Building the ultimate Church Hill welcome guide

I barely knew anything about Church Hill when we first moved here a few years ago. Truth be told, we hadn’t even initially planned to move to Richmond, and when we first started trying to find a place here, our search began in The Fan. For many reasons (money; not having enough of it; end of list), that did not work out. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Church Hill is where it’s at.

I’m hardly the only one who thinks so. In the past month alone, I’ve had both a friend and a family member move to the East End. Their arrivals got me to thinking about what I wished I’d known when I first arrived in the neighborhood. Where would I have told my younger self to order takeout? Which park would I have advised myself to watch the sunset in? Past Dave probably would have wanted to download the RVA311 app, right?

Of course, I’m only one Church Hill resident, and a relatively new one, at that. So today, I’m calling on voluminous local knowledge of The Lookout’s readership to help with a new editorial project. Together, we’re going to build The Ultimate Church Hill Welcome Guide: a free, comprehensive, crowdsourced resource full of essential advice and information for neighborhood newcomers.

No more dealing with long text threads, forwarded emails, or SEO/AI slop next time you need to read in an acquaintance on the best moves upon moving here. I mean, you can still do that if you want. If you’re some kind of sicko. But you’ll also be able to send them a link to a guide collaboratively curated by their new neighbors and published for free by their neighborhood newsletter. Which is nice.

What do you wish you knew when you first moved to Church Hill? Help The Lookout help our future neighbors by dropping advice, suggestions, must-haves, etc. in the comments section below:

This is the very beginning of this process, so there are really no wrong answers. Contributions can include, but should not be limited to:

• Your favorite East End happy hour;

• The most successful way you’ve found for navigating a Commission of Architectural Review review;

• An underrated block for selfies in Union Hill;

• What you buy from Farm Fresh and The Market @ 25th—and what you don’t buy from either;

• The neighborhood events you do your damnedest to be in town for each year (e.g., the Candlelight Walk);

• The number of a reliable emergency plumber that knows how to deal with Church Hill’s agéd housing stock;

And so on, and so forth. Share your hard-earned Church Hill wisdom with the world, reader! Or at least, with prospective and recently arrived East Enders.

(I’ll do some culling along the way; contributing something does not guarantee it will be published in the final product. And if you insist on sharing your advice anonymously for some reason, you can always send me a tip via email. But comments are preferred, because my inbox is a nightmare.)

This will be an ongoing process, and I don’t expect it to be done overnight. But once we’ve achieved a critical mass of advice, I’ll collate and edit everything down into a digestible guide, publish it on The Lookout’s website, and send out an announcement about it so you know it’s ready to go. While some special features are paywalled, The Ultimate Church Hill Welcome Guide will always be free to read, because the last thing anybody needs when they’re moving is somebody else hitting them up for money

📜 Possum Poetry

Possum Poetry is original verse written exclusively for The Lookout by Penelope Poubelle, the Lookout’s litter critter-at-large. If you spot roadside trash you’d like her to immortalize in doggerel, email a photo to [email protected]. All submissions anonymous!

🐈 Take a look at this tuna-loving tabby

Courtesy of Lookout reader Sarah Maser, the latest edition of East End Animal Friend is live now, and cute as hell:

As a reminder, East End Animal Friend is a new recurring feature spotlighting the many creature companions of Church Hill and its surrounds. Fill out this form to introduce your beloved animal(s) to the neighborhood in a future edition of The Lookout!

🧢 Score a sweet hat to support local journalism!

The best way to support The Lookout is by becoming a paying subscriber. Please do! (And if you already have, thanks so much.) But the second-best way is to buy some official Lookout merchandise, which just arrived at HQ. Both the designs you see above are in stock and available for local pickup at The Lookout Shop, which is now open for business.

In addition to being 100% cotton, fully adjustable, and extremely stylish, these hats are an experiment in fundraising. The Lookout’s regular coverage will always remain free, because that’s how a neighborhood newsletter should be. But it costs money and time (money, by another name) to run a publication, so I’m hopeful that selling merch will become a small but meaningful chunk of revenue for The Lookout as the year progresses.

Hit the shop to secure yours now, and I’ll shoot you an email with instructions for pickup. And of course, if you have any ideas for other East End-themed merch The Lookout should be selling, or any other suggestions for raising funds in the future, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

📢 Happenings on The Hill

• Shoppin’: The Bellwether Garage is holding a “highly curated” garage sale tomorrow on E. Clay St. from 8am-12pm. Flyer here.

• Howlin’: Hound Town Church Hill’s monthly meet-up is tomorrow (3/28) at 10am the dogpark on Chimbo’s lower tier. Flyer here.

• Cleanin’: The Church Hill Association is holding a “major” spring cleaning of the Libby Hill Parkhouse tomorrow from 10am-12pm, and needs volunteers. Sign up here.

• Eatin’: The Asian American Society of Central Virginia’s second-annual Asian Street Food Festival is tomorrow from 11am-6pm at the 17th Street Market. Hit their site for more.

• Spinnin’: Crate Diggers are popping up to sell and spin records tomorrow from 1-5pm at Stone Brewing’s taproom. Details here.

Happenings on The Hill is a digital bulletin board for events, causes, and other items of interest to East Enders that don’t necessarily merit full editorial treatment. Got something for a future edition? Email the relevant details, links, etc. to [email protected] for consideration!

📸 A Very CHill Photo

Want to share your Very CHill Photo from the neighborhood? Email it to [email protected] with your name as you’d like it to appear for publication, and the camera you shot it on.