Layers of History at Long Bridge Road
CRLC purchased this 38.5-acre tract on Long Bridge Road in March 2020. The Long Bridge Road property lies within CRLC’s Conservation Vision Map for the Capital Region as apriority area and is also designated as a top priority conservation area in the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s ConserveVirginia model in the Cultural and Historic Preservation Category. Capital Region Land Conservancy’s purchase of the Long Bridge Road property adds to a nearly contiguous area of approximately 6,425 acres that includes lands owned by the American Battlefield Trust, Richmond Battlefields Association, Henrico County’s Runnymede tract, private property under perpetual conservation easement, and the Richmond National Battlefield Park that connects to Malvern Hill Farm that CRLC acquired in 2018.
4900 Long Bridge Road is within the boundaries of five Civil War Battlefields as determined by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (“CWSAC”): Deep Bottom I Battlefield, Deep Bottom II Battlefield, Glendale Battlefield, Malvern Hill Battlefield, and Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road Battlefield. The property is almost entirely wooded, containing 3,920 linear feet along Sweeney Creek as well as approximately 22.1 acres of Freshwater Forested/Shrub Wetlands, which closely resembles its wartime appearance. The main part of the fighting at First Deep Bottom occurred on July 28, 1864 when the Federal cavalry division of Gen. Alfred T.A. Torbert pushed eastward on Long Bridge Road, only to be attacked from the north by Confederate infantry. Colored troops fought in this battle and the largest number of colored troop casualties of the Civil War occurred in these battles. The primary combat occurred at CRLC’s newly acquired property and at an adjacent 125-acre property owned by the American Battlefield Trust (ABT) that is under a conservation easement held by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR).
This land was also home to the family of Abraham Truman, who purchased the land after being freed from slavery at the end of the Civil War. Through archaeological survey of the property, CRLC uncovered a forgotten family cemetery, ultimately leading to reconnection of descendants to their gravesite. Read the story covered by Richmond Free Press here.
