Stop.
Don’t skip ahead and answer this…
What’s the nearest river to you?
How has it affected you?
How does it affect you?
For a long time I didn’t think much about rivers. Of course I enjoyed playing in them and watching them, but I didn’t really think much about them. They were there and that was that. But “that,” has changed much over the past few weeks due to my class on the James River.
The James River is river over 300 miles that stretches from the Appalachians, across Virginia and into the Chesapeake Bay which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. The river starts at Iron Gate where the Jackson and Cowpasture Rivers meet. This isn’t what I learned in class though, it’s just what I got off Wikipedia.
What I got from class was that we are connected to the river in so many ways. Richmond was built where it is because it was as far as the colonists could come up the river. The river made it easy for transportation, food, and other things like power. People fought the James, and tamed it by changing its flow to be more direct and better for their purposes. Even the school I go to is an extension of the river. We have a lake on campus(Westhampton Lake,) which feeds directly into the James. The campus was built here, because a closed amusement park used to be here because it could use the lake as an attraction. However the history of the James is as murky as its waters in a storm. Fights with Native Americans, exaggerated stories and tales have left a somewhat dirty early history, which wasn’t cleaned up much due to a history of pollution. The James has had a reputation as a dirty polluted river, due much in part to point source pollution by Kepone.
Despite this the river has since cleaned up its act. With new reform policies and increased awareness the river became much cleaner and became a major source of recreation. Places like Belle Isle, Pony Pasture, and Huguenot Flatwater have become major sources of recreation. (Natalie) I’ve been to all these places for slightly different activities but it’s always an adventure and a great change of pace. The local wildlife is also always worth the trip. ( Kevin , John ) There have also been many strides to improve recreation at these sites. As discussed in our class, the city is looking into bike trails to make these places much more accessible to bikers and walkers, which is especially nice for college students. Cleaning the river is often advertised to keep these places safe and pristine.
One thing I never really considered was watershed. I didn’t really know what one was. A watershed is a place where all the water in that area drains to the same place. So currently I’m in the James river watershed(actually I’m in several a watershed holds several watersheds) so if I drop any liquid it drains into the James. If I spill Gatorade outside, it flows into the James. If I spray pesticides and fertilizer, they run (with rain and runoff) into the James. If a deer peed ou-, you know lets skip that last one. But I never really thought about how every single drop of water in a watershed ends up in the James. A drop of water high in Northwest VA, goes into the James to where I am and then to the ocean. The scope is just so massive. And to consider the James River Watershed is just part of another watershed which is part of an even larger watershed, it is too big to imagine, at least for me. My campus as mentioned has a lake which is fed by two rivers. Now the lake has its own watershed that stretches over 3 times the size of campus. So what our neighbors off campus do, affects our lake on campus. I find it impressive, interesting, and a little frightening how connected everything really is.
Not only is our fun and history related to our river but so is our art and culture. Songs have been composed about the river, as well as paintings painted, photographs taken, and poems written. Take this previous post for example(Meeps) Just by describing the river Molly has created beautiful prose poetry without really meaning to, or at least I assume so. I’ve walked along the storm wall and have seen art and graffiti inspired by the River that both builds and breaks the city built on it. An interesting culture has also been built around the river. The river divides Richmond into two sides, the North side and South side. The two sides have a little bit of riverside prejudice against each other. Strange how a river that connects everything ended up making a barrier between people.
Rivers are fundamental to humans. Based on historical evidence we originated between two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. All our major civilizations began on rivers. Our race as a whole has been completely influenced by our rivers, and this influence cannot be removed. Generations after us will continue to be shaped by our rivers. Yet as the river shapes us we shape it. We can change the flow of a river. We can pollute and corrupt it into a river possible of catching flames from chemicals. We are able to clean and restore it, and build recreation, culture and arts around it. As we move the river the river moves us, though without taking time to stop and we don’t know how we affect the river and how it affects us.