Friends of Taylor’s Hill Park

The Friends of Taylor’s Hill Park was formed to bring greater awareness to this little known park on the western edge of Church Hill. The park was named for William Taylor who enlarged the Palmer house which is still standing inside the walls of Richmond Hill. The park encompasses the hill behind Richmond Hill on East Franklin Street between N. 23rd Street and N. 21st Street and circles all the way around and up N. 21st Street behind ChildSavers, in the former WRVA radio station building designed by Philip Johnson and built in 1968.  

The main section of the park has a diagonal sidewalk in need of maintenance and a wonderful set of steps to help pedestrians going to and from Shockoe Bottom to the Church Hill neighborhood. There is a fabulous view of the city which the Friends hope to maintain and preserve at the Grace Street Overlook. The overlook has a small garden with an informational park sign. The sign includes a copy of the Mathew Brady photograph taken at the end of the Civil War (c. 1865) with a fabulous view of downtown including the Virginia State Capitol and Shockoe Bottom. 

The Friends plan to organize regular neighborhood clean-ups and have already been successful in getting park signs placed at the corners of N. 21st & East Franklin and 23rd and East Franklin. We also hope to develop a relationship with the City’s department of Parks and Recreation in order to get much needed repairs and maintenance done.

Please consider volunteering your time to help preserve this gem of a park. Any donations will go towards removal of invasive trees that are threatening the view from the Grace Street Overlook, maintenance of the garden at the overlook, and providing support for the volunteer groups in their effort to maintain the park.