Downtown Richmond, Virginia, was the site of America’s first industrial boom in the 1800s. Mills and ironworks lined the adjacent James River for nearly a century.

Today, most of the city’s waterfront has become a popular location for outdoor recreation, restaurants, art displays and more. However, one riverfront green space has remained privately owned — and has faced immense pressure from potential residential and commercial development for decades. The Conservation Fund recently purchased that 5.2-acre property on Dock Street to secure it from future threats while we work with local partners to raise the necessary funds to permanently preserve it.

Why It Matters

Protecting the Dock Street property will offer several benefits to the Richmond community. It will allow new public access to the riverfront, enhance the Virginia Capital Trail, ensure water quality and safeguard the historic view for which Richmond was named.

Virginia Capital Trail

The James River is a central feature of Richmond, and James River Park is one of the most renowned urban park systems in the nation. The park offers river access and hiking trails and provides the starting point for the Virginia Capital Trail — a 51.2-mile trail that connects Richmond to Williamsburg. Securing the Dock Street property will allow the last piece of the Virginia Capital Trail to be moved off the busy city street and onto the waterfront.

Water Quality

More than 2.6 million people live in the 10,000-square-mile James River watershed. While pollution discharged from large industrial plants has largely been regulated and reduced over the last 50 years, the human impact of development still greatly affects the river’s health. Keeping the Dock Street property free from commercial development will maintain the land’s ability to naturally filter runoff and prevent additional sediment from reaching the river.

Beyond clean drinking water, the quality of the James River also impacts various species, including Atlantic sturgeon — which have existed for 120 million years — American shad, smallmouth bass and bald eagles that roost around the river.

“The View That Named Richmond”

In 1737, as William Byrd II stood on Libby Hill and looked out over the James River, he noticed the view was strikingly similar to that of the Thames as seen from Richmond, England. This inspired the Virginia city’s founders to name the city Richmond in homage to their homeland, leading the view from Libby Hill to be dubbed “the view that named Richmond.” In 2012, the American Society of Landscape Architects named the Libby Hill overlook as one of America’s most iconic landscapes. Protecting the Dock Street property will ensure this historic viewshed remains unobstructed for future generations.

Our Role

Current zoning ordinances would have allowed industrial buildings of up to 45 feet in height to be built on Dock Street, which would have cut off the view of the river from Libby Hill and eliminated any hope of public access to the waterfront. Instead of sitting idle, The Conservation Fund, the Capital Region Land Conservancy, the James River Association and the City of Richmond came together to create a plan that would effectively protect the property in perpetuity.

A critical step in that plan was TCF’s temporary ownership of the property, which blocked any immediate threats. The ability to step in and quickly purchase properties such as this is what our organization was built for. We will hold the land until our partners can secure the funding necessary to purchase the property and place it under their protection. The James River Association will acquire just under one acre of this land for an education center. The rest will be acquired by the City of Richmond with help from the Capital Region Land Conservancy.

We Need Your Help to Permanently Protect This Place

TCF and our partners are actively raising funds to permanently protect this site. For more information about how you can support the conservation of the Dock Street property, please contact Rachael Joiner.