Joseph Bryan Park

Before becoming a park, this property was part of the Young family's Westbrook estate in the 1700s and later Rosewood, home of the Mordecai family. It was a gathering place for participants in Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800. During the Civil War, Confederate troops camped here. Belle Stewart Bryan purchased this site in 1909 and donated it to the city of Richmond in memory of her husband, Richmond Times publisher Joseph Bryan. The park was designed in the English Naturalistic landscape tradition. It became an auto camp in the 1920s. Federal relief programs in the 1930s resulted in further improvements. In 1952, the city's Parks Superintendent of Grounds and Structures Robert Harvey developed the 17-acre azalea garden, which became a popular tourist attraction.