Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court House.
Bon Air is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,022 at the 2020 census. The community is considered a suburb of the independent city of Richmond in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a part of the Southside neighborhoods. Originally developed as a resort, a central portion of Bon Air has been designated as a National Historic District with many structures of Victorian design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its name means "good air," reflecting its role as a resort getaway that wealthy Richmonders enjoyed for its fresh air as opposed to the dirty air of Richmond's industrial downtown of the late 19th century.
The Chesterfield Railroad was located in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was a 13-mile (21-kilometer) long mule-and-gravity powered line that connected the Midlothian coal mines with wharves that were located at the head of navigation on the James River just below the Fall Line at Manchester. It began operating in 1831 as Virginia's first common carrier railroad.
The Richmond–Petersburg Turnpike was a controlled-access toll road located in the Richmond-Petersburg region of central Virginia, United States.
Midlothian is an unincorporated area and Census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, U.S. Settled as a coal town, Midlothian village experienced suburbanization effects and is now part of the western suburbs of Richmond, Virginia south of the James River in the Greater Richmond Region. Because of its unincorporated status, Midlothian has no formal government, and the name is used to represent the original small Village of Midlothian and a vast expanse of Chesterfield County in the northwest portion of Southside Richmond served by the Midlothian post office.
The history of Richmond, Virginia, as a modern city, dates to the early 17th century, and is crucial to the development of the colony of Virginia, the American Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. After Reconstruction, Richmond's location at the falls of the James River helped it develop a diversified economy and become a land transportation hub.
The Greater Richmond, Virginia area has many neighborhoods and districts.
State Route 76 is a controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as the Powhite Parkway, the state highway runs 13.04 miles (20.99 km) from SR 652 near Midlothian north to Interstate 195 (I-195) in Richmond. SR 76 connects SR 288, U.S. Route 60, and SR 150 in Chesterfield County with I-195 and SR 195 west of Downtown Richmond. The highway includes a pair of mainline barrier toll plazas and ramp toll plazas at most interchanges, all of which accept E-ZPass. SR 76 is maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in Chesterfield County and the Richmond Metropolitan Authority in the city of Richmond. The Richmond section of the freeway was constructed in the early 1970s; the highway was extended to its current terminus in Chesterfield County in the late 1980s.
State Route 150 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Chippenham Parkway, the state highway runs 15.19 miles (24.45 km) from Interstate 95 (I-95) and SR 895 in Bensley north to Parham Road and River Road near Tuckahoe in Henrico County. SR 150 is a four- to six-lane circumferential highway that connects the Chesterfield County suburbs of Richmond with western Henrico County and, via SR 895, eastern Henrico County and Richmond International Airport. The highway is a freeway except for a short stretch east of SR 147 in Richmond. SR 150 has junctions with all of the radial highways south of the James River, including I-95, U.S. Route 1, US 301, US 360, US 60, and SR 76.
Edward E. Willey Bridge is a highway bridge which crosses the upper James River in the western portion of Henrico County, Virginia. It carries Chippenham Parkway between Parham Road in Henrico and the southwestern portion of the independent city of Richmond. It was named in honor of Edward E. Willey who was a pharmacist and state senator in the Virginia General Assembly from 1952 to 1983. He died in 1986.
State Route 161 is a primary state highway in and near Richmond, Virginia, United States. It extends from an interchange with Interstate 95 (I-95) in the independent city of Richmond north to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 in the Lakeside area of central Henrico County.
The Southside of Richmond is an area of the Metropolitan Statistical Area surrounding Richmond, Virginia. It generally includes all portions of the City of Richmond that lie south of the James River, and includes all of the former city of Manchester. Depending on context, the term "Southside of Richmond" can include some northern areas of adjacent Chesterfield County, Virginia in the Richmond-Petersburg region. With minor exceptions near Bon Air, VA, the Chippenham Parkway forms the border between Chesterfield County and the City of Richmond portions of Southside, with some news agencies using the term "South Richmond" to refer to the locations in Southside located in the city proper.
State Route 147 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 13.13 miles (21.13 km) from U.S. Route 60 in Midlothian east to US 60 in Richmond. In various places, it is known as Huguenot Road, River Road, Cary Street Road and Main Street. SR 147 connects Midlothian with the West End of Richmond via the Huguenot Memorial Bridge across the James River. Within Richmond, the state highway follows Cary Street, a major thoroughfare that connects the city's two major universities, the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, with Downtown Richmond.
Transportation in Richmond, Virginia and its immediate surroundings include land, sea and air modes. This article includes the independent city and portions of the contiguous counties of Henrico and Chesterfield. While almost all of Henrico County would be considered part of the Richmond area, southern and eastern portions of Chesterfield adjoin the three smaller independent cities of Petersburg, Hopewell, and Colonial Heights, collectively commonly called the Tri-Cities area. A largely rural section of southwestern Chesterfield may be considered not a portion of either suburban area.
The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad moved passengers and goods between Richmond and Petersburg from 1838 to 1898. It survived the American Civil War and eventually merged into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1900.
U.S. Route 1 (US 1) is a major north–south U.S. Route that serves the East Coast of the United States. In the U.S. state of Virginia, US 1 runs north–south through South Hill, Petersburg, Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Alexandria on its way from North Carolina to the 14th Street bridges into the District of Columbia. It is completely paralleled by Interstate Highways in Virginia—Interstate 85 (I-85) south of Petersburg, I-95 north to Alexandria, and I-395 into the District of Columbia—and now serves mainly local traffic. At its north end, on the approach to the 14th Street bridges, US 1 is concurrent with I-395; the rest of US 1 is on surface roads.
U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in the Commonwealth of Virginia runs 303 miles (488 km) west to east through the central part of the state, generally close to and paralleling the Interstate 64 corridor, except for the crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and in the South Hampton Roads area.
Warwick Road in Chesterfield County, Virginia, was one of the older roadways in the area extending across the northern section of the county. Established in the 18th century in the Virginia Colony, the Warwick Road effectively provided a portage around the portion of the James River containing dams and rapids near the fall line in the area of the towns of Manchester and Richmond, Virginia, which were located along the south and north banks of the river respectively.
The Manchester Turnpike was a turnpike in Chesterfield County in the U.S. state of Virginia, and was the first paved or artificial roadway in that state. It stretched from Manchester west to Falling Creek near Midlothian, and is now known as Midlothian Turnpike, mostly forming part of U.S. Route 60 (US 60).
Black Heath was a house and coal mine located near the present day Midlothian area of Chesterfield County, Virginia. The Black Heath coal mining enterprises were operated intermittently from the early 1780s until 1939 and were most notably run by the Heth family from 1795 until 1840, who also built the mansion house in the early 1800s. During the early tenure of the Heths' operation, the Black Heath mines were one of the largest producers of coal in the United States and supplied coal to the White House during US President Thomas Jefferson's term. In 1840, control shifted to an English group of investors who oversaw the mines at a distance until 1888, when they were sold to another interest which soon went into trusteeship. During the 1910s or 1920s, the Black Heath house collapsed due to severe undermining from the numerous coal shafts and tunnels scattered around the property. In 1938, the Black Heath land was sold to coal mining interests who soon went into trusteeship and default like many others before them. Over the next few decades, the land sat idle until 1971, when it began to be parceled off into housing developments.
