Two Mayors Meet

In 1737, William Byrd, II gave Richmond, Virginia its name when looking out over the James River from Libby Hill and exclaiming that the view looked like the view of the majestic Thames River in Richmond, England. And indeed, it does. In 2012, the American Society of Landscape Architects named the Libby Hill overlook as one of America’s most iconic landscapes.

On March 6, 2025, Councillor Pyne of Richmond, England met with Mayor Danny Avula of Richmond, Virginia, at the famous “view that named Richmond.” Addressing a crowd that included members of the Church Hill Association, Friends of Libby Hill Park, Richmond English-Speaking Union, Capital Region Land Conservancy, Capital Trees, and Richmond Tree Stewards, they talked about opening opportunities to share best practices in river landscape preservation and management between the two locales.