By Jacob Taylor How ordinary citizens are impacting the health and preservation of the James River Park System The James River will always be partially defined by its rich, winding history, but it is the people that care about preserving and improving Richmond’s unique feature who are taking action to make sure America’s founding river Read more about River Angels[…]
River City, a StoryMap designed and built by Haley Neuenfeldt with contributions from all our reporters, plots the geography of student storytelling along the James River through Richmond.
By Frances Gichner It’s a warm Wednesday in April, late afternoon, and roughly two dozen people stand on a soggy patch of land at the base of a 60-foot-high stack of granite and cement. The James River, in flood stage, surges past, just a few feet away. To get to the base of this wall, Read more about Climbing RVA’s Riverfront Ruins[…]
By Caroline Robelen Blankets are cozy. Raindrops hitting your window pane are cozy. Trudging through the mud on a drizzly Saturday morning picking up beer cans and cigarette butts is decidedly not cozy. Nor are aching back from bending over and sore arms from lugging one bag for recyclables and another for trash. But despite Read more about Clean is Cozy, but Community is Cozier[…]
By Marina Winkler A voice reaches out through the rush of wind and the distant whistle of a train. “Are you guys here for the BioBlitz?” The person behind the voice, a young woman with her hair pulled into a neat bun named Penelope Davenport, steps out from under a tent fluttering wildly in the Read more about Hidden Gems of the James: BioBlitz 2019[…]
By Elizabeth Halasz Thick, impenetrable walls of green rise on either side of the trail. For a moment, the gravel path I’m walking on seems to intrude on the natural environment, as if our group is exposing an ecosystem that has been here forever. But has it? Or, is the green shrubbery that we see Read more about Riverbank Invaders[…]
By Marina Winkler Hidden under foliage and fallen trees, tiny amphibian feet skitter up and down small burrows under the cover of wooden boards. Suddenly, the board is lifted to reveal the sun-dappled faces of students, each with green halos from the trees high above. Soft hands, dirty from foraging through the leaf litter, Read more about Hidden Gems of the James: Salamanders[…]
By Haley Neuenfeldt On a recent April night, the east bank of the James River was transformed from a quiet wooded clearing to something magical in the moonlight—a fairytale scene complete with music, lights strung from trees, and a crowd of youthful revelers, all presided over by a king and queen. Welcome to River Dance, Read more about River Dance[…]
By Elizabeth Halasz The visible and invisible impacts of litter on the James River When I stepped out of my car at Pony Pasture, a recreational hotspot in the James River Park, I immediately looked down, hunting for trash. At first I didn’t see much. There was litter here, I knew, but the trash blends Read more about River Rubbish[…]
By Haley Neuenfeldt It’s 6:30 a.m., and the sun is peeking out. There is a golden tone on the rain puddles coming through the newly green trees. It is not warm without the full sun on your face, but it is the perfect weather for a morning run. But, no one is there. The Read more about Just A Midge: Caring for the Veins of the River City[…]