06/02/2024
POSTPONED... SORRY SOMETHING HAS COME UP FOR JUNE 9. WILL HOPE TO RESCHEDULE!
I am planning a biking history tour featuring the greatest achievements of turn of the century Richmond city engineer Wilfred Cutshaw. History stories will abound. Many have not heard of Cutshaw, beyond the street named for him, but long before the city had a planner or a parks and rec department or public works or city architect, he was all of the above. His vision for the city, its public buildings and public spaces was responsible for so many of the coolest things about Richmond today. Think some of Richmond's best parks and open spaces, a healthier water system allowing what we would today call parks and rec,, old city hall, Leigh Street Armory (now black history museum), public school buildings, and tree-lined streets and grand boulevards. His job description was limited to making the streets and water system safer. He did that and far more, and was largely responsible for making the City's public buildings and civic spaces what they became in the years after reconstruction up to his death in 1907.
The cycling route could go from the east end of Victorian Richmond (Church Hill area) to far west end and even outside Richmond (Byrd Park and Pump House Park) and back toward the center of the City. (Suggest parking near VCU and biking east to the starting point.) Along the way we will visit Cutshaw's greatest "hits" - buildings, parks, streets and public spaces. I estimate we can do this in under 3 hours, sticking to the "high ground" and avoiding the Shockoe Bottom and riverfront areas. Thinking under 3 hours, so a 9 am start time.
Thinking Sunday morning perhaps this Fall, but perhaps as soon as Sunday, June 9th. Anyone up to join me?
