Monroe Park, Richmond, Va.

We stopped at Monroe Park one chilly afternoon in Richmond. The park is surrounded by Virginia Commonwealth University and is heavily used.

The day we were there it seems students were moving in. Cars lined the streets along all four sides of the park; and students and their parents pulled out sleeping bags, laundry baskets and luggage from the backs of cars.

There must have also been an event because people were serving warm soup to what seemed to be the local homeless population.

Walking through the park we'd see a sweatshirt and bags on this bench, a shirt at the foot of that tree and bags of clothes sitting in the middle of the grass without anyone nearby. It was like a large living room where people leave clothing lying on furniture and the floor. Weird.

According to this site, the college students use the park frequently for events. It's sort of like a town square for the college, I guess.

And, in a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch article, the park is slated for renovations. You can learn more about the park over here, too.

Here's just a few photos we took the day were there. If I'd thought about it, I'd taken photos of the bags of clothes, the event and the students moving in. But then that would have felt like I was invading people's privacy, so I don't know.

Very nice building across the street from Monroe Park.

Another nice building across one of the streets from Monroe Park.