October 20, 2009
Lake Restoration Photos XX
15 Comments »This is the last in our series of Lake Restoration Photos. Thanks to David Hathcock for keeping us all informed through his images and words.
We began this journey in May, when reeds and marsh grasses choked the historic old lake, the remnant of 30 years of neglect (See kathygraziano.com for full archive). We traveled the path through the summer when great yellow machines growled and chewed their way through the silt of 30 years, often as deep as 12 feet. We saw the lake bed exposed, cleaned and reshaped, new drainage basins created and lined with stone, new walls wrapped around the lake, and new grasses and trees planted.
Today we approach the end of the journey, while the greens of lake summer still color the hills but the coat of many colors that is autumn in Virginia begins to be reflected in the lake. The deer and the ducks are back, the heron fishes in shallow water.
We began this journey as a promise to Richmond that this great project, this commitment to our future, would not be ignored, that it would be documented.
Now the restoration is essentially done, and the Mobile Dredging equipment and crews are on their way out of town. It is to city crews to finish the work, to restore and replace benches and shelters, to replace the historic lights around the lake and the paths.
This will mark the end of our weekly visit to the lake to document the progress. We will still visit from time to time.
The Department of Parks has given us back our lake and our park. It is up to us to keep it.
A slide show follows that has both the first batch of photos and the last batch of photos.
This is so amazing. Forest Hill Park is such a gem. I moved to Seattle last month but have 28 years of great memories of times spent in FH Park. Was saddened to see the pond lost. Now thrilled to see the pics of its return.
PS
After the Harvey family was murdered I gave a nice chunk of change to the Friends of Forest Hill Park assoc for a bridge in their honor. Not only did I never get an acknowledgment, I never have seen a bridge. Does anyone audit that assoc or can anyone give me an update on the use of those funds?
Hey Jim, Contact Debra McClane at d_mcclane@hotmail.com if she doesn’t know the answer to your question she will find out.
The bridge will be installed shortly. It has been delayed while the lake renovation was in the works, so that it did not have to be put down, taken up and then reinstalled.
In response to #2
The Friends of Forest Hill Park includes a treasurers report at every meeting.
J. R. Pope and the powers that be decided that it would be more prudent to delay the construction of the new bridge until after the lake restoration had been completed, given that the location for the bridge overlapped ares in need of restoration work.
There was a very real risk that the bridge would have been damaged during the lake work if it had been left in place.
I’m glad the decision was made: it spares us having to listen to the grumbling about the waste of funds to do one job twice…
Instead of hinting at impugning the reputation of Friends, why not ask them directly in the future, or better yet join the group and attend the meetings.
PDM,
I think Mr. Long indicated he moved to Seattle earlier this summer. Makes the commute for a quarterly meeting a little tough.
No reason not to contact FFHP directly.
Hi-I’m the sister of Bryan Harvey and have heard a rumor that this bridge is possibly going to be named after my neice Stella. Would love to know if this is true and if there is a dedication, I would love to attend. Please let me know. Thanks…….P.
I am a current member of FoFHP, have attended meetings and have asked about these funds with vague responses. I am not accusing anyone, and think it prudent to delay the bridge construction till after the restoration, just seems that after all these years, some statement should be forthcoming to those of us who contributed and never got any sort of acknowledgment of our gift.
PS
Just for the sake of clarity, by “acknowledgment” I don’t mean a pat on the back or a thank you or anything like that at all. I was happy for the opportunity to honor the Harveys and help the park at the same time. And I certainly didn’t mean to imply that someone had stolen the funds and apololgize if it sounded like that. As the years have gone by and no bridge appeared I just have had a concern that the money got pooled with general operating funds. Maybe there were updates about the bridge in the local newsletter and I missed them.
As stated, the construction of the foot bridge was delayed by the parks dept. until the lake restoration was completed. In Sept., the dept. stated that the bridge project was in procurement and would be sent out for bid soon. The money that was donated for the dedication plaque was placed within the Friends’ Richmond Parks and Recreation Foundation account and was explicitly earmarked for that project. Just as with funds that are dedicated for trees, Stone House restoration, etc., those funds can only be used for that project. When the idea was discussed at the Friends meeting years ago, it was decided to dedicate the bridge to the entire Harvey family.
I was down by the lake this afternoon for the first time since it had refilled.
Saw a Green Heron wading in the creek…I startled it at first but then I backed away so could go about its business.
:o)
KUDOS to everyone who helped make this dream a reality: Kathy G. & the intrepid David Hathcock, JR Pope & everyone at Parks & Rec, Friends of Forest Hill Park, plus all the neighborhood associations and individual citizens, and anyone else I’ve forgotten. Lots of folks thought this restoration would never really happen (myself included from time to time.) There are rumors of a dedication ceremony involving some kind of crazy kayak regatta… more to come on this.
[...] headline from RTD says it all, “Forest Hill lake project finished under budget, early”. Much of this is not news to our faithful readers but nice to read. Richmond finished the $1.7 million project with about [...]
[...] going in Forest Hill Park in honor of the memory of the Harvey family. It was also discussed by us back in October including some confusion about whether it was going to happen or not. The confusion was quickly [...]