Yes, the quaint, quiet Chesterfield neighborhood was quite the summer retreat back in the day. In the 1880s, to escape the sweltering heat many of the city’s most prestigious residents would spend the summer at the hotel. They’d catch the Richmond and Danville Railroad passenger train for the short ride to Bon Air, which by the late 1800s boasted three railroad stops all within about a mile of each other. The primary railroad stop was right across from a picnic pavilion, which was opened about a year or so before the hotel’s opening.
I learned much of the community’s fascinating history during a recent conversation with Elizabeth Richardson, the historian for the Bon Air Historical Society. Mrs. Richardson helped to form the society and was its first president in 1978. She also co-authored the book “Bon Air – A History.”
(Picture Description: An engraving of the Bon Air Hotel. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1889. Its annex remains and is, today, the Bon Air Hotel Apartments.)