Question: Granite marker at Westbrook & Hermitage?
A reader asks:
bq. As I was pulling up to the intersection at Hermitage and Westbrook, I noticed a granite type headstone in the median. It had four letters engraved on it. Does anyone know what that is or referring to?
Anyone? Anyone?
Hermitage Road Historic Distric
I believ it reads HRHD….Hermitage Road Historic District
The sign says “HRHD” if you are looking at it going north on Hermitage. It says “Hermitage Road Historic District” if you look at it going southbound. There is a similar sign near Hermitage and Laburnum. These are similar to the signs along Chamberlayne for the Ginter Park area.
There used to be another sign there that said something like Be Happy Live True,…something like that. In rainbow letters, and it said something about Hiawatha Society. Anyone know what the hell that was and what happened to it?
Also, there is one on Pope, just past the Bellvue granite arch, on the right, says R.L. (Maybe some other lettering, I can not recall), then 1914. Anyone know the bit on this one? We’re really interested in the history of our home and the area, so any links to sites with old photographs of the area would be much appreciated. We’ve recently moved to Northside and love it!!!
:-)
Phil
To Phil,
There are great photgraph of Northside at the Valentine Museum!
I believe the Hiawatha marker was a memorial to a motorcyclist who crashed and died on Westbrook near the I-95 off-ramp a few years ago.
my theory about the “R.L. 1914″ is that it marked the Richmond (City) Limits prior to an annexation. The area beyond the marker was in Henrico County when it was subdivided in the 1910s.
Tim, I think you are absolutely correct regarding the marker. It actually says “C.L. 1914″ which totally falls in line with what you are saying, plus there is another one on Bellevue between the Acca Temple and Imperial Plaza on the Imperial Plaza side of the street. Excellent! I wonder if there are any more, I would think their must be, since it is kind of marking the city, and if they did that throughout all the city, or just in regards to the annexation? I know there is the tall mile marker on Brook and Westbrook, but any more of the CL. It’s like an egg hunt!
Ah, here are some answers:
http://www.livingplaces.com/VA/Independent_Cities/Richmond_City/Hermitage_Road_Historic_District.html
Last sentence in the 1st paragraph under SETTING:
“In addition there are two concrete boundary markers on Bellevue Avenue marking the City of Richmond’s 1914 annexation of 12.21 acres of Henrico County – one located at 4101 and the other at 4016 Hermitage Road.”