Southside in Surry

[David]

Southside in Surry

Following the highways from Richmond east and south of James River, I crossed Chippokes Creek from Prince George into Surry County. The mission was to check on public access to the tidal James.

Claremont was a bust, despite two “solid boat” symbols in the Gazetteer. This little town sprang up as a getaway cottage community a hundred years ago or so. One store out of five or six is open. Down at the beach there were no smiles from the owners of the houses on posts. A little beach parking area said “Parking for Claremont Residents Only.” Back at the town a nice young hippie couple directed me to the “manor” on the west end. First up was a right turn to gated “Montclair” and “Rosemont.” Back to the left was “Claremont,” also gated. Nearby was the SUV of the security guard, who said the house was not even ever open for Historic Garden Week. Back in town a teenager offered that he enjoyed a Boy Scout whitewater rafting trip in West Virginia, but he could not remember the river’s name. “Let me guess – the New River.” “Yes,” he smiled as he described the waves and drops. An elderly bench sitter directed me east to Sunken Meadow. This low lying 29 acre place is for sale June 4 by Woltz.com http://www.woltz.com/734/index.html in auction and is locked up tight for now. Read the next paragraph before placing your bid.

I next chanced on Episcopal Camp Chanco. http://www.chanco.org/ The maintenance man sympathized but had only walk-in access for paid campers to a beach and boathouse with the camp’s canoes and kayaks. He said the road was rough and for emergency access only. He wanted a budget to include road upgrades but so far no go. He was happy to tell the tale of other access spots none of which are open. Both west of the Scotland Wharf Ferry at Grays Creek and east there were private marina access (as marked in the Gazetteer) but both were now closed and gated. Sunken Meadow, he said, had been slammed by Hurricane Isabel in September 2003. The beach had had a long line of trailers on small lots rented from the owner, who also maintained a store, restaurant, game room, and boat access. Isabel deposited a number of the trailers across the road in the long swamp which gives Sunken Meadow its name, and had pulled other structures back out into the James. The bench sitter said Sunken Meadow could not get septic field approval. The site would make a great public beach, kayak and canoe launch, and picnic area with a few porta-johns.

East of Camp Chanco (named for a young Indian who warned settlers of the planned 1622 attack) is Eastover, a camp for Baptists from the Peninsula. No one was at this office, so I ventured up to the manor house where a hospitable preacher from Texas was setting up a family reunion. Eastover is exquisite, in setting, design, and detail. We left the formal entry hall to walk out on the lawn on a bluff looking across the three mile wide James. Isabel had taken a chunk here, too. Wind-driven waves were chewing the bluff base as we stood there. A sign warned not to go beyond the croquet court yard as it dropped off quickly. Eastover Manor House stays booked at $1900/week but it has no river access that I could see or that the guests knew about. http://eastover.org/

Despairing of James access, I drove south into thinly populated forests where the Chowan watershed starts. It being a bit windy, a swamp paddle might be preferable to open tidal water. Cypress Creek, a trib of Blackwater River, looked sweet but full of down tree limbs. With another 10,000 or so hurricanes and nor’easters, the James might break through the ridge and start flowing to North Carolina. The next Cypress Creek bridge downstream crossed a wider stream but it was still not easily navigated. I set up cheese and crackers on the bridge. A young lady in a giant pickup stopped to ask if I was “kayaking” today. “Not here, I think I will go over to the Nottoway.” She said her husband was thinking of getting a kayak. I gave her a Coastals card. She warned me of water moccasins, saying her father-in-law “killed one as long as this truck is wide.”When I told of my disappointing search for James access, she directed me toward the Surry Nuclear Plant, where a VDGIF access had five boat trailers parked and as many dock fishers. One young man was successful with both catfish and croakers. This is on Lawnes Creek, a tidal James trib. I paddled a mile or two up into the marshes and back, seeing a raccoon, a heron, and an 11” long shorebird with orange legs, a 2” straight black beak, and beautiful black and white mottling on most of its body, with a white underbelly, a lesser yellowlegs. It was low tide and little fiddler crabs were running around the mudbanks.

Tidal James River access in Southside may not be all it could be, but the May Day weather was superb, (low 70’s with a breeze to discourage the insects,) the scenery was pleasant, and meeting all those fine folks who welcomed a stranger was wonderful fun.

[hydrophilic]

Yes, and would you believe that section of the River is designated by the National Park Service as the John Smith Water Trail? Another Coastal's member and I attended a focus group run by the Park Service to solicit ideas on improving and encouraging use of the water trail. I believe that lack of access to the river was the most pressing obstacle to public use of the water trail identified.

Lawnes Creek (the VGDIF launch you used), is the first really accessible launch east of Hopewell. Chippokes State Park would be a natural, but to launch a kayak takes very long carry. A few miles east of the road to Surry (the Lawnes Creek launch), there is public boat launch at Tyler's Beach. The turn to the launch is in Rushmere, a crossroads about 10 miles west of Smithfield.

I have put in at Hopewell, and paddled the 30 or so miles to the Chickahominy River in one day. This is a beautiful section, with historic plantations and wildlife refuges on the shore, but no public access on the southside. There is a park on the north side of the river that I have not investigated, but even the campground at the mouth of the "Chick" is on the north side of the river.

Tim Jones

[Wallace]

Drive an extra mile on Rte 650 past the turn to the Lawnes Creek public boat launch and you can visit me at work. OR you can slip on down to Hog Island WMA and launch from several beaches right on the James itself. From there the "ghost" fleet is visible. It looks like quite a long paddle over wide open water to get there. Also there's a fairly manageable launch at Ragged Island WMA at the south end of the James River Bridge (Rt. 17).

[hydrophilic]

Unload the explosives, alcohol and the anabolic steroid stash from your vehicle before going through the gate at the power plant.