Although Lee Memorial Park was not established until 1921, geologists and paleontologists have unearthed prehistoric sites and fossils dating as far back as 330 million years. Unique to the park area is its geological setting, a natural joining of the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain which created a fertile site and a rich “botanical meeting ground” for rare plant species. Named to honor General Robert E. Lee, the park contains portions of the Dimmock Line, a series of earthworks that were built around Petersburg by Confederate troops to protect the city.

A significant part of Lee Park’s past was unlocked in the 1990s when The Petersburg Garden Club saved from obscurity, extensive artifacts, all a legacy of a Depression-era work relief program funded by the Works Progress Administration. Hundreds of pressed, dried plant specimens with botanical identification in scrapbooks along with several hundred exquisite watercolors executed between 1937 and 1940, led individuals to the discovery of the story of the creation of the wildflower and bird sanctuary. Women, both African American and white, worked together to create the sanctuary which led to the offering of outdoor educational programs known to educators and botanists along the East Coast. Identified then as a nature preserve, today it is the only known surviving WPA conservation/landscaping project in which solely women were involved, from inception, to supervision, to the laborious and back-breaking tasks of construction.

After WPA funding ended in 1940, the sanctuary fell dormant, but the rest of Lee Park remained a popular recreation spot for white residents. In 1953, a group of African American citizens filed suit in Federal Court against the City of Petersburg for denying them use of the park’s swimming facilities. Rather than integrate, the city officially closed the park in 1954. Eventually, the park’s other facilities were integrated, but the swimming area never reopened. In 1999, Lee Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a unique site in which environmental conservation and women’s history come together. The Petersburg City Council adopted a master plan in 2004 for the preservation of the site along with public improvements, educational, and interpretive programs.

Source: "Educator's Guide: On the Trail of History - Lee Memorial Park, Petersburg, Virginia."