HISTORY WATER TRAIL RETRACES EXPLORER'S VOYAGE Will tourists follow in shallop's wake? OTHER TRAILS JAMESTOWN EVENTS TALKING BUOYS ON THE NET
Nation's first-ever water trail aims to help Americans appreciate Chesapeake Bay watershed's human and natural heritage
Date published: 8/25/2007
By CLINT SCHEMMER
As the John Smith shallop glided toward Fredericksburg last week, word of its approach up the Rappahannock River spread like wildfire. Neighbors, friends and family telegraphed the news from house to house, to the effect of "The shallop's coming! The shallop's coming!"
On Burnley Farm near Sealston in King George County, owner Anna Smith got a call from a downstream relative. She jumped in her pickup and sped down the gravel lane from her house to the riverbank just in time to glimpse the odd, bargelike boat as it passed by.
A few miles upriver in Stafford's River Bend subdivision, three friends broke off their morning walk to hurry back home in hopes of spotting the vessel from their backyards on the river.
The same sort of thing, no doubt, is happening as the shallop nears Deltaville for tomorrow's Great Chesapeake Shallop Races at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.
That's just the sort of excitement the creators of America's newest trail--nearing the end of its inauguration this summer by the crew of the shallop--hoped it would generate.
Powered only by sail and oar, the boat's 1,500-mile voyage is bringing attention to a previously little-known piece of American history: Smith's daring explorations of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. And it's blazing the way on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the United States' first water trail.
The water route, signed into law in December by President Bush, is part of the National Trails System created by Congress in 1968 to promote outdoor recreation and preserve nationally significant historic resources. The Appalachian Trail is perhaps the best-known of its jewels.
The shallop set off from Jamestown May 12 at the height of the 400th anniversary celebration of the colony's founding. By the time it returns Sept. 8, officials estimate a million people will have seen it and learned about Smith and the trail.
Before this summer, Smith's voyages hadn't gotten much ink, at least in modern times. Detailed histories of Jamestown mentioned only in passing that the cocky Englishman took a little boat to the head of the Chesapeake and its rivers, the first European to explore the region.
| In Deltaville tomorrow, all three replica shallops (or barges) built on the bay--by Sultana Projects, the Reedville Fishermen's Museum and the Deltaville Maritime Museum--will race one another. This evening, their crews will be welcomed at a reception benefiting the three museums. Black Americans highlight their contributions to U.S. society over the past 400 years during the "Virginia Black Expo: A Cultural and Commerce Exposition" in Hampton today and yesterday.
The "World of 1607" is on view at the Jamestown Settlement Museum near Williamsburg until next April. The special exhibition puts America's first permanent English colony in a global context, explaining the bigger race for discovery and commerce of which it was a part. Artifacts from collections around the world include a 15th-century copy of the Magna Carta, a 16th-century African ivory carving and items from the Virginia Company, the enterprise that bankrolled the Jamestown settlers.
"Jamestown, Quebec, Santa Fe: Three North American Beginnings," at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, surveys the simultaneous colonization of America north of Mexico by three world powers. Displaying 150 rare European and American Indian artifacts from this early period, it tells the stories of the first permanent English settlement in 1607, the first permanent French settlement in 1608 and the chartering of the first villa in New Mexico in 1609. The show ends Sept. 3.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will welcome leaders and students from dozens of democracies to Williamsburg on Sept. 16-19. Hosted by Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William & Mary, The Forum on the Future of Democracy will culminate a yearlong series of Jamestown conferences. It isn't open to the public.
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Deltaville shallop races: fbyc.net
johnsmith400.org
nationalgeographic.com/chesapeake
friendsofthejohnsmith trail.org
baygateways.net/smith explorations.cfm
cbf.typepad.com/ johnsmith
nps.gov/cajo/ planyourvisit/maps.htm
buoybay.net
virginia.org/johnsmith trail
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Wondering what the waves are like off Jamestown Island or at the mouth of the Potomac? Want to hit the John Smith trail from your La-Z-Boy?
You can do all that and more via new "smart" buoys that are collecting data on the Chesapeake's water and atmospheric conditions and transmitting it wirelessly to cell phones and the Web.
The first of three buoys was placed off Jamestown just in time for the May 12 departure of the John Smith shallop. Two more were put in the bay this summer, and the shallop acts as a "fourth buoy," carrying its own sophisticated instrumentation, said Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which created the devices.
They aren't just for boaters and fishermen. Landlubbers can get up-to-the-minute information from the buoys--which mark the new water trail and provide historical information about their locations--by calling 877-BUOY-BAY or visiting NOAA's special Web site, buoybay.org. |
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The John Smith water trail is the newest thing on the national scene, but it has some smaller-scale company here in the commonwealth.
Local activists recently created a water trail along the Rappahannock River to guide paddlers and encourage conservation.
The Rappahannock River Water Trail runs from Kelly's Ford near Remington to Fredericksburg's City Dock, and includes part of the Rapidan River from Eley's Ford to the confluence of the Rappahannock and Rapidan.
With a $109,000 grant from the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, Friends of the Rappahannock published a water-resistant guide for travelers that notes historical, environmental and natural points of interest, with maps and references.
Virginia is working with other states and the federal government to develop the John Smith water trail and the land-based Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Trail, both of which transect the Fredericksburg area.
In mid-state, the James River Association and the Virginia Paddlers Association are establishing the James River Heritage Water Trail, like the Rappahannock route. The 400-mile trail will extend from the James' headwaters near Hot Springs to Cape Henry. Maps for the middle and lower stretches are available, and headwaters and bay maps should be published next year.
Lastly, the state has created Captain John Smith's Trail on the James, a 40-site water route and auto tour for modern explorers. Three loops, each with a map, tell travelers where to hike, camp and launch boats, and describe historic sites and natural features. |
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Date published: 8/25/2007
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