Richard W. Boggs was born in Raleigh County, West Virginia in 1936. He completed his education and rose to prominence as a landscape architect. One of the high points of his career was the Poca Park in Poca, West Virginia. The Poca High School was sited in Boggs’ elegant environment. This achievement of Boggs’ stands as one of the major attractions in the Poca River Basin.

Richard Boggs followed in the footsteps of his paternal great-grandfather, Chester A. Boggs. Cranberry Boggs, as he became known, was famous for his landscape designs. Cranberry Boggs rose to prominence in the mid-1800s with unique designs of fens, wetlands, bayous, and water gardens.

By 1876 Cranberry Boggs’ work was in much demand, and he had created more than 150 water gardens and fens. His designs were brought to fruition by wealthy land owners along the Poca River and points east.

In 1898 Sir Ronald Ross (England) discovered the link between mosquitoes and malaria. Since mosquitoes had long been associated with standing water, this brought interest in Cranberry Boggs’ work to an end. He died in 1902.

It was not until the career of Richard Boggs that the grand tradition of landscape design reappeared in the Boggs family. The Poca Post is pleased to honor Richard Boggs for his accomplishments in landscape design.