Reenacting River life in the 1760's along the James River

The James River Batteaux Festival - Scottsville, Virginia

Always up for a serendipitous adventure, Julie and I headed to Scottsville to spend the late afternoon at the annual James River Batteaux festival. Scottsville is a pretty 45 minute drive from our house. The festival is a celebration of life on the river during the late 1700's as the major artery for the transportation of goods in the Virginia Colony. Volunteers take great pride in building replicas of the batteauxs and pilot them down the James. 

The James river got its name from the Jamestown settlement honoring the British king James who sanctioned the colony. The Rivanna river which runs through Albermarle and Fluvanna Counties and empties into the James got its name from Queen Anne...the River Anne. Early maps show the James and Rivanna as one and the same river. It was years later that settlers discovered that the Rivanna was not the source of the James but a tributary. The Rivanna played a significant role in commerce as mills developed along the river to participate in the process of processing and getting goods to Richmond. 

There were four different eras on the Rivanna and James Rivers starting in the 1720's. As frontier farmers moved from the coast of Virginia and settled the western counties it was important to move farm goods from the plantations  to Richmond for sale.  First they used dug out canoes, both single and double. Then came the batteau's which were makeshift long boats using poles to navigate down river. Upon arriving in Richmond they would be unloaded and unassembled. The wood was sold and new boats would be built for another trip down the river. After this era human power gave way to horse power with the development of canals; horses and mules pulling boats along towpaths. In the mid- 1800's the railroad arrived putting an end to the river boat era.

Cotton and Tobacco  were the main cash crops that traveled to Richmond. River transport was much more efficient then rolling hogs-head barrels along the dirt roads, being pulled by oxen. River towns became important towns of commerce. Scottsville and Columbia located near the confluence of the Rivanna and the James were prominent outposts in the west. Scottsville was at one time given consideration to be selected as the state capital.

The Rivanna river is referred to locally as Mr. Jefferson's river. As a young man Thomas Jefferson took an interest in his father's need to get his farm goods to the James and on to Richmond. The Rivanna had its seasonal ebbs and flows making it impossible to travel during low water. Thomas in 1763 devised a plan to build stone wing dams to raise the level of the river making it navigable year round for the shallow longboats. His efforts were rewarded by getting him elected to serve in the Virginia colony General Assembly and fill the seat of his mentor Dr. Thomas Walker of Castle Hill fame. 

Volunteers from Virginia each year build their long boats and take them down the James to Richmond to commemorate this time period in Virginia history. The Bateaux men and women pull over in the late afternoon and camp along the river in what has become a festive atmosphere with music, food and lots of libation.

Not to miss out on the fun we finished our afternoon with a light meal at the James River Tavern and headed for home. I'm not sure we will be signing up to volunteer as river men next year but we did purchase T-shirts to support the cause. 

My River Gal

As we pulled away from the river a CSX train passed by on the tracks that hug the James river from Richmond on to the gaps through the Blue Ridge mountains.  As trains pull our freight all over this country we pause to thank the re-enacters for sharing this past with us of river life which helped kick-start our country.