The Lost City, Richmond Virginia. WAG: Elko Tract: Exploring the Lost City. There's three of us in the Toyota, and when we turn onto the back road, we cut the lights off and drift onto the shoulder. Outside, the woods are dark and, in the moonless stillness, they seem to form a single, impenetrable wall. The dirt road ten feet from the car is almost invisible, except for the silver ribbons of the telephone and electrical wires that run down its center. For a moment we sit and stare. Then one of us cracks open a door. It's seasonably cold—early January—and once we've gotten the nerve to step away from the car and shuffle onto the dirt road, we're already rubbing our hands and stomping our feet.
Even if we weren't about to break at least one law (trespassing, although we see no posted signs), we'd probably hesitate. One of us alone would probably jump back in the car and come up with a good excuse over coffee at the nearest Burger King. In the woods, just about anything can sound suspicious. ...the houses. For the past year, Elko Tract has been for sale. Possibly. ***NEWS FLASH*** LOST CITY OF RICHMOND FOUND FOR SALE 6c5120 on soaraway's Blog - Buzznet. Ok, you probably think I'm kidding, right? WTF?! A lost city?? Richmond isn't lost... I mean, lots of people live there. But wait... you don't know the whole story. During World War II, frightened Richmonders were sure that Hitler would bomb them. That question was to be answered this morning when I set off with two friends (Josh & Beth) to find the LOST CITY! First things first, for those of you wishing to visit the Lost City, you take 64 E to the Laburnum exit.
The first thing we noticed was that almost all wooded tracts of land in that area are for sale -- including the tract of land that includes the Lost City. The Lost City's main landmark is an old water tower. The path at the point of the easement became either overrun or was just plain in disrepair, so we could not locate it. Having met with no success that way, we went back around to the side of the technology park, on Technology Blvd. The path is strange. After going a little ways the road forks. The car was gone. Lost Richmond – Exploring Elko Tract, Richmond’s “Lost City” « You Guys Should Know. Richmond is a town of history. Everything is historic… the streets, the buildings, the canals, the houses.. its almost overload to the point where there’s so much history no one really pays attention to it on a daily basis because its just there.
About a decade ago, I began hearing stories out of Richmond East-enders about Richmond’s Lost City. Although no two stories were alike, the basic gist of it was that during World War II, Richmond created a fake city a few miles east of the airport and during potential air raids, they would blackout the actual city and airport and turn the lights on at the decoy in hopes that from the air, the bombers would unknowingly bomb the decoy and Richmond would be saved. At one point, years ago, someone actually drove me out near that area, showed me the starting point of the road which was barricaded and explained to me the “dangers” of going back there.
The oddest thing about all of this is Richmond’s lack of information about it. Would we do it again? James River News: Return To The Lost City. From the James River News Old Time Mysteries desk There wasn't much meat to chew on in that headline served up with the breakfast coffee that cold Sunday morning back in November of 1963. The story that followed wasn't very filling either. The gist of it was that around 8:43 pm on the previous Friday night, the entire George Wythe High School Cadet Corps Band marched into the woods located just east of the small regional airport then known as the Richard Evelyn Byrd Flying Field . The reader was treated to such chestnuts as a quote from Mr. Sam Bambacus, a 48 year old fry cook at a local teen hangout called the Sandston Burger Barn . "They were all good kids" Sam said, "They didn't deserve this". The careful reader also learned that while most of the corps were back in their bunks come Saturday morning, five of the party never made it home that night.
George Wythe High School "Lost Patrol" 1963 But that wasn't the whole story. Airport promotional material, c 1947.