Is there a good source for the early history of the Woodland Heights/
Forest Hill Park area in south Richmond, before the amusement park
was erected there by the trolly company in the early 1900s? All the
histories seem to start with that amusement park. I have been trying
to find out the colonial history of the area, who owned the land
where the park is now, and land on what is now Woodland Heights,
between the park and "Rocky Ridge" (Manchester). I believe there was
the Trent family at one point, as a 19th Century account mentions a
grave stone of Peterfield Trent still existing along the banks of the
James, on the south side. And of course, after the news about the
recently saved Patteson-Schutte House off Jahnke Road, we now know
about the Patteson family owning that land from the 1720s. There is
so little about the early history of south Richmond. I have a small
red clay whistle of a boy dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy, that
is shown in a book by Ivor Noel Hume, and he dates it to the end of
the 17th Century. It was found in a yard off New Kent Avenue, on the
Forest Hill side of the park. I would be interested in donating it to
some Chesterfield County museum or historical society; I feel since
it is that old, it doesn't really belong with the Richmond museums.

thanks again,

Nancy

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