The park includes tennis courts, Little League baseball fields, and a children's playground.

It is named after William Byrd II, whose family owned much of the area when Richmond was founded in 1737.

In 1884, the New Pump-House was completed at the base of the hill, drawing water from the defunct James River and Kanawha Canal and pumping it up to the reservoir.

[2] The park's Statue of Christopher Columbus, erected in 1927, was controversial at the time of its construction because it honored Italian-Americans in a climate of increasing anti-immigration sentiment.

[3] In 2020, during the George Floyd protests, Columbus became controversial for a different reason: his killing of Native Americans and his initiation of the slave trade.

The park holds an annual Summer Festival of Arts in June through August which hosts plays, concerts, children events, and other family activities.