recanted and told their masters.

From Wikipedia
Governor James Monroe and the state militia suppressed the rebellion. Gabriel and 26 other enslaved people who participated were hanged. In reaction, the Virginia and other legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks, as well as the education, movement and hiring out of the enslaved.

In 2002 the City of Richmond passed a resolution in honor of Gabriel on the 202nd anniversary of the rebellion. In 2007 Governor Tim Kaine gave Gabriel and his followers an informal pardon, in recognition that his cause, "the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality for all people - has prevailed in the light of history.

This little park is a place to comtemplate the past and think the value of freedom. The orignal sulpher spring is still surrounded by Granite stones and a pretty little creek through it helping to mask the sounds nearby I95. Here are a few park photos. No pictures exist of Gabriel Prosser.

Books on Gabriel Prosser

• The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802
  
  
• Ploughshares into Swords:
  Race, Rebellion, and Identity in Gabriel's Virginia, 1730-1810
  
  
• Gabriel's Republican Rebellion



• Black Thunder: Gabriel's Revolt: Virginia, 1800

Tuesday Blue Plate Specials

A special feature of this years Festival of the Arts are the Tuesday Blue Plate Specials. I missed the first one, but the next one is this coming Tuesday: Eve Watters - Celtic Harp. This sounds like the perfect lunch hour if you are close enough to come. I have assigned myself as special correspondent and am required to attend.

Whether you are working or not you should try to take in one of these or any other of the Dogwood Dell / Ha Penny shows. This is truly a unique Richmond Showcase.

Tuesday Blue Plate Specials

Carillon Mall

June 16 ‘USAF Satellite Jazz Band 12:30 pm

June 30 Eve Watters - Celtic harp, music and stories 12:30 pm

July 7 Ban Caribe – Salsa, Latin 12:30 pm

July 21 The Virginians Ensemble – Barbershop, Harmonizing 12:30 pm

Concert Ballet of Virginia @ Dogwood Dell

The Concert Ballet of Virginia is a community based company that has been turning out young dancers for 35 years. They put on productions year round throughout Richmond, powered by the hard work of volunteers and parents. Come see them perform at Dogwood Dell's main stage Friday night at 8:30 PM.

Free and open to the public.

Night Hike at Maymont.

From Hills and Heights

If you have been trying to watch tv lately you will notice that we have hit the dead season, reruns galore. Fear not because Maymont has the answer. From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m on Friday 6/26 there will be experiments, games and a hike of the grounds to learn about the creatures of the night...

This sounds like a geat one for the kiddies.