Community events, volunteer needs, and stories from our corner of the James River.
When we surveyed neighbors, one of the things people wanted was more communication within the community.
Whether it's stories that bring us together, updates on goings-on in the area, or timely alerts about outages and issues — we really need some volunteers to lead this work. If you're interested in leading or helping, please get in touch!
Over the past 10 years, Stratford Hills' kid population has surged — and so has interest in our now-annual egg hunt!
If you missed it, don't worry — we plan to have another one next year (typically the day immediately before Easter Sunday). Everyone from the neighborhood is welcome to bring their kids or grandkids for a fun time. We have a toddler zone (eggs filled with toddler-appropriate goodies), a big-kids zone, and a prize table so all the kids get to pick one big toy or treat — plus, of course, an appearance from the Easter Bunny!
We encourage contributions — including toys and big treats for the prize table, plus pot-luck food and beverages to make it a fun day for kids, parents, and grandparents alike.
Stratford Hills and the nearby communities along the James River were built on land with an incredibly rich history. Here's some of what we've learned along the way — and if you've lived in the area for decades, you might know even more. Have something to add to our local lore? We'd love to hear it.
The place we live has a lot of interesting history — much of which has been lost in the shuffle of growth and change. From the Powhatan Tribe, to a traitorous Benedict Arnold's strike against the Rebels that happened right here, to Civil War battles and Freedmen's communities and cemeteries — like much of Virginia, this very land we currently steward is rich with history.
Today, 56% of forests in the US are on private land — not government owned. The land where our homes sit has a rare legacy of old-growth trees and a thick, thriving forest filled with wildlife. The hunting lodges that peppered this area circa 1877 (the estimated date Bon Air was founded) popped up here because of the incredible wildlife and birdlife that was lush back then — and still persistently thrives today. We still have active deer and foxes that have their babies in our yards and forage and hunt in our forested areas. This zone along the James is among the very best birding in our region, with a huge variety of birds including regular sightings of unique and rare species such as barred owls, red-shouldered hawks and pileated woodpeckers. During the early quiet of the Covid shutdown, we even had nearby sightings of black bears up at Stony Point Shopping Center.
Many of those rustic stone buildings from the hunting-lodge era were preserved by the custom home builders who developed what is now Stratford Hills.
In the past, this area had very active civic engagement. During a 1966 zoning and planning effort to pave over Pony Pasture and Huguenot Flatwater and turn them into a "Riverside Parkway," this area's combined civic groups rallied to change that proposed plan — and in doing so were instrumental in setting up the James River Park System (including key land donations from residents and landowners at that time).
This area was part of a 23-square-mile property annexation from Chesterfield County in 1970 that included not only the neighborhoods but also Huguenot High School and other schools that were originally part of the Chesterfield School District. It was a highly controversial and political decision. The acrimony from that annexation ultimately led to a statewide moratorium on involuntary city annexations — which today means the City cannot grow its tax base unless it grows through densification.
For many years, City employees made their homes here because they saw what a gem our neighborhood is. More recently, it has drawn in new residents who moved here specifically — from all over the US and all over the world — because of the community, the forests and the wildlife. The people in our neighborhood are as far from cookie-cutter as are our lots. But the one thing we have in common is that we purposefully moved into and steward this livable forest among the extensive wildlife, birdlife and incredible canopy of trees.
We'd love to share more of what's happening around the neighborhood.