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The View That gave Richmond Its Name
Landscape Architecture Program Virginia Tech VA ASLA Fall Mee:ng 2014
"A place is a story happening many :mes." Kwakiutl Folklore
“There Are No Names But Stories” Kim Stafford
The Story: The View That gave Richmond Its Name Our research interest: How that story evolved over the past 350
year and how it influenced the city’s developing sense of place.
Our Focus: The Story’s Timeline -‐ A Deep Map Student Par:cipants: Sarah Sanchez, 5th-‐ year undergraduate
Carter Gresham, 3rd-‐ year undergraduate
The Story Viewed Through 6 Lenses � Richmond’s Founder, William Byrd, II � Historians and Travelers to Richmond � Ar:sts and the Landscape as Inspira:on � Richmond’s Residents � Official Richmond: City Plans and Development of the Park � The Mirror of Richmond-‐on-‐the-‐Thames
Sources: Histories, Journals, Diaries, Travelogues, Biographies, Atlases, Manuscripts, Period Newspapers, Correspondence, Maps, Pain:ngs, Prints, Sketches and Drawings, Photographs, Post Cards, Poems, Reports, Reunion Programs, Tour Guides, City Plans, Master Plans, Digital Archives,
The Timeline
1717 1732 1796 1851 1886 1907 2007 1877 Founding Origins Shibing Views Return
to the River
The Timeline’s Inner Structure
William Byrd II, Richmond’s Founder
“On Thursday I shall go to R-‐-‐______ for a week.” See footnote 1 ‘The word Richmond has been filled in here by a second (?) hand.”
The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover “…before dinner we went to the coffeehouse at Richmond, where I read the news and talked to Mrs. C-‐l-‐m-‐n who lives next door.”
The London Diary, 1717-‐1721
"Richmond is said to be named from Richmond, near London, or , as others think, from the Duke of Richmond, whom Byrd may have known in England; but this is less probable."
Charles Campbell History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia,
1860
William Byrd II and the Naming of Richmond
"This new capital is divided into three parts, one of which is on the edge of the river, and may be considered the port; the two others are built on two eminences, one of which are separated by a linle valley."
Marquis de Chastellux, Travels in North America, in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782,
1787. "Richmond stands on the hilly banks of the James River, over against the falls of this stream which is perhaps a half mile wide. What gives the place fame and regard is the falls of the James River, in addi:on to its being the seat of the Virginia Government."
Johann David Schoepf, Travels in the Confedera:on, 1783-‐1784, 1788
Early Histories
"There are I believe few towns, places, or coun:es in old England that have not a namesake in N. America. In few cases has similarity of situa:on had the smallest influence upon the sameness of name. Richmond however is an excep:on to this remark. The general landscapes from the two Richmond-‐hills are so similar in their great features, that at first sight the likeness is most striking. The detail of course must be extremely different. But the windings of James river have so much the same cast with those of the Thames, the amphitheatre of hills covered partly with wood partly with buildings, and the opposite shore with the town of Manchester in front, and fields in the rear, are so like the range of hills on the south bank of the Thames, and the situa:on of Twickenham on the north backed by the neighboring woody parks, that if a man could be impercep:bly and in an instant conveyed from one side of the Atlan:c to the other he might hesitate for some minutes before he could discover the difference."
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, The Virginia Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1795-‐1798,
entry of April 7th 1796
Origin of the Narra:ve: 1796 Latrobe’s Descrip:on of the “situa:on”
The analogy of the situa:on of the place to that of Richmond-‐on-‐the-‐Thames, in England, suggested the name of the town."
Henry Howe, Historical Collec-on of Virginia, 1852 "The town was established by act of the assembly in May, 1743, and was named from a supposed resemblance to Richmond Hill in England."
John P. Linle, History of Richmond, 1852
Establishing the Narra:ve: Early Histories
"Richmond occupies a very Picturesque and beau:ful situa:on. I have never met with such an assemblage of striking and interes:ng objects-‐the river-‐at the lower end of town bending at right angles to the south, and winding reluctantly off for many miles in that direc:on, its polished surface caught here and there by the eye..."
William Wirt, The Leners of the Bri:sh Spy, 1832
“Libby Hill…is sort of a small – delectable mountain…The View from it is absolutely Enchan:ng. As I look down on the James, I thought of Richmond Hill and the Thames, And I said that nature had done even more for this scene than for that.” Grace Greenwood, “Two Days in Richmond, 1874”
Reinforcing the Narra:ve: 1874 Grace Greenwood’s Descrip:on, the Two Richmonds
"...the best site for the proposed monument to General Lee is Libby Hill. Libby Hill is a grand natural site. it would be in full view from the principal thoroughfare of Richmond, and would be seen from more points in the vicinity and in approaching the city than any other spot. A noble outlook such as the summit of Libby Hill commands would enhance the dignity of the work."
Mr. Gilbert R. Frith "...the city square on Libby Hill, placing the monument and statue in full view of the line of Main Street , and at the same :me of the river and of the railroads that come into the city crossing the James river is in my judgment unques:onably the best loca:on in the city of Richmond for the monument."
Gen. William C. Wickham, second vice-‐president of the C&O Railroad
From: "The Statue of Lee: What is the best site in Richmond for it, A Variety of Views," The Richmond Dispatch, March 28, 1886.
Shibing Focus: The Views of Libby Hill – as Monument Site
"The town was called Richmond from the likeness of the situa:on to that of Richmond-‐on the-‐Thames, in England."
W. Asbury Chris:an, D. D., Richmond Her Past and Present, 1912 "Richmond, Regarding the name, conceived by Colonel Wm. Byrd in 1733, it is recorded that -‐The analogy of the situa:on of the place to that of Richmond-‐on-‐the-‐Thames, in England suggested the name the town bears."
J. R. V. Daniel, ed., A Hornbook of Virginia History, 1949 "In 1737 Colonel William Byrd II, of Westover, founded, and Major William Mayo laid off, the town to be called Richmond because its situa:on was like that of Richmond-‐on-‐the Thames in England."
Caroline Rivers Harrison, Historic Guide Richmond and James River, 1966 "Byrd named the new town Richmond because its situa:on and surroundings reminded him of Richmond on the Thames."
Virginicus Dabney, Richmond: The Story of a City, 1976
The Narra:ve Brought Forward: Historians
"City Founder William Byrd II is said to have named Richmond aber observing that sec:on of the river from what is now Libby Hill Park. He was struck by the similari:es between the James and the River Thames in the English Borough of Richmond upon Thames."
“Echo Harbor Condominium Project Gets Revised,” Richmond Times Dispatch, May 15, 2007
Byrd's wri:ngs do not explicitly state that he found his muse for the naming of the new Richmond due to the similarity of the situa:on with the old one, but for over two hundred years that has been the reasonable assump:on of Richmond visitors and historians."
T. Tyler Ponerfield, Nonesuch Place: A History of the Richmond
Landscape, 2009
"In the 1700's, William Byrd II said this view resembled the view from his childhood in Richmond Hills in England; there, Richmond, Va. got its name."
wric.com, Oct. 25, 2013
The Narra:ve Brought Forward
1794-‐5 1794
1819 1820 Inspira:on: Richmond on the Thames
2008 1820
1820-‐25 1823
Inspira:on: Richmond on the Thames
1760
The James from Libby Hill
Late 18th Century
1865
1906
1822
1830 1870
1805
Richmond and the James
1800
1863
1851
A Shibing Focus: the City from Libby Hill
1855
1865
Focus on the City: Richmond From Libby Hill
1875 1875
1865
Plan of 1737: Drawn in 1742 1781
1809 Site Evolu:on: Mapping Libby Hill
1876 1864
1856 1835
Site Evolu:on: Mapping Libby Hill
1905
1877
Libby Hill: Evolu:on of the Park c. 1890’s
1894
Libby Hill: Public Debate and Si:ng the City’s Monuments
1907
Libby Hill: The Monument Site
1916 1909
Focus on the Park: Libby Hill in the Popular Imagina:on
Libby Hill and Richmond’s Story Today
1980
2011
Libby Hill and the Power of the Story Today
VIRGINIA HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 658 2007
WHEREAS, the panoramic view of the James River from Libby Hill Park is recognized as a great landscape icon in both the Commonwealth and in Richmond, its capital city, and was designated by a plaque as “The View That Named the City” by the mayors of Richmond and Richmond-‐upon-‐Thames on March 18, 2006; and WHEREAS, the panoramic view of the James River from Libby Hill Park in Richmond possesses scenic, historic, and cultural significance that extends far beyond the capital city, anrac:ng visitors from around the world; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly celebrate the panoramic view of the James River from Libby Hill Park in Richmond, Virginia, for its historic and cri:cal associa:on with the early development of the City of Richmond and its connec:on to Richmond-‐upon-‐Thames
Libby Hill and the Power of the Story Today
The Timeline: Con:nued Work
