Statistics, as impressive as they may be, can say only so much. Stretching over 145 square miles—much of which is still given over to green pasturelands and gracious horse farms—historic Henrico County is home to more than 262,000 people of increasingly diverse ethnicities and equally diverse businesses.
Where one-pump filling stations, sleepy post offices and mom-and-pop general stores once stood, gleaming shopping malls, high-rise hotels and state-of-the-art schools and hospitals have appeared, as if overnight. The presence, too, of eight Fortune 1000 companies backs up the county’s claim to be “one of the best run” in America, one of the best educated and most enviably situated.
Just two hours south of Washington, D.C., Henrico abuts Goochland to the west—our neighboring county, which was named by Syracuse University as having the highest average income in the United States, edging out even posh Marin County, California.
But Henrico takes second place to no one in the quality of its educational offerings. These include excellent public elementary, middle and high schools as well as the prestigious (and preppy) Collegiate School and the University of Richmond. Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, with branches in Tuckahoe and Laurel, many contend, is the finest in the Richmond area.
Not so long ago, then-bucolic Henrico boasted barbecue stands and excellent ones at that. The baby backs are still available, but so—culinarily speaking—is much, much more. Just 20 years ago, every crossroads town had a small family-owned and -operated restaurant that, once a week, welcomed church-goers in their Sunday best. Suddenly, you can also find Thai, Italian, Lebanese, Tex-Mex and tapas, often prepared and served by newcomers who learned their skills back home.
With train service at Staples Mill Road in western Henrico, with Richmond International Airport in the east, and with I-64 running right through it, Henrico can take you literally anywhere you want to go. What’s remarkable—but hardly surprising—is how many people, once they realize all that the county has to offer, want to stay.
Here, in these snapshots of six of our favorite local neighborhoods, is why.
At the corner of Lakeside Avenue and Vale Street, just north of Bryan Park, stands a set of unlikely sculptures. This family group—a father, mother, child and their dog—is assembled from old mufflers and other car parts. Displayed in the parking lot of Headlights and Tailpipes, a transmission shop, across the street from chic Zed Café, the sculptures seem to welcome visitors to Lakeside, an unpretentious neighborhood of family-owned businesses and affordable homes whose history is as illustrious as its present is inviting.
Think of Lakeside as bordered, to the south, by Bryan Park, and, to the north, by the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The dog-friendly, family-friendly wide open spaces of woodsy 262-acre Bryan Park are just off Lakeside Avenue in the “V” between I-64 and I-95. Only a couple of minutes’ drive up Lakeside Avenue is the equally lush 80-acre Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, one of only two independent public botanical gardens in Virginia.
The neighborhood’s name derives from Lakeside Park, established in 1896 by tobacco millionaire Lewis Ginter, to encourage Richmonders to come to the city’s northern exurbs. Lakeside Park, which featured a lake, bowling alley and zoological garden, failed during the Depression (the body of water itself is now part of Jefferson Lakeside Country Club), but its name became the neighborhood’s.
After Ginter’s death in 1897, his niece, Grace Arents, carried on his philanthropic work. During her lifetime, she gave money toward the establishment of local schools and other institutions, and some years after her death, her home, Bloemandaal, became the horticultural showplace known today as Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.
Lakesiders who might pass Bryan Park and the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden every day without a thought do not, however, take Roy’s Big Burgers for granted. A favorite local eatery (with near-perfect onion rings), Roy’s is just down Lakeside Avenue from the family-owned Fin & Feather pet store, which can be crowded on weekends. Next to Fin & Feather is Lakeside Animal Hospital, where the pet you fall in love with and buy at Fin & Feather can get its regular shots and checkups.
Some of the neighborhood’s most cherished events also occur with reassuring regularity. Each Wednesday and Sunday morning from May to October, for example, the trucks begin to pull into the parking lot behind Tool Guys at 6110 Lakeside Avenue. There, the drivers unload their produce and set up their stands for one of the liveliest, most convivial farmers’ markets in Virginia.
Phillip Zornes, president of the Lakeside Business Association and owner of Consignment Connections at 5517 Lakeside Avenue, says that area merchants look out for one another and for residents. “This is an incredibly tight-knit, caring community,” he says. “The stores work together to coordinate events, like our Holly Jolly Christmas parties and sales and our Easter egg hunt. They draw traffic along the avenue but also provide fun and a sense of community for those who live here.”
Events for hip adults are on offer, too. There is the Groovin’ in the Garden concert series, held each year on evenings in May and June with performances by such rock bands as Indigo Girls and Cowboy Junkies. (Afterwards, partiers drop by Lakeside Tavern, instantly recognizable by the Harleys parked outside.)
This funky neighborhood’s residents continue to shape its character and charm with unique contributions of their own. Don’t miss, for example, the giant red, white and blue scissors stuck in the yard of The Hair Shop, a few blocks north of Headlights and Tailpipes and just south of the farmers’ market.
If published today, an 1899 advertisement from The Highland Springs Journal would still ring true—and still attract newcomers: “Businessmen of Richmond can secure homes here and enjoy all the advantages of the country and attend to their business as well, on account of the easy and pleasant access to the city by electric cars.”
Named for its numerous natural springs and high elevation, Highland Springs was developed, as the ad suggests, as a country refuge for city slickers. In the 19th century, Richmond residents reached their Highland Springs vacation homes by train, and later, by electric streetcar. The spring water, deemed salubrious by physicians, also attracted those seeking cures and contributed to the community’s burgeoning prominence.
Today, more than 100 years after its incorporation, Highland Springs—along East Nine Mile Road and Holly Avenue, bounded by A.P. Hill Street on the west and Airport Drive on the east—is a close-knit community that seeks to preserve this rich history as it embraces new development.
Consider the recently completed Henrico Theatre project, a 1930s-era Art Deco movie house that was in a woeful state of disrepair when, at the urging of local residents, the county purchased it in 1999 and began a five-year, $5 million renovation. Reopened in October 2007, the theatre has become a much-loved and much-used entertainment center. On weekends, $1 will get you a ticket to a classic-movie matinee. Musical and theatrical groups also regularly perform free shows organized by the Henrico County Parks and Recreation department. (For another successful renovation project, see Romance Architecture on p. 14.) Local streets and lighting have also been revitalized with iron streetlights recalling the neighborhood’s Victorian-era beginnings.
Sheri Cox, owner of Frame-Art Gallery, at 1321 East Nine Mile Road, says the neighborhood offers a relaxed lifestyle, true to its vacation-home roots. “We have all the benefits of Henrico County,” she says, “but at a little slower pace.”
But not as slow as it once was: White Oak Village, the new shopping center at Laburnum and I-64, has brought new retail opportunities to eastern Henrico shoppers, and with these opportunities, a more urban pulse. “The new mall also brought the chains, like Red Lobster and Five Guys,” Cox says. “Now we have not only our own restaurants but other options.”
Melanie Harvey, owner of Graffiti’s Pink, a tattoo specialty shop, moved to Highland Springs, drawn, she says, by the unique landmarks and old-fashioned neighborly vibe. “I love the small-town feeling, the old Henrico Theatre, Williams Bakery—it’s just classic old America out there,” she says.
