The Virginia Garden Walk, located in northwest Bernal Heights, was built in the 1920s.  The Bernal Heights hilltop is composed of chert, a crystallized quartz sedimentary bedrock which made an ideal site for goat farming in the 1800s.  During the 1906 earthquake, the hillside remained stable from the seismic activities and the homes were spared by the fires. As the neighborhood developed from goat dairies and farmland to housing earthquake displaced residents from other parts of the city, the hillside was graded and paved to accommodate the changing demographics and the arrival of automobiles. Around the 1920s, work began to pave the upper western slope of the hillside connecting the houses that dot the edge of Bernal Heights Park. 

In 1926, the Virginia Garden Walk began to take its present day shape.  The design was born out of necessity due to the steep hillside.  Houses on the uphill side of the street were not on the same level as those on the downhill side, so a trench was dug to level the road.  This meant that the houses on the uphill side of Virginia Ave had steep deficit from their front door to the street level.  By 1927, retaining walls were constructed at the base of those houses to secure them from sliding down.  Footpaths and staircases were placed to allow residents to gain access to the street below.  

Over time, planting went into the hillside median between the upper and lower retaining walls. With trees and draping shrubs, the sidewalk became a beloved "secret garden" path in the neighborhood.  The garden has tended by nearby residents, some still living around the VGW.  The neighbors and volunteers of the Friends of the Urban Forest renovated the garden sometime in the late last century and named it The Virginia Garden Walk with a sign commemorating their effort.  Neighbor Margaret Bean on Elsie, who has since moved, used  to organized the clean ups.

In 2021, a group of neighbors emerged from the pandemic caring for green spaces.  They formed the Friends of the Virginia Garden Walk and started to organize clean ups and find resources to improve the space.  They applied for a Community Challenge Grant in late 2021 to fund improvements at the VGW.  The proposal was awarded about $75,000 in 2022 to restore the exisiting trees and schrubs, introduce new native plants, install an irrigation system, retain soil, and encourage regenerative gardening practices.  Rock and Rose, a local landscape company, worked with the community to develop a garden design. The plan, approved by Urban Forestry in 2023, created a welcoming entrance at Winfield, a pollinator area,  a cactus section, and a stunning succulent collection at the Elsie corner.  Solar lighting was added to illuminate the sidewalk at night.  The CCG also commissioned an original artwork, a panoramic mural depicting Bernal Heights neighborhood, past and present, by Amos Goldbaum.  The project completed in early 2024 with the help of scores of volunteers and over 1000 volunteer hours.  We are deeply grateful to Little Bee, Bernal Basket, Progressive Grounds (who donated goodies), SF Park Alliance (our fiscal sponsor), the Community Challenge Grant, DPW, PUC for a water meter grant, District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, and all the volunteers!

We are a demonstration garden that focuses on regenerative gardening practices.