Richmond opens new Belle Isle play area for young kids
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Seems like a great place to spend a spring or summer day. Video: Sabrina Moreno/Axios
Richmond just opened a play area on Belle Isle underneath the Belvidere Bridge.
Why it matters: It's a haven for kids and the first complete piece of a broader vision to reshape the island.
Driving the news: The Nature Exploration Area was unveiled Thursday with children running around, giggling as they bounced off the handcrafted logs and tree trunks that define the space.
- As city and state leaders cheered the massive undertaking in a press conference, families behind them ate lunch on tree stumps.
- Some kids dug in the dirt. Others moved around in the makeshift sandbox.
Zoom in: The play area was created with the goal of expanding access to the James River Park System to visitors under 10.
- It was also built with locally sourced materials, like driftwood and boulders, to encourage more hands-on interaction with nature.
Zoom out: The project brought together the Friends of the James River Park, the Robins Foundation, CSX, the James River Park System staff and architecture firm Marvel, which designed the space, and more.
- And it's the one piece of multiple proposals for Belle Isle that include a skatepark inside the old Nail Shed, boardwalk access to Quarry Pond and outdoor classrooms.
If you go: Visitors can access it by walking over the Belle Isle suspension bridge from Tredegar Street.