Azaleas in Battery Park

Much as I like to talk, I also love to listen, trying to tease out more than someone intends to share.

That makes me think I'd have loved being part of the WPA's Federal Writer's Project back in the '30s gathering people's stories from all over the country. But it's 2015 and sometimes the best I can hope for is an afternoon spent listening to people reminisce.

"Battery Park Stories" promised an afternoon of long-time Battery Park residents sharing memories of a neighborhood I know far too little about, other than once attending a performance of "As You Like It" back in August 2010. First surprise: it's only a mile from my house, albeit across I-95.

I knew the couple who'd conceived of the project but didn't expect to know anyone else when in walked a familiar face, her husband and young daughter. "What are you doing here?" she asked, smiling. "Aren't you still in Jackson Ward?"

Well, yes, but fortunately, they weren't checking IDs at the door so maybe no one knew I was an interloper.

I'd already met another Karen at the door (we'd agreed you have to be of a certain age to be named Karen) as well as a woman named Laurie who overheard our discussion and joked that she'd never met another black Laurie in her life. "Just doesn't happen!" she'd laughed. Names do tell a story.

Once I found a seat, another Karen sat down next to me. What are the chances?

Assembled was a panel of five long-time residents with great memories who spent the next couple hours sharing stories and opinions (as cameras rolled) with the roomful of people who ranged from young families to decades-long residents. It was impressively diverse.

One mentioned how the neighborhood had been considered "new territory" for black folks back in the '40s and '50s (a home went for $9,000 in 1959) once white flight took hold. Another recalled people moving out because they moved in.

A shining example of how Richmond thinks of its neighborhoods was evident when one woman mentioned moving from the west end - she lived on Texas Avenue near Maymont - to northside. You can tell a Richmond old-timer when they refer to anything east of the downtown expressway as the west end.

The panel was unanimous abut Battery Park having been an ideal place to raise kids, a place where people were comfortable sitting on their porch after dark. "We had no reservations about the safety of the neighborhood," one said, explaining that it was a neighborhood of professionals who expected their children to go to college.

What was extraordinary to me was the casual way this panel referenced Richmonders who'd gone on to become names you see on buildings and streets, names such as Oliver Hill and Binford. One of the panelists was Lucille Brown, a name I knew only from the schools named after her.

Some of the stories were civil rights history lessons. A mother spoke of her children having to go to 7 different schools because the city kept redrawing school districts. Her son had to take a bus to downtown and then transfer to a bus that would take him to Thomas Jefferson High School.  Another said his father took him to school with explicit instructions to only drink out of the water fountain marked "colored."

Almost everyone agreed that it was Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and Tropical Storm Gaston in 2006 that really helped the revitalized neighborhood gel as people shared resources and had communal meals in the streets. We heard about the city's first black firefighter and how he wasn't allowed to go in first to fight fires in a white home.

Probably the most shocking tale came from a woman who had Oliver Hill for a neighbor. Her mother, whose bedroom was at the front of the house, had woken up one night to a blinding light in the window. It was during the Brown versus Board of Education case and the KKK was burning a cross on Hill's lawn.

The program concluded with the panelists expressing their hopes for Battery Park going forward. Several wished for the glory days of Brookland Park Boulevard - which once was home to a haberdashery, fancy grocery with a butcher on premises, movie theater, ice cream parlor and more- and North Avenue to return. "It was a nice shopping district," one said.

But the overriding consensus among the panelists was for Battery Park to again become the neighborhood it once was. "I want it to again be a neighborhood where we care for each other and care about each other."

Judging by the communal energy in the air this afternoon, I'd say they're well on their way. Even though I may live in Jackson Ward, I wouldn't have missed hearing those stories of Battery Park.

Thankfully, a wise couple is seeing that they're recorded to be shared with generations to come. This interloper was just lucky enough to get to listen to those who lived it.