Park Sign Restores Historic Gateway
 
A new sign stands proudly above the brick columns at the historic entrance to Forest Hill Park. For Friends of Forest Hill Park, it is a dream fulfilled, and one more piece of the puzzle as they work to restore the park to its former glory.
See the "New" and the "Old" signs below, and read the Story of the Two Signs.
When FFHP began researching the park’s history many years ago in the Valentine Richmond History Center archives, they found a photograph from around 1910 that showed a man standing by the trolley tracks at the Forest Hill Amusement Park entrance on Forest Hill Avenue.
 
According to neighborhood legend, some time in the 1940s, during World War II, the iron letters were taken down as scrap iron “for the war effort” and the stucco columns were changed to brick.
 
Fast forward to 2006, when the Forest Hill Neighborhood Association sponsored its first annual House Tour. A wish list of donations was drawn up, and neighbors voted to give some of the house tour proceeds to Friends of Forest Hill Park, to restore the missing sign. Some $3500 was pledged for the sign.
 
Last summer, a less than accurate sign reproduction was installed, but was later rejected in favor of greater historical accuracy. Thanks to the expert eye and typographic skills of admitted “type-font junkie” Matt Boyle at Acorn Sign Graphics, the letters on the new sign precisely  match the ones in the original historic photo. (Matt is a Westover Hills resident)
 
Custom Ornamental Iron of Glen Allen was kind enough to redo the sign at no extra charge, meticulously fabricating it according to Acorn’s digital specifications.
 
If you get a chance, please stop by and see for yourself what a difference a grand entrance can make to a beloved old neighborhood hangout.