Bandy Field is a historical and beautiful outdoor escape great for adventure, activity, and retreat

Bandy Field Nature Park is a beautiful, quiet, and well-kept nature park in the city of Richmond and supported by residents of the city as well as Henrico County. Within the 18 acres are good combinations of open spaces for sun and shaded paths as well. There are woods to explore, fields to frolic, tennis courts to enjoy, and even a cemetery and maps of history. Many people come here to run, mountain bike, exercise, play with their dogs, and explore with their kids. Make sure you bring your love for nature as well as a leash for your four legged beloved family members! Some patrons don’t leash their pets so beware if anyone in your group (two or four legged!) are timid around confident, unleashed dogs. 

There are many ways to enjoy Bandy Field: 

Look for the display sign (at the parking area on Three Chopt) for information about the park and habitats, including native plants and the wildlife that may be found there.

Bring your binoculars and look for some of the birds that call the park home. Walk or run on the trail around the park. Frisbees, pick-up games and kite-flying are welcome too! You may even see some large events and gatherings here for the community. 

Bandy Field and the surrounding area has a very interesting history. It forms the highest geographical point in all of Richmond and serves as a watershed to two rivers, the Chicahominy River to the east and the James River to the west. Though difficult to find precise information about Bandy Field, the history of this area reaches back into colonial times. Surrounding residents and neighborhood civic associations have been consistently opposed to selling the last piece of open green space and the only available “park” in Richmond’s West End. Particularly interesting to me is the history of freed black people on this land in the 19th century. There are many sources to suggest they occupied log cabins and owned a horse, a cow, chickens and pigs. They belonged to a community, called Council of Ham. According to Henrico County records, a one-acre plot was sold to the Sons of Ham in 1873. It was used for building a meeting hall and a cemetery of which you can still see the remnants. We also know that the Bradford family, an African-American family, bought a 5-acre lot at Bandy Field in 1873 by Moses Bradford and (later) another by his son - a freed slave, military veteran, and farmer. The history includes several small black farms in the midst of other larger white owned farms. 

What better way to spend the day than in the middle of nature and in the sorority of freedom. Make sure you share some of this history with your kids to enlighten and empower them for years to come!