Landscape Information
Approximately five miles north of downtown, along the southern shore of the Ivy Creek and South Rivanna Reservoir confluence, this 219-acre topographically varied, wooded park includes a post-Emancipation, African American family farm. Accessed from the east via a looped drive, the land slopes downward to the water’s edge, affording views of the opposite shore.
In the early 1870s Hugh Carr, a formerly enslaved man, purchased 58 acres of farmland and established a modest residence at the property’s highest point. An active part of the Union Ridge and Hydraulic Mills community of African American farmers, craftsmen, and tradespeople, at the time of Carr’s death in 1914, he had amassed more than 108 acres. His eldest daughter, Mary Carr Greer, subsequently expanded the farm to 200 acres. After her death in 1973 The Nature Conservancy and the local government purchased the land and additional acreage for the creation of a park. The park opened in 1979, jointly owned by the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville and managed by the Ivy Creek Foundation (1978).
Today, the farmhouse, located northeast of the entry drive, is fronted by an at-grade porch and modest lawn framed by a wooded lot and arcing row of irregularly planted trees and shrubs. North of the residence are outbuildings, including a barn (1937) edged by a clearing that was originally used as an orchard, vegetable garden, and crop field. The area also includes a family burial ground (1889–1956) containing westward-facing markers of granite and fieldstone.
Land formerly in agricultural use are now primarily mown, often meeting woodlands characterized by deciduous and coniferous trees, such as oak and pine, and an understory of shrubs, including mountain laurel. Martins Branch Creek wends throughout the landscape, feeding into the larger waterways to the north. Seven miles of trails traverse the park.
The park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
