We’ve added some new documents to our Resources section, including scans of the original Forest Hill neighborhood development plats, a memoir from Benjamin B. Weisiger, III, author of Old Manchester & Its Environs, 1769-1910 and a scan of a rare Civil War era topographical map of Richmond and the surrounding area:
map of the City of Richmond from 1864
If you’d like to share a piece of history with us, please use our contact form. We’ll continue to add more materials as they are discovered.
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Researching the Taylor house at 4300 Reedy Ave. H. Ritchie Taylor lived here in the 1920s and was a partner with Harvey Williams in developing the Forest Hill Terrace subdivision which extends from
Taylor Ave. west to Westover Hills Boulevard, north to Forest Hill Ave., and south to Reedy Creek.
Does anyone know if he is the son of W.G. Taylor who lived at Fonticello (where Fonticello Park is
now) and owned the Lithium Water bottling company. Ritchie Taylor would have been the grandson
of Judge Samuel Taylor of Manchester who brought Holden Rhodes to Richmond to work as a tutor
for his children. Holden Rhodes built the old Stone House at Forest Hill Park. Am looking for a
connection between the two families.
Another question for the Forest Hill neighborhood: was Harvey L. Williams the contractor who built Good Shepherd Episcopal Church? Harvey L. Williams who lived at 4301 Forest Hill Ave. was a partner with H. Ritchie Taylor in developing Forest Hill Terrace subdivision. His daughter Emma D. Diggs was a long time member of Good Shepherd. Kate and Richard Minor and Algernon and Sue Hurt broke the ground for the church on June 25, 1908.
“Good Shepherd is a copy of the gothic style found in historic St Luke’s Church, Isle of Wight County. Located in the town of Smithfield, St. Luke’s is the oldest existing church of English foundation in America. Because it is a copy of this historic church, Good Shepherd was once used as the setting to film a documentary on the wedding of Pocohantas.” (A Collection of
Essays on Forest Hill and the Surrounding Community in South Richmond. Students of
Good Shepherd Episcopal School, Dec., 1987) was