Oregon Hill overlooks the James River and Belle Isle, and provides access to Hollywood Cemetery.

Construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal beginning in 1785 brought not only boatman, but merchants, millers and iron workers to the neighborhood.

The park keeper's house dates from 1900, but many of the walkways and other buildings were constructed by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.

[10] All three continue to the current day, with separate but complementary missions among the neighborhood's (and metropolitan area's) working families.

Oregon Hill is currently bordered by Cary St. to the north, Belvidere St. to the east, The James River and Canal to the south, and by the Hollywood cemetery and Linden St. to the west.

Infill projects have erected houses in lots that were previously vacant due to fires or other demolition.

The complete demolition of all the houses on these 3 blocks was a source of bitter contention between the neighborhood and the Ethyl Corporation, which owned the land.

As the New York Times Sunday Book Review said, "Owen has recruited his sick, sad and creatively crazy characters from a rough neighborhood cut off from the rest of the city when the expressway was built.

If anyone is watching out for the forgotten citizens of Oregon Hill, it's Willie, who grew up there and speaks the local language, a crisp and colorful urban idiom..."[11]