New plans are unveiled for Mid-Lothian Mines Park

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer Tracy and Luke Jackson visit the mine shaft at Mid-Lothian Mines Park.

Mid-Lothian Mines Park is not yet five years old, but it's already primed for a facelift. Last week, several county departments, including parks and recreation and environmental engineering, held a public meeting at the park to showcase upcoming plans for the recreational area.

"The meeting's purpose [was] to introduce the next phases of development and get feedback," explained Stuart Connock, chief of parks, planning and construction services. "It certainly could mold how we make our choices on developing this program."

The 44-acre park, which is located off Woolridge Road between the Grove and Walton Park subdivisions, was donated to the county in 2000 by Tom Garner, a local real estate developer and mine history enthusiast. It opened as Mid- Lothian Mines Park in fall of 2004. In addition to providing public space for amblers, joggers and dog walkers, the park serves as a significant vestige of Chesterfield's rich mining industry, which lasted from 1730 to 1923.

The barbed wire fence (above) currently around the mine shaft will be replaced as part of the planned upgrades at Mid- Lothian Mines Park. The surface of the walking trail (left) will also be improved. (Photos by Page Dowdy)

Central to the narrow half-mile park are the Grove Shaft ruins, the remnants of one of four mine shafts installed by the Wooldridge family's Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Company, a prominent mining company during the mid- 1800s.

"The Grove Shaft ruins are significant because it's the largest standing iconic representation of the local mining industry," said Gardner, who serves as the founder and president of the Mid-Lothian Mines & Railroads Foundation, a fundraising organization still in its infancy.

Parks and recreation plans to fortify the deteriorating ruins as part of the next stage of park development.

"Our plan is not to reconstruct it, but to preserve it so that 50 years from now that same resource will be available for people to see," said Connock, who added that capping the park's two shafts would also be necessary to ensure safety. "We don't want to impact the historical resource by doing anything that will take away its value."

Additionally, the county plans to add a historically accurate 16-foot elevated observation tower next to the Grove Shaft to allow for a top-down vantage point, as well as a trestle-style footbridge across the park's small stream. It will replace the barbed wire surrounding the ruins with a more aesthetically pleasing security fence and upgrade the surface of the walking trail, while also adding another trail to create a full loop around the park.

The second phase of development also involves enhancing the educational aspect of the park to complement the six historical signs penned by local historical expert Bettie W. Weaver that were installed this past spring.

"For the most part, the signage right now addresses the mining operations," said Connock. "There's lots of other places you can take this: how this mine was a founding factor in the village of Midlothian, its context within the growth of the industrial revolution, the Civil War. We want to do the additional research and come up with additional information for the local school system and park visitors."

Connock expects these developments, which are being funded in equal parts by county bond appropriations and grant money, to be completed within about two years. At the same time, the department of environmental engineering hopes to embark on a restoration of the stream that runs through the park.

"We're trying to re-establish the banks and keep it from eroding wider and deeper," explained department director Richard McElfish, who plans to use the project as a model for the local community. "We figured that nobody really knows about the stream restorations that we've done. The idea is to show before, during and after pictures so that developers, engineers, environmental people or anybody can come by and take a look at them. It's trying to be an outreach to anyone who wants to listen."

The long-term vision of Mid-Lothian Mines Park involves a museum or visitor's center that could illuminate the area's mining history.

"We certainly have the story to tell," said Connock. "There are a lot of firsts here: the first commercial mining of coal; the first railroad, which was the Chesterfield railroad taking the ore down to Manchester; the first toll road, the Midlothian Turnpike. We have a really diverse palette to support a museum."

Gardner certainly hopes it comes to that point.

"What I'm excited about is more research - finding the stories and the maps," he said. "We've got the skeleton, but we need to flesh it out. Even if people don't want to go for the history, it still infuses everything. It's there, like ghosts."