Blackwater River, Virginia and South Quay

 11 Jul 22:

We took a visit to our local history museum and learned some interesting things about the local waterways and marine traffic. A lot of folks are familiar with the first settlers, Jamestown Island and the James River, but if you head inland a bit you'll find the Blackwater, which runs from Petersburg down into North Carolina and the Albermarle Sound. In the late 1600s and early to mid 1700s a lot of traffic moved on the Blackwater, they had a nice port at South Quay in Virginia until it silted up and then the Brits burned it. The Blackwater was a good waterway to move goods to areas 30+ miles inland, and to avoid the taxful eye of the taxman on the James, Chesapeake and Elizabeth. 

River traffic continued for the lumber industries for quite a while.

Trains supplanted a lot of the river transport, we are having fun learning about local rail and maritime heritage.

It will be fun to mess about on some portions of the Blackwater, one area goes through a nature preserve that is still full of old growth cypress. We'll take the motorboat or maybe the Penobscot, depending on how far we want to venture.