The View that Named Richmond

Richmond from Libby Hill

Oil on Canvas 12 x 24 Inches Sold at the Historic Richmond Foundation Silent Auction

On this spot in 1733, on what is now known as Libby Hill, William Byrd II and Major William Mayo named the new town they were planning after Richmond Hill on the Thames near London, where Byrd had received his formal British education. The view of the bend in the Thames at Richmond Hill and this view of the bend in the James from Libby Hill bore such striking similarities that there was no question in his mind what to call his new city.