A matter of balance

"The Woolen Mills, though it feels like city in the country, really isn't. It started out as an industrial community and it is completely embedded in an industrial network, to the south, to the east, to the north." -Vice Mayor Kendra Hamilton



I respectfully disagree.

The woolen mill was located at the juncture of Moore's Creek and the Rivanna River. The lion's share of the Mill's real estate holdings throughout the residential mill village functioned as the village commons. You could keep a cow on the mill land, you could play baseball, you could go rabbit hunting.
Above, Emma Baltimore Amiss sits in the side yard of 1709 East Market. The hedgeline in the distance, to the north, marks the edge of Riverview cemetery. When this picture was taken the "industrial community" had been running full tilt for seventy years.
Having neighborhood industry doesn't necessarily destroy quality of life. Industry and an agrarian ethic can thrive together as this picture clearly illustrates.
Quality of life is a carefully maintained balance.