Richmond off-topic postings

[Icetera]

I am curious about the area between Fulton Gas Works and the Echo Harbor site. There is a civil war memorial wedged between Main St. and the railroad tressel by the Bus garage there. I noticed the double laned cobblestone street beneath the tracks and you can see where there were several old city blocks, including some partial sidewalks. Any idea what was here and when it vanished? I have been unable to locate old city maps online, and may have to resort to finding ample time to visit the library.

Also, I am amazed at all the old artifacts still intact in the old Fulton Gas Works, too bad none of the structures are really worth renovating.

EDIT: I really need to learn to proof-read before submitting

Edited May 17, 2007 by Icetera

[burt]

Cam, you've really got me scratching my head on names and whereabouts of most of the roads you have mentioned. Isn't Old Williamsburg Road also US 60 going toward Providence Forge? I've roamed around roads east from the city thru Henrico, New Kent and Charles City counties looking for a way to get to the Chickahominy River where it's wide enough to be called a river, but the only access I could find was at the Route 5 bridge where it empties into the James. Hunters and fishermen must know how to reach it, but it remains a mystery to me.

We used to take US60 (are you ready for this?) to Newport News and then via ferry to South Hampton Roads on our way to Virginia Beach. Rt. 60 went thru Bottoms Bridge and Providence Forge and was only a 2-lane road. An alternate, and most frequently used route to Va Beach was US1 and US460.

If you want to see some interesting back roads, next time you take Rt. 10 to the Jamestown Ferry, cut off to the north on Rt. 613 to Claremont on the James then reconnect to Rt. 10 via 646 to Spring Hill. And though nyou're not a restaurant person, drop into The Surry Inn for a snack before crossing on the ferry

Claremont was at one time a rather prominent port and the rail head of a long abandoned train line. I recall getting the feel of an eerie ghost town driving thru it.

The Rochambeau road east from US 301 south of Hanover Courthouse is a beautiful and remote drive. You'll enjoy that. It ends at or near Williamsburg.

I found some wonderful back roads in Hanover between Ashland and Beaverdam but I can't remember their names or numbers. Maybe you can get a Hanover and other county maps from the Highway Department. That's where I used to get mine, but like everything else good, they've probably discontinued them.

Chamberlain Road (unless it's US301) is unknown to me, as is Westham. Park Avenue was once known as Scuffletown Road and I think followed or connected to Three Chopt. By the way, you can find little pieces of Three Chopt here and there off Broad Street Road.

Sorry I'm so vague about outlying roads, but I do remember a lot about mid-city streets.

Happy motoring.

[BreakfastPills]

This topic bewilders me. Do these back roads serve any purpose? Less traffic? Beautiful sights?

[burt]

This topic bewilders me. Do these back roads serve any purpose? Less traffic? Beautiful sights?

Some of them follow historic trails. I don't know how to address the rest of your question except to say they serve homes, modest or otherwise, along them.

[burt]

Cam, I've just remembered a beautiful country drive. Go west on Rt. 54 from Ashland and when you get to the big high school, turn right. You'll be on Horshoe Bridge Road. You'll think you're in Northern Virginia horse country. Follow it northwest along the South Anna River where you'll cross it on a picturesque one lane bridge until you come to a dead end, then right to Cambell Pond Lake. If you turn right there, it will take you to Ashland Strawberry farm.

You'll have to figure out how to get back to Richmond. It's too complicated for me to explain.

Edited May 17, 2007 by burt

[eandslee]

Someone, not too long ago, made mention to the fact that Richmond needs to bury all of the power lines in the downtown area because they are unsightly. I wanted to post this photo of San Francisco that I took a few weeks ago when I visited. Talk about power lines everywhere! So, just know that it could be a lot worse!!

[Cadeho]

Thanks Burt! I actually have taken rt 54 west of Ashland and drove for a long while where there were no cars and no dwellings or anything but forests. I eventually crossed the river by a horse farm on a small bridge and drove up a hill. It was a fun drive... without a map. I turned around at a large triangle in the roads so I could find my way back! And that was when I first had my camera.. I had taken pictures in Ashland earlier that day as I greeted some friends from NC on their way to NoVa.

I was wondering though Burt if route 60 was later construction past the New Kent border. I found where the road used to connect with New Kent Rd, the original road. It's fun to take those old roads. One time I did spend time in Goochland tracing and taking the Three Chopt out there... and I kept going. I turned around at Zions Crossroad in Fluvanna I think.

One day I will take Rt 10... my only exploration of it took me through Hopewell and then across the drawbridge into Charles City during one of my lunch hours when I worked in Chester. I'll write down your suggestions and try them one day. I think I've heard of the Surry Inn... didn't they have peanut pies?

BP some of those backroads were the main roads, but now they're cut off and many have dead ends but you can still see where the roads used to go.

Icetera, Peebles St used to be named Poplar St and had intersections with Ash, Elm, and Maple Streets... all vanished. That part of Main used to have a lot of bustle in the old days. Also burt, didn't the huge explosion in the early 60s happen in the 3100 block of Main that destroyed many houses there?

Eric, I noticed that the new Fulton Manor has buried wires along the new Lousiana St. It looks pretty suburban. It would be nice if we'd tackled one part of the city at a time and burined the lines.

Oh and CONGRATULATIONS G-COUPE!

[TBurban]

To those of you who may not know, Wrldcoupe4 graduates from George Mason University on Saturday, May 19th.

Congratulations, old chap!

Congrats, G!! An awesome accomplishment

[Downtowner]

Coupe Congratulations on your journey through college. You going to Grad School or are you getting a job?

[Cadeho]

You know I spent my lunch break driving through Short Pump Megaland and into the cowpastures of Goochland. I even got to say hi to some deer by the side of the road... hoping they wouldn't jump out while I'm going 50mph...

I've been looking at a 1887 map I printed from Henrico... Meadowbride doesn't seem to be on the map, but Richmond-Henrico Tnpk is and I know that's an old road. I'd forgotten.

[wrldcoupe4]

Thanks guys! Grad school is on the horizon but not yet. I'm kind of tired of school after 17 straight years of it. I'd like to put some effort towards some of my goals in the meantime. Still, grad school will definitely happen.

[Cadeho]

Careful. That's what I said 6 years ago. I was completely burned out and my senior year was a nightmare (just be glad I'm here to debate with you guys because that almost didn't happen). I'm more uncertain about my future than ever because I have so many interests yet I feel I am not smart enough to choose and get back into the swing of things. I just don't have any idea which way to go anymore. And the GREs scare me to death after my below average (as usual) performance on the SATs which I took numerous times and never really did well. Amazingly I was accepted and by the end, I didn't know I was graduating until 3 days before graduation. So, I'm sure you'll have much more success that I ever will, just as long as you don't put off.

[wrldcoupe4]

It's never too late to step up and follow your passions, Cam. We all only live once; might as well make the best of it

[Cadeho]

That's the problem. I don't have a passion, just multiple interests and none I think I can do well enough.

Right now my scattered brain has an interest in finding Newbridge and branches of the road that used to cross the Chickahominy. Also, My Lord's Island... need to gather a party to explore it.

[Cadeho]

Why didn't anyone think of writing a book on Virginia's historic roads with maps of them? I am especially interested in the ancient three notched road. It supposedly ran from Powhatan's village possibly at Tree Hill to the mountains. When I went to the Tree Hill meetings, a neighbor to the farm said he had an old trail in his backyard that was supposedly Native American, then became a wagon trail. I wonder where this road ran and does it have any connection to the road that ran through town westward.

I am also upset we didn't have more respect for Three Chopt itself. Why wasn't it declared a historic roadway so that it wouldn't be erased when Broad was extended and the current route 250 was created? Burt, I ran across the date but I can't seem to find it, any idea when Broad was extended past the original Three Chopt? I am hoping today to explore a section of it that brances from Gayton. I've looked at Henrico's newest map (yay they updated it!) and found the path.

Also, did Henrico and Goochland actually shift their borders as they had planned? If so, when? Henrico's map's borders do not match what's on my maps and I recall they were going to shift to a new zig-zag border to include and exclude properties that used to straddle the line.

Also speaking of borders... technically, Henricus was in Henrico and on some maps still is. When Dutch Gap separated the neck and created Farrar's Island, did Chesterfeild really claim the former peninsula?

[Cadeho]

Darn, the Three Chopts are private roads... But I did take a look at the butched other part of this old road... why did it have to be this way?

[Downtowner]

Coupe hope graduation went well today glad to see a UP Member graduate from college and off to the real world. Go get them coupe and do everything you can do be successful and meet your goals.

[wrldcoupe4]

thanks I still have much to learn.

[burt]

Cam, Broad Street always ran past Three Chopt in my lifetime. It was called Broad Street Road and ran all the way to Charlottesville and beyond. There used to be a couple of nightspots in the Short Pump area -- English Tavern and Tilly's Club.

The road thru Powhatan CH is Rt. 13 and used to be old US 60.

Isn't Tuckahoe Creek the dividing line between Henrico and Goochland?

[BreakfastPills]

Thanks guys! Grad school is on the horizon but not yet. I'm kind of tired of school after 17 straight years of it. I'd like to put some effort towards some of my goals in the meantime. Still, grad school will definitely happen.

Scary isn't it... how you can spend a third of your life in school? After high school, I just wanted to go straight into the full-time work force for the rest of my life. Of course social pressure lead me to college, and it honestly feels like a waste of life. I could honestly see myself keeping my factory job for a loooong (that I'm on lunch break at as I type this) if it paid living wage.

[dklee]

LOOKING FOR A LAWYER!!!!!!!!

I don't know where to post, but since this is Off Topic, might as well post here and give it a shot.

I have a friend who works for a small family owned restaurant. don't want to mention any names, but it is a really successful place, receiving many good reviews.

So basically, she started working for them wednesday. Sunday, the boss, who apparently gets drunk every night, or at least tipsy, calls her over, and pours his drink down her shirt. not, woops, but takes his straw, fills it with the drink, and sticks the straw down her shirt and between her breasts. He walks away laughing.

Later, she confronts him with another server, and he basically said, i'm sorry you are so uptight, and can't take a joke. we are a family here, everyone laughs at my jokes, you need to lighten up... yada yada yada... and.... he tells her. My resume is so much better than your's. you are nothing compared to me. you will never be like me...

she gets so mad, she walks out...

She was banking on this job to provide her nicely. They paid really well, hourly, plus some tips. now, she can't move to her own apartment, she was saving up for school.. and now.. no job she wants to go to.

does she have a case? is it worth suing?

[burt]

Well, dklee, we have certainly heard one side of it. Seems to me it would take a little cooperation to allow someone to sip through a straw from someone's bodice. But his pouring liquid down there to begin with deserves, at least, a smack in the face.

[dklee]

From my understanding of the story is that the owner tends to get drunk every night.

She doesn't flirt with management. nor staff. When she came back, she wasn't wearing anything that was revealing so it wasn't like she was a stripper or a bartender that was trying to get more tips.

when he was confronted, he didn't deny what he did, just that she was not as fun as everyone else, and that what he did was ok, she just needs to lighten up.

[BreakfastPills]

For some reason I feel like I may know what restaurant this is...

[Cadeho]

Cam, Broad Street always ran past Three Chopt in my lifetime. It was called Broad Street Road and ran all the way to Charlottesville and beyond. There used to be a couple of nightspots in the Short Pump area -- English Tavern and Tilly's Club.

The road thru Powhatan CH is Rt. 13 and used to be old US 60.

Isn't Tuckahoe Creek the dividing line between Henrico and Goochland?

Thanks Burt. I had the answer to my question... I saw it somewhere last week, but I can't find it anymore. Maybe it was extended in the 1920s instead of later. I wish I could find that source again.

According to Henrico's official property maps, their borders seemed to have changed.