RICHMOND, Va. -- In the 1970s, Louis Heindl was a member of the Virginia Boat Club, a social club that was based on Mayo Island.
At the time the club had, as Heindl recollects, between 200 and 300 members and counted governors, city council members and well-known lawyers among its ranks. “It was a who’s who,” Heindl said.
When Hurricane Agnes hit in 1972, it flooded much of downtown Richmond, Mayo Island included. The Boat Club had recently purchased a quarter-acre piece of the 15-acre island, and in the wake of the flood the club didn’t know what to do with it.
Heindl, now 80, had recently started his concrete business, Hanover Concrete, and was working out of his home in Church Hill. He wasn’t a real estate guy, but the club’s piece of the island included a 1,300-square-foot building, and he was in need of a space to run his company.
