Richmond’s fiery last days of the Civil War will immerse visitors in a new interactive version of history at the American Civil War Center when an $8 million fundraising campaign is complete.

The campaign announced today has already secured pledges of $6.3 million from board members and riverfront neighbors of the center at Historic Tredegar.

A total of $4 million in contributions will come from NewMarket Corp. and Bruce C. Gottwald, chairman of both the Tredegar board and NewMarket’s executive committee.

MeadWestvaco has made a $500,000 commitment.

The most obvious change to the museum property will be a $3 million building connecting the current exhibition space with administrative offices.

A 100-seat theater within the new building will present a $1.2 million production tentatively called “Richmond on Fire,” said Christy S. Coleman, president of the Civil War center. The 12- to 15-minute immersive experience, “where scholarship meets showmanship,” will involve all the senses, she said.

“It will tell the story of those harrowing days at the end of the war (when the waterfront was set on fire by departing Confederates) with the purpose of exploring how the nation got to this point. We want the visitor to … have a greater emotional connection when they go into the exhibits.”

A $450,000 working model of Tredegar Ironworks in 1865 will be built in an area where the Richmond Folk Festival has children’s activities. Other improvements in interpretation at the center will include $300,000 in exhibit upgrades and $200,000 for outdoor interpretation through mobile devices.

In partnership with the National Park Service and the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, the campaign also will provide $350,000 to create a Gateway Orientation Center in the Pattern Building.

One of the smile-producing additions will be a cannon made from the same mold that Tredegar used, said board member S. Buford Scott.

“We are hoping to fire this cannon at noon every day and remind Richmond we are the gateway of the Civil War and a place to visit,” Scott said.

Gottwald, in an announcement of the campaign, said people need to remember that Richmond was the focal point of a war that cost 625,000 American lives. “A substantial part of this disaster occurred right here, right within earshot of our city.

In Burroughs’ telling, a telegram of March 4, 1886, summoned him to the Hudson River cottage of his uncle, Capt. John Carter, in New York state. But Burroughs learned that Carter, the direct descendant of Robert “King” Carter (1663-1732) of Shirley Plantation and a Confederate cavalry officer, had died that morning. Burroughs discovered in the cottage’s safe his uncle’s will, a hefty manuscript and detailed burial instructions. In accordance with these, Burroughs writes, he removed the body to the “strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond.”

Among Richmond’s “old” graveyards were Shockoe Hill at Hospital and Second streets, opened in 1822, and Hollywood, laid out in 1848. Hollywood is the likely candidate for a “strange mausoleum.” (And the name is prophetic, considering that John Carter has finally gone Hollywood.)

The burial directions included that Carter be laid in an open casket and that “the ponderous mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault’s huge door be accessible only from the inside,” as Burroughs wrote in 1918.

(My guess is that none of these details are in the film; maybe if it had been adapted by a cable network and shot like a Merchant-Ivory production or the 1984 release Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan of the Apes.)

Weirder than Carter’s elaborate last wishes, though, were the papers he’d entrusted to Burroughs. The narrative within described 10 years of adventuring on Barsoom — otherwise known as Mars — fighting for and against four-armed green men and, after numerous battles, marrying “the ever beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium,” not to mention becoming the great friend of Barsoomian warrior Tars Tarkas. Carter became a prince of the house of Tardos Mors and jeddak (emperor) of Helium on Barsoom.

Burroughs, a failure in almost every pursuit, began submitting “edited portions” of Carter’s writings as serialized fictionalized shorts in pulp magazines in 1912. These stories accumulated into 11 books published between 1917 and 1964.

Cue the movie trailer:

Birth: Jan. 24, 1843
Richmond
Richmond City
Virginia, USA
Death: Dec. 6, 1922
Charlottesville
Charlottesville City
Virginia, USA

Civil engineer; During the Civil War, Bolton served the Confederacy by helping to lay out defenses around Richmond, supervising and constructing the Piedmont Railroad from Danville, Virginia, to Greensboro, North Carolina, and constructing and subsequently destroying a pontoon bridge over the Potomac River following the retreat from Gettysburg; Following the war, he designed a 600 foot railroad tunnel under Gamble’s Hill in Richmond (1866-1867) and a 4000 foot tunnel under Church Hill (1872-1873). From 1876 to 1879 he was in charge of constructing a canal around the cascades of the Columbia River in Oregon, and in 1907 supervised construction of two railroad tunnels in the Rocky Mountains in Montana.

Hot Water Music band photo at the old Overlook:

Here is some history, courtesy of Saint Andrew’s United Methodist Church:

Excerpt:

Saint Andrew’s United Methodist Church was born in 1968 through the union of the old Laurel Street Methodist Church from Richmond’s Oregon Hill and the new Grace Methodist Church in the West End of Henrico County.

Laurel Street Church was organized in October, 1849 and enjoyed a long history of faithful ministry. In 1888, Laurel Street helped to organize Monument Methodist Church at Park and Allen Avenues, and in 1896 it assisted in the formation of Byrd Park Methodist at Idlewood and Addison Streets. (Monument later merged, after a fire, ‘With Union Station to form Reveille Church, and Byrd Park relocated at the old Monument property to become Park Avenue Church.)

Another excerpt:

During the night of January 14, 1968, the Laurel Street Church building was destroyed by fire. The cause for the fire was determined to be arson. The congregation met for some months in borrowed facilities and then, after many weeks of study and prayer, voted to merge with Grace Church on the Grace property.

On the Day of Pentecost, June 2, 1968, Saint Andrew’s Church was born as Grace and Laurel Street churches celebrated a Uniting Conference. Reverend Goodman preached the morning message. Bishop Walter C. Gum appointed Arthur P. Cooley as the new pastor, and he served Saint Andrew’s until 1971.

Excerpt:

The Richmond Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a final design for the estimated $1.3 million Second Street Connector despite concerns that the culvert may be too small to allow boats to pass if water flow could someday be restored to the canal.

“The purpose of the canal is to float boats. If we’re going to float boats on this canal, they’ve got to be able to pass this constriction,” said Jack Pearsall, who is trying to reignite interest in restoring a functional canal system stretching from Great Shiplock Park to Maymont.

Pearsall, who served on a Historic Richmond Foundation committee that studied the idea more than 20 years ago, estimated that the culvert would be about 12 feet high with only about 6 feet of clearance if water flow were restored. That means typical canal boats wouldn’t be able to pass, he said.

Meanwhile, C. Wayne Taylor has compiled some very interesting images of the canal area on his blog. They are well worth checking out. If nothing else, they give some perspective on how important this area has been to Richmond’s identity over the decades.

Which vision will City Council and City government ultimately align with, the citizens’ desire for a working, refurbished canal or another corporate driveway? Who does the City work for?

Click here for larger map of Richmond trolley routes.

VIA Carlton McKenney’s Rails in Richmond.

The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar is hosting a holiday ornament contest to decorate the center’s 7-foot tree. All ornaments must be handmade and include at least one item used on ornaments created during the Victorian era, such as paper, lace, ribbon or walnut shells. (Gilded walnuts were popular.)

The ornaments will be hung on the center’s tree, which will be on display in the museum store through the new year. One grand-prize winner will receive passes to visit Historic Tredegar. Runners-up will be featured online on Historic Tredegar-related websites.

Each ornament must have the entrant’s name, address and phone number attached to the item. The deadline for entries is Dec. 12. Drop off entries at the center’s museum store, 500 Tredegar St., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The winner will be announced Dec. 15.

For details, call (804) 780-1865, ext. 21, or email pcarringtonwallace@tredegar.org.

Hello Everyone,

Of interest to fellow Oregon Hill residents might be our newly uploaded digital collection of an Architectural Survey. This collection includes both Jackson Ward and Oregon Hill. From the home page, “This collection contains data sheets that identify and evaluate over 600 structures located in Richmond’s Jackson Ward and Oregon Hill neighborhoods. The surveys were compiled by the City of Richmond’s Department of Planning and Community Development in the mid-1970s. The evaluations were intended to be used in preservation plans and for city planning as a whole. These data sheets predate the standard survey forms used in Virginia used since the 1980s”. To access the collection, visit the URL below, and click on the blue button, Browse Collection. Then you can choose to select Oregon Hill which has 277 images from photographs and survey forms. Have fun viewing the history of our neighborhood!

http://dig.library.vcu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/ras

From the article:

During my October tour, Halloween decorations added a bit of fun to the 19th century facades. The houses are modest and still primarily middle class and exude a sense of being solid and dependable. The architecture tells interesting tales, with some rows of matching homes interspersed with unique structures.

Died
On the 6th inst, after an illness of eleven weeks, from injuries received on the railroad, Charles Walter, youngest son of George and Emily C. Green, aged 7 years5 months and 7 days. He leaves an affectionate mother, one brother and sister, and a great many relatives and friends to mourn their loss. May he rest in peace!

When the bloom of health was on his check,
The light of hope illumined his eye,
He seemed as destined long to live–
Too bright and beautiful to die.
But the relentless spoiler came,
And touched him with his blighting hand;
And, like a bird from prison freed,
He pleased into the spirit land.

His funeral will take place from the Oregon Hill Baptist Chapel, at 3 o’clock this evening. The friends and acquaintances of the family are invited to attend without further notice.

At the residence of his grandmother, on Oregon Hill, Charles T. Barnum, of wounds received near Petersburg; aged twenty-one years and eighteen days.

Fourt this , when life shall cease to thrill this heart of mine;

But not like then can I forget one look or tone of thine;

Oh no at mingles with the sound of everything I hear.

Forget this a bitter word; I would it were un

Forgetfulness is not with life, but the silent dead.

I may cease to think of thee as earthly morning

But, oh ! I’d meet my brother in heaven with heart unchanged and true.

Things we prize are first to vanish; hearts we love to pass away;

But my brother, thus slain in battle, grieves my from day to-day.

The noble crew, but mangled form, lies silent in the

His form now fills a christian soldier’s grave, in battle’s hour bespoke the true and

The bright, no longer fettered by earth’s in seven dwells — the glory of the father sleeps his last long sleep beneath Virginia in death’s cold grasp unnerved he rests every toll. Around him numbers lie, company in the strife, which chilled his manly heart away his life. He’s gone! The bright should guide the heart’s the falling tear. Life’s weary march to own his reward begun; the enemy of life is the won.

His will take place at the Methodist in Hill, Monday, the 17th, at four o’clock friends of the family are respectfully

Baltimore and Philadelphia papers please copy.

Twenty-five Dollars reward.

–Strayed from my residence, on Oregon Hill, a young white Cow, with brown ears and nose, the front part of her fore legs brown below the knees. I bought her from Mr. Patrick Grace near Rocketts, and I think probably she is down that way, if she has not been taken up and sold. I will give the above reward if she is delivered to me, or for any information that will enable me to get her.

oc 10–3t* Wm. W. Timberlake.

At its September meeting, the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) adopted a resolution to support the City of Richmond’s effort to protect and preserve the historic James River and Kanawha Canal, Penitentiary basin, and green space in any development, including the proposed road connecting Second Street with Tredegar Street and the proposed amphitheater.

The canal, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is of great historical significance to the City of Richmond. It was first chartered in 1785 as the James River Navigation Company with George Washington serving as its first President. Reorganized in 1831 as the James River and Kanawha Canal Company, the canal played an integral role in the industrial and mercantile development of the city.

There are important historical connections between the canal and the Oregon Hill neighborhood. Samuel Pleasants Parsons, whose home (built in 1819) survives at 601 Spring Street, was the Superintendent of the Canal in 1840 when the Canal was expanded westward to Lynchburg.

From about 1850 to 1875, Oregon Hill resident John Messler ran a canal boat building enterprise in the Penitentiary Basin. Messler had a short walk from his home the Jacob House (which survives at 619 W. Cary Street) to the canal basin below Oregon Hill.

The two attachments to this e-mail show the Canal and Penitentiary Basin below Oregon Hill in both the 1876 Beers Atlas and in a panoramic photograph assembled from three 1865 photographs. John Messler’s canal boat building business in the Penitentiary Basin can be seen in the middle of the panoramic view.

Because the James River and Kanawha Canal is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, OHNA strongly recommends that the City consult closely with the Va. Department of Historic Resources early in the process of designing the proposed bridge over the canal.

Please forward this resolution to all members of the Richmond Planning Commission.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hancock
President, OHNA

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce that the records of the Virginia Penitentiary (Accession 41558) are now available to researchers. The collection contains 289 bound volumes and 698 boxes of paper records spanning nearly 200 years (1796-1991; bulk 1906-1970). Included are administrative records such as annual reports, correspondence, office and subject files, minute books, photographs, and blueprints, as well as specific records related to the State Convict Road Force and State Convict Lime Grinding Board. Also included are financial records such as account books, cash books, ledgers, payrolls, and receipt books. The prisoner-related records include: prisoner registers, 1865-1980; photographs and negatives, 1906-1914, 1934-1961 and 1965-1966; medical records; commitment orders; punishment records; escape reports; index cards; and execution files. The records of the Virginia Penitentiary document the institution’s operational history, prisoners, and the evolution of corrections in Virginia.

At this week’s meeting, the concerns as expressed by OHNA through Pool and its president, Jennifer Hancock, included the possibility of the new and longer Second Street wiping away remnants of the canal; resulting traffic and noise; the special-use permit that Dominion still carries on its property, which allows open-ended construction (Pool was greatly concerned that construction of a once-planned 160-foot tower might go forward as a result); and the matter of what’s been referred to as an “amphitheater” for Venture Richmond to complement the Folk Festival site, on property that may be gifted to the organization by NewMarket.

Discussion ensued over the ramifications of a possible new street coming off 2nd that would connect to the riverfront. Oregon Hill neighbors are concerned that this would encourage more cars speeding down Idlewood off the expressway in order to get to 2nd Street.

From Kollatz’s post:

Hancock later reminded city engineers that they’d pushed for a roundabout at Idlewood, where the Downtown Expressway connects, and it’s mentioned in the Downtown Master Plan’s Transportation Analysis (p. 18). Transportation engineer Thomas Flynn said the excellent idea for a roundabout isn’t forgotten, it just needs $400,000 to be completed.

(Please see Issue #5).

Ed. Note: This might be as good of time as any to review Presidential Doctrines….

There’s kepone in the river
But the river’s still flowing east
Ethyl ‘dozed the planet
In an attempt to keep the downtown clean

Still it’s a beautiful day
And the sun is still shining over the James

Oregon Hill is at end time
VCU crept up and lit the torch
West Ave. honkeys don’t forget
That trains still run north

Third per-capita
Next year number one

Couple of quick notes-
Local band Kepone, named after the local chemical disaster, just had a reunion at the GWAR-B-Q.
Ethyl, now known as NewMarket, owns much of the Richmond riverfront, something which is becoming more of an issue recently.
And, yes, VCU is still a concern….
Though in a few ways, Richmond is different from ’98, when there was speculation that it would go from third most murderous city in the country to number one.

Now as far as Dominion Power is concerned, Jim, there is the following reference in the AVAIL song “The Falls” off the 2002 Front Porch Stories album-

i’ve been broke and forlorn and caught out with the best at acca yard
oh it just goes to show, to desert friends like these streets
i would be crazy
to all the years full of backyard parties
winters in hibernation
to assaulting views with dominion at our door
healing but scarred

Notices
–All members of my company are hereby ordered to report to me in person this (Saturday) morning, promptly at 10 o’clock, at the Big Tree on Oregon Hill, and be prepared to go into camp.

Wm N Davis.

Capt commd’g, Burford’s batt’n.

Here is an excerpt:

Brookfield Group Home, a rehabilitative facility for teens and young women, shut down in June. The organization on Brook Road has been around since 1874, and until recently provided housing, counseling, transportation and other services to female youth with behavioral and emotional problems.
Executive director Tim Reading wrote in an email to BizSense that the nonprofit had ceased operations effective June 30. He would not comment further on why the nonprofit was closing or whether the residents would be transferred to another home.

How does this relate to Oregon Hill?

Neighbor Charles Pool has the local history:

Yes, there is a direct link between Brookfield and the Parsons House, which took some tracking down. Here is some info from my Parsons House report:
In 1874 the Magdalen Association established the Spring Street Home at the Parsons House as a home for rehabilitating “women of the street,” and later provided care for unwed mothers. In 1932 the Spring Street Home moved to the 90 acre “Brookfield Estate” off of Broad Street where the Richmond Hyatt is today. The Brookfield name was adopted and the agency continued to care for unwed mothers. The new president of the agency announced that, “We wanted to call it ‘Brookfield’ instead of the Spring Street Home to save the girls from any embarrassment in being in a ‘home.’” In 1968 Brookfield sold this valuable property at the I-64 interchange for $1,280,000 and moved to the location on Brook Road near the Henrico-Hanover boundary. Brookfield maintained the original motto of the Magdalen Association: “Ut Misercordiam Obtineant” (They Shall Obtain Mercy). In 1975 the mission of Brookfield changed from working with unwed mothers to helping adolescents of both sexes.

Note: Gayla Mills served as Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association president in the early 2000′s. The couple has since left the neighborhood but they are missed.

(click here to hear the song)

There is a wolf, she sees with golden eyes;
She follows me, she knows my lonely mind;
How many times she is singing in my dreams and she knows all my songs;
And if I am right, she will sing along…

At Idlewood and Cherry late at night;
The moon is full, the Hill waits for the sun;
Ol’ Salome and haze settle along the yellow lines
Hollywood bones love to sing along…

(I still need to capture that full moon though)