Henrico County Highpoint Trip Report

Date: September 30, 2004
Author: Don Desrosiers

Henrico (pronounced "hen-RYE-ko") County is urban highpointing at its finest. Lots of places that could go either way. Generally far enough apart to make leveling impractical or impossible. There are 10 areas which I have numbered roughly north to south, and going west to east when there was a conflict.

Area 1 (southwest of BM Hope) - Take I-64 west to Exit 183C (US 250, Broad Street North). Go 1.9 miles and turn left onto Parham Road. I thought the HP was on the edge of the Bank of Richmond parking lot. I went to look for the Hope BM just off of Hollybrook Drive but couldn't find it. The area on the corner is a car dealership. If you go looking for the BM, walk across the street, since Hollybrook dead ends, despite what the map shows. I have an issue with this point. There has been a lot of construction in the area, so what is and what was could easily be different. Parham and Broad are very old roads in this area and very old roads don't tend to go to the top of hills, they go around them. If this area is not completely man-made (see my previous report about Danville, VA), then it was most likely much higher and was the single HP for the county.

Area 2 is right on the lower edge of the map, just south of I-64. We will get to it in a minute. Stay south on Parham Road for 2 miles, crossing over I-64. Turn right onto Fordson, the 1st paved right after I-64. Turn right onto Nesselwood Road (only choice), left onto Nesselwood Drive at the school and right onto Starwood.

Areas 3 and 4 make up the eyes if you let the road for the school be the mouth (imagination is a wonderful thing) anad #3 is on the front lawn of 2500 Starwood. Number 4 is on the left side of the yard of 2501 Starwood, although one could argue for the right side of the front yard of 2503. Your call. I could not tell which of them was higher, although subsequent information made this determination moot.

Areas 2 and 5 are on the right in the woods at the end of Starwood. I wandered around for a while but came to no conclusive opinion except that the areas are definitely lower than either 3 or 4. They are small, so explicitly finding them is problematic.

For area 6 (at Jackson-Davis Elementary School), go back to Nesselwood Road (not Drive) and turn right onto Trinity Drive, a dirt road. I took the HP to be at the top of the hill just outside the school fence, although an argument could be made for the small field to the right of #8701. My impression was that this area was the highest of the five points in the Westbriar group, although I could not get a straight shot to level it.

To get to the four Ziontown areas, go back to Parham Road and turn right for 2.1 miles then turn left onto Ridge Road, the first light after Patterson Road. The oddly shaped building on the topo is the Grace Street Baptist Church. The Bon Air topo shows the road to the northwest of the Beverly Hills Shopping Center to be Ridge Road. This is incorrect. Parham goes all the way through.

Area 7 (341 spot elevation) - I took the HP to be on the lawn of the church. However, this may very well be the results of construction, in which case I pick across the street near the fence around the water tower. The road slopes off toward the intersection with the 341 elevation, although only slightly.

Area 8 (small area due south of water tower and west of "R" in "Ridge") - continue on Ridge Road and turn right onto Cokesburg then right onto Rockwell. The HP is on the left side of the front yard of #8604, under the tree. The homeowner was out cutting the grass and insisted that it couldn't be the HP because her basement flooded in the last big rain. I didn't have the heart to tell her that her house wasn't well graded and that with the volume of that particular storm a LOT of places in Richmond were flooded.

Area 9 (back across Ridge) - Look at the yard of #8405 Ridge. There was nobody home, although my knock may have been soft and short.

Area 10 (near power line ROW) - Continue southeast on Ridge and turn right onto Glendale. I thought the HP was just to the right of #513, under a medium-sized tree.