The Tiller A Publication of the and Navigations Society Spring 2007 Volume 28, Issue 1

30 Years of VC&NS 2 The Tiller

President JRBF Committee Chairman Dan River Robert M. “Buddy” High Robert M. “Buddy” High Bob Carter General Delivery See President 1141 Irvin Farm Rd. Valentine, VA 23887 Reedsville, NC 27320 [email protected] Watercraft Operations [email protected] (434) 577-2427 William E. Turnage 6301 Old Wrexham Pl. Eastern Virginia Vice-President Chesterfield, VA 23832 Kyle Schilling Douglas MacLeod [email protected] 30 Brook Crest Ln. PO Box 3119 Stafford, VA 22554 Lynchburg, VA 24503 Board of Trustees (434) 577-2427 [email protected] Natalie Ross PO Box 8224 Northern Virginia Recording Secretary Charlottesville, VA 22906 Myles “Mike” R. Howlett Jean High [email protected] 6826 Rosemont Dr. General Delivery Term: 2007-2012 McLean, VA 22101 Valentine, VA 23887 [email protected] [email protected] Douglas MacLeod (434) 577-2427 See Vice-President Richmond Term: 2006-2011 Vacant Corresponding Secretary Lynn Howlett William E. Trout, III, Ph.D. Rivanna River 6826 Rosemont Dr. 35 Towana Rd. Peter C. Runge McLean, VA 22101 Richmond, VA 23226 119 Harvest Dr. [email protected] [email protected] Charlottesville, VA 22903 Term: 2005-2010 Treasurer [email protected] Atwill R. Melton William E. Turnage 1587 Larkin Mountain Rd. See Watercraft Operations Southeast Virginia Amherst, VA 24521 Term: 2004-2009 George Ramsey [email protected] 2827 Windjammer Rd. Richard Davis Suffolk, VA 23435 Archivist/Historian See VCNS Sales [email protected] Phillip Eckman Term: 2003-2008 902 Park Ave. Colonial Heights, VA 23834 District Directors Staunton River [email protected] Roy Barnard Appomattox River 94 Batteau Rd. Nancy Trout Webmaster Alta Vista, VA 24517 35 Towana Rd. George Ramsey, Jr. [email protected] Richmond, VA 23226 [email protected] [email protected] Upper VCNS Sales Central James River Thomas M. Kastner Richard Davis David Haney Cedar Hill 4066 Turnpike Rd. RR 1 Box 338 1093 Forge Rd. Lexington, VA 24450 Evington, VA 24550 Lexington, VA 24450 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] The Tiller 3 Table of Contents

4. Letter from VC&NS President and JRBF Chair, ~~Robert M. “Buddy” High 5. In Memoriam, Dewey Wood ~~Robert M. “Buddy” High 5. The Elizabeth River ~~Amy W. Yarsinske Virginia Canals and 6. Happy Anniversary for VC&NS: 30 Years ~~Minnie Lee McGehee Navigations Society 7. Where Are They Now? 6826 Rosemont Dr. Mary Garner McGehee McLean, VA 22101 8. A Dream Deferred: The Virginia Canals and Navigations Society Ed and Georgia Barbour is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. ~~Ashley Egan 10. Sandra Day O’Connor Membership Information: ~~Myles “Mike” R. Howlett Dues apply to the calendar year and entitle 11. Diggin’ Man John Henry members to all editions of The Tiller for that ~~William Trout, Ph.D. calendar year. 14. The James R. Batteau or Tobacco Boat; An Authentic Replica for Virginia Membership Dues: (Reprint with Addendum) Life Membership, Single $300.00 ~~William Trout, Ph.D Life Membership, Couple $400.00 Single Individual $18.00 Couple $20.00 Sustaining Member $30.00 Patron $65.00 Non-profit Organization $18.00 For-profit Organization $30.00 Students, Schools, Libraries $8.00 Correction: In the last issue of the Tiller, Nancy Trout not William Trout wrote the “Highlights of Spring Meeting in Pe- VCNS Publications tersburg, Virginia” article. Publications Coordinator Douglas MacLeod On the Cover: [email protected] An unfinished painting by Georgia Barbour, many of her unfinished works have been completed by The Tiller, Editor and Art Director local artists (See Page 9) and were on display at Ashley Egan Cafe Cubano in Charlottesville, VA throughout the [email protected] month of May. The Sweep Photo Courtesy of Pastor Liz Embrey Peter C. Runge On the Back Cover: [email protected] Dewey Wood on the Maple Run. 4 The Tiller The VC&NS President and JRBF Chairman Robert M. “Buddy” High This has been a busy winter and spring. next year. We had a wonderful fellowship and Since I donated the Brunswick Belle Batteau (For enjoyed our tour of the falls on the Appomattox the story see The Tiller, Winter 2006-2007, Volume River at Petersburg and learned a lot about the plans 27, Issue 4) to the Roanoke Canal Society, I had by both Dominion Resources & Friends of Lower to get busy building a new batteau for the 22nd Appomattox River (FOLAR) for exciting new annual James River Batteau Festival. We picked ventures in the surrounding area. up the lumber the latter part of January and we Make your plans now to attend the James now have the new Brunswick Belle soaking in River Batteau Festival which will start in Lake Gaston. The swelling process should be Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday June 16, 2007 and finished in a few more days. I still have a lot of end on Saturday June 23, 2007 at Maiden’s Landing caulking to do before heading to Lynchburg. near Richmond. We are planning for good food, We had our Annual VC&NS Meeting in good fellowship and good water levels. Please let Petersburg this past weekend with not as much me know if you have any questions. attendance from the members as I had hoped. Next year, I plan to dedicate my efforts to Even with the small crowd I feel we did seek ways to encourage more membership accomplish a lot. In my report to the members I participation. If you have any ideas or suggestions reported that the finances were in good shape: we please feel free to contact me. We have a good have the Medallion at the Welcome Center in mission and beautiful resources with all the rivers Chesapeake lined up to be installed and we are and history, so let’s become involved and make excited about making plans for having a retreat our Canal Society flourish.

“Buddy” High on Brunswick Belle, Photo by Seth Browder and Courtesy of Holt Messerly The Tiller 5 In Memoriam I struggle to come up with the words to say what my heart feels today. I know I have lost such a good friend; but I am so privileged to have known Dewey. Our Batteau family will not be the same but we have all been blessed with our wonderful memories. The spirit of Dewey will live on in all the lives he has touched. My prayers go out to all the heavy hearts today and especially Sarah. ~~Buddy High

Above: Dewey Wood aboard the Maple Run in 2003. Right: Dewey Wood and Buddy High at the Annual Meeting in 2004. Photos by Holt Messerly

The Elizabeth River

5IF&MJ[BCFUI3JWFS I wanted to let all of you know that the Elizabeth River book, nearly 400 pages in length and over 185 photographs, will be making its appearance in late May. So many folks have reminded me that such a substantive volume on the river is much needed and a long time coming. The book is landmark in the depth of its content on the river—it is 150,000-plus words—and there was amazingly no desire on the part of the publisher to cut anything, thus the river’s story is told in very :BSTJOTLF 5IF complete form. I have attached the cover art/copy for you all to see. &MJ[BCFUI Please look for it in late May, but I wanted the Society to hear from 3JWFS me and not a publicist that it was coming. "NZ8BUFST:BSTJOTLF Best regards, Amy W. Yarsinske 6 The Tiller HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FOR VC&NS: 30 YEARS! ~~Minnie Lee McGehee

The Virginia Canals and Navigations From the beginning of the Society, the Society was formed in 1977 when a group of Virginia rivers and their tributaries were enthusiasts who love rivers and old canals and acknowledged as districts and members were locks and met in Richmond. Their stated appointed to be chairmen of those streams. Society aims for action mirrored their purpose, their goals members in the districts helped the chairs; and as and their ambitions: a result great activities and achievements in ...to preserve and enhance conservation, public recognition of rivers and Virginia’s rich waterways heritage in all its historical sites have been constantly reported and fascinating aspects. History, archaeology, recognized in THE TILLER and newspapers. local lore and legend, restoration, Annual meetings have been held in these preservation, park and trail development— districts and this has added to public awareness of these are some of the many areas of interest the treasures we have inherited along our our members pursue to their own great waterways and the need to preserve the quality of satisfaction and frequently to the lasting the river watersheds. Many districts hold special benefit of their communities and to our events during the year to increase public state. awareness; they also hold workdays when hands- THE TILLER, the Society’s publication, on preservation efforts have improved the sites of begun in spring 1980 and edited by Russell H. navigation remains. Harding, has covered the activities of the When Joe Ayers and people in Columbia organization and has printed very significant, built the first replica of the James River batteaux, original, and interesting research done by the the Society helped them. This first batteau members and other contributors. The publication completed a trip to Richmond on Friday, June l, has endured, holding the membership together and 1984. The Navigation Society continued to promoting the aims of the Society, and has grown support the building of authentic replicas of the into a very presentable journal. We would like to old batteaux and the James River Batteau Festival recognize and thank the editors who have faithfully was born and has continued to be a successful poured their talents and time into this publication. annual activity. This annual week-long trip from The Society also circulates to the membership a Lynchburg to Maiden’s Adventure is enjoyed by newsletter called THE SWEEP that gives the news the batteaux crews, their friends, and the public. and notices of activities and frees THE TILLER There have been as many as twenty batteaux for articles about activities, research, and participating in the Festival each June. The contributions of members and like-minded river captains of the batteaux have taken their heavy and canal people. crafts to participate in special events on many This first printing of THE TILLER, issued rivers in Virginia. Some years ago, the Batteau in April, 1985. listed George W. Higgs, Jr., Festival became a recognized chapter of the President; William W. Parkinson, Vice-President; Society. Mrs. Vivienne Mitchell, Treasurer; Nan Netherton, A Society activity that has done much to Historian/Archivist; the Trustees were James R. educate the school children and the general public Ayers, Richard R. Fletcher, and Theodore M. Shad. about the early navigations and the wonderful stone Mrs. Mitchell held the mailing address. structures that remain today has been the The Tiller 7 publication of Dr. W. E. Trout’s river atlases that contain histories of the rivers and maps that designate interesting features on each river. The first one Trout completed was THE JAMES RIVER BATTEAU FESTIVAL TRAIL ATLAS which has been very popular and been reprinted many times. Several of the Atlases have been revised and reprinted as Trout continues his research. Where Are They Now? Mary Garner McGehee Editor’s Note: For the 30th Anniversary of the VC&NS we are revisiting some of the people that we have covered in the past. Mary Garner McGehee graced the back cover of the Winter Tiller (Volume 23, Is- Above: The back cover of the Winter Tiller. sue 4). Mary Garner McGehee has just Below: Mary Garner McGehee. started the fifth grade, and is a straight-A Right: Budding actress Mary Garner McGehee honor roll student. She is also a budding on the first day of school, pictured with her thespian, playing the role of the cricket in sister, aspiring author, Eva McGehee. Photos Courtesy of Betty McGehee Pinocchio and the gigling princess in the Princess and the Pea, last year at Central Elementary School in Fluvanna County. She serves as an acolyte at First Methodist Church in Charlottesville, Va. Obviously, her Grandmother, Minnie Lee McGehee and parents Overton McGehee and Theresa Carroll are extremely proud of her. 8The Tiller

Ed and Georgia Barbour’s wedding on the river in 1996. Photo Courtesy of Ed Barbour A Dream Deferred: Ed and Georgia Barbour ~~Ashley Egan

Editor’s Note: This started out as a “Where Are They Now” piece, Ed and Georgia Barbours’ wedding was covered in the Winter 1996 issue (Volume 17, Issue 4) of The Tiller and Ed’s dream of building gondolas was covered in the Winter 2003 issue (Volume 23, Issue 4). I must thank Ed Barbour for sharing his wife’s remarkable story with me.

Ed Barbour may not be building his Correctional Jail. As he said, “She was a very gondolas, but one could argue that he is building vibrant person who succumbed to this disease something much better. Hope. He is currently [alcoholism]… She just couldn’t turn it around… working for the State of Virginia Correctional She was 55.” System as a counselor, helping inmates as they Georgia Barbour’s life touched many people transition out of the penal system and into society. over many continents. She was a talented artist and In his work he faces the most troubled segment teacher. After graduating from Randolph Macon of society-- drug addicts, alcoholics and gang Women’s College in 1971, and before serving in members -- and helps them to become productive the Peace Corps she worked in a kibbutz in Israel. members of society. One can surmise that the Later in the Peace Corps and on her way to Zaire to recent tragedy in his life has a bit to do with it: teach English and French, her DC-10 stopped to on June 8th 2006, his wife Georgia Barbour, refuel in Uganda. After the plane took off, it was committed suicide while in the Charlottesville escorted down by two Zaire Government jets. She, The Tiller 9 along with 110 other people, was captured and held for four days by Idi Amin. She sneaked back onto the plane, was taken off and pistol-whipped. “I never used Fortunately, after three days, the President of Zaire, Joseph Mobutu, was able to convince the drugs. It doesn’t government that the hostages were not mercenaries but peace-makers. She then went on to Lambazi bother me to face the and Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire, now the Republic of Congo, where she received acclimation ghosts. I am not like training. After her training, the Peace Corps sent her to live in a Belgium monastery in Zaire in a lot of people...” unexpected splendor. the household staff included both a cook and a gardener. ~~Ed Barbour After she left the Peace Corps, she hitchhiked throughout West Africa. She traveled through the Sahara on a camel. She took a batteau up the Niger River to Timbuktu, where she met her first husband. daughter, Ashley Hiemenz, who is following in her In 2000, Georgia took photos when the mother’s footsteps and teaching English there. Barbours traveled to Viet Nam, and visited where Georgia’s other daughter, Jessica Hiemenz, Ed had traveled while serving in the military during went to Virginia Tech and majored in the Viet Nam War. While some people might not Environmental Planning and Policy; she is be able to make such a trip, Ed says “I never used currently working for Fair Trade Coffee in Boston, drugs. It doesn’t bother me to face the ghosts. I MA. Ed’s daughters are also following the artist’s am not like a lot of people. There are a lot of people path. Erin Barbour is a percussionist with a who won’t go back.” This past March, Ed and his master’s degree in music from Indiana University daughters went back to Viet Nam to visit Georgia’s who plays in a municipal band and has her own

You can donate to Georgia’s Friends by checking out their website: www.georgiasfriends.com. A $25.00 donation can help feed a woman for one week. One of Georgia’s Painting that was finished by Joy Meyer, which was part of the silent auction in May. Photo Courtesy of Pastor Liz Emery. 10 The Tiller show coming up. Blaire Barbour is finishing her had a good heart.” Unsatisfied, she asked “what last semester in Art School. about intelligence?” And he told her that, “If she Erin also serves on the board of the non- had all that she had to be intelligent!” profit organization “Georgia’s Friends,” which These two intelligent and adventurous provides help for women struggling with spirits were married aboard the “Edward Scott” alcoholism and drug abuse. Inspired by Georgia’s batteau on November 9, 1996, at the horse shoe life and death, it was started after she died. bend of the James River. It was a cold winter day On May 4th there was an Art Show and and the groom wore traditional “batteau attire,” Silent Auction, at the Café Cubana on the while the bride glowed in white. After the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia, from ceremony, Gay Blunder and the Highland Dancers 5-8:00 pm. Local artists have finished Georgia’s led them up the street to Café Bocci, for the work, which was on display throughout May. reception. Georgia once asked Ed why he married her. Now, ten years later, Georgia is gone, but He told her that “she was adventurous, had a high her legacy lives on through Ed, their children, and energy level, was good looking, and most of all all the women helped by Georgia’s Friends. Reminiscing on Justice Sandra Day O’Connor ~~Myles “Mike” R. Howlett

The recent commemoration ceremony for Justice O’Connor brought to mind her connection with VC&NS She was an honorary member. In 1998, she was invited by the National Capitol Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Engineering and History Committee and the VC& NS to visit the canal. She is an avid student of the Constitution and very interested in the conditions that led to its final drafting. (For more information, check out Lynn Howlett’s book: The Patowmack Canal: From Canal to Constitution.) Two weeks after an appendix operation, she and a member of her staff came to Great Falls Park for a tour of the canal. She was dressed in a way to avoid recognition; she wanted to see the canal, not talk to visitors. We started at the wing and pointed out what remained of all of the sections of the canal and structures that still remain along the canal route, ending at the overlook at Lock 5. After over two hours of a rather long, tiring trip, for a person just weeks after surgery, I suggested that sometime she might like to return and go farther down to the overlook where she could get a good look at the area Sandra Day O’Connor incognito and parts of the canal. Her response was not on the Potomac River surprising for those who know her – “let’s do it now.” Photo courtesy of Lynn Howlett And we did. The Tiller 11 Canal Diggin’ Man John Henry ~~William Trout, Ph.D.

The ballad about John Henry, the Steel The legendary John Henry was probably a Drivin’ man, became so popular, with so many real person, and even if he wasn’t he deserves to variations, that it is almost impossible today to be celebrated as an icon representing the many separate fact from legend. Somewhere, a man African-Americans who worked and died to build whose real name was or was not John Henry, our country. The problem is, there is more legend drilled blasting holes for a railway tunnel with his than fact about John Henry, thanks mainly to the hammer, won a drilling contest with a new-fangled many versions of the ballad written about him. We steam drill, and died, or didn’t, as a result. In his have a bit about John Henry in the NEW RIVER book STEEL DRIVIN’ MAN ATLAS, on page 103, because JOHN HENRY: THE many believe that John Henry UNTOLD STORY OF AN Did You Know? did his thing in Big Bend Tunnel AMERICAN LEGEND along the Greenbrier River at (Oxford U. Press, 2006), Scott According to Talcott, West Virginia, where Nelson presents evidence that records, the James there is now a huge statue of John Henry was a real person, John Henry, a John Henry Park and that he was “on loan” to the River and under development (with a trail C&O Railway Company from Kanawha Canal planned through the original, the Virginia State Penitentiary now abandoned tunnel), and an in Richmond. One of the songs had it’s own John annual “John Henry Days.” A about him mentions the “White Henry, George US postage stamp with John House,” which evidently was a Henry on it was unveiled during name for the State Pen, and sure Washington and this festival in 1996, and there’s enough, Nelson discovered that . even a novel, JOHN HENRY there is a John Henry in the DAYS, about the event. penitentiary records, who was No one can really prove that sent to work on the C&O in the John Henry of legend was 1868. You can see this record there. Nelson thinks that he was for yourself in the Library of Virginia: just ask for not at Big Bend, but at Lewis Tunnel, 50 miles east “Virginia Department of Corrections, State up the line, where the records mention steam Penitentiary, Prison Register No.1, 31 May 1863 - drilling. But we know there were plans to ship by 19 January 1869, Accession # 35178.” In it, on batteau, two large stationary steam engines down page 118, is John William Henry, age 19, 5' 1-1/ the Greenbrier to Big Bend Tunnel, probably for 4", convicted of house breaking in Prince George hauling spoil up the tunnel’s shafts, or for pumping County and given a two-year sentence. The entry water. Couldn’t one of the steam engine boilers says “Received Nov 26th 1868 of Bumkan have supplied steam for the trial of the steam drill? Wardwell Superintendent to Penty [penitentiary] Big Bend was dug in 1870-1872 and Lewis the above named convicts twenty seven (27) in in 1870-1871, so John William Henry could have number to work on Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad.” been there. (So could a prisoner named John Henry At that time, just after the Civil War, the C&O was Bell, sent to work on the railroad in 1868, but he being constructed over the Alleghany Mountains was marked “discharged” so he probably didn’t die (Alleghany with an “a” is the Virginian spelling) there.) Nelson says John William Henry was first from Virginia into West Virginia. sent there in 1868 and disappeared from the 12 The Tiller penitentiary records after 1873 when he believes North Carolina Railroad being built over the Blue his corpse was returned to the penitentiary for Ridge Mountains to Asheville, through Swannanoa burial. Others are not so sure. For example, John Tunnel. No one has yet written a good novel about Garst has very good evidence that the real John building the C&O Railway over the Alleghanies. Or, Henry (or another John Henry) did his thing at for that matter, about the Kanawha Canal! Oak Mountain Tunnel on the Columbus & Of special interest to us was Scott Nelson’s Western RY in Alabama, in 1887. You can read discovery that the penitentiary records also list both sides of the argument on www.ibiblio.org/ prisoners lent to the James River & Kanawha john_henry. Company to work on the canal at Maiden’s To get an idea of the life of a prisoner Adventure Dam in 1867-68. These records are all working in a railway tunnel in those days, try we know now about this work, because the canal reading John Ehle’s 1967 novel, THE ROAD. It’s company’s annual reports were very short after the about a similar railway project on the Western War, mentioning nothing but the company’s finances.

Statue of John Henry in West Virginia Photo by Ken Thomas, http://www.kenthomas.us/ The Tiller 13 On page 141 of the Prison Register is a list of twelve “returned & discharged,” “returned and sent to the prisoners dated March 30, 1868 and the affidavit canal again,” “returned and still here,” “returned “Received from the Superintendent of the Virginia to Penty sick,” “returned and sent to turnpike,” or Penitentiary the above named Coloured Convicts “returned and pardoned,” so unless the authorities Twelve in Number, to be worked on the James made a horrible mistake, “returned” didn’t River & Kanawha Canal and furnished at the necessarily mean “dead.” But there must have been special request of Charles J. Carrington President deaths even if the Prison Register didn’t say so. of Said Canal by the general order of the Governor What were the prisoners doing on the canal of Virginia, which said convicts are to be returned in 1867-68? From the few clues in the Prison here whenever required by the Governor.” One of Register, they were working at Maiden’s Adventure the twelve convicts was John Henry. Dam (near Goochland Court House), some of them He was not the same John Henry who on a steam dredge, under the eye of Capt. James worked on the railroad, but here‘s proof that the W. Ezelle. Perhaps a flood had silted up the canal canal had its own John Henry. This one was there. The labor was probably supplied free of cost described as having a large tear on his right leg to the canal company, but the company probably outside the knee joint. He was received by the Pen paid to house, shackle and guard the convicts, and on September 20, 1867, was 5’5” tall and age 21, to try to chase them down when they escaped. The and received a two-year term for house breaking. Pen sent their inmates some supplies: On October Other notables sent to work on the canal were 1, 1867 they sent four convicts to Maiden‘s convicts George Washington “alias Jno Neal,” and Adventure Dam along with a suit of clothes and Thomas Jefferson. This Jefferson was received by two blankets for each, and for the other convicts the Pen on October 18, 1866, when he was 18, had ten pairs of pants, ten shirts, and three pairs of a left little finger broken at the second joint, and “brogues” (shoes). Someday someone will find was in for a seven-year term for house-breaking out more about this work and Capt. Ezelle. and larceny. He was sent to work on the canal on We know that this was not the first time July 1, 1868 and escaped later that month. that prisoners worked on the canal. For example, The Prison Register lists a great number of back in 1858, they helped build the North River escapes. I tried to make a table of what happened Navigation up to Lexington, along what is now to those sent to work on the canal. The records list called the Maury River. Edward Lorraine, the 128 convicts sent to the canal, in 1867 and 1868 canal’s Chief Engineer, calculated that the value (138 were sent, but 10 are marked “returned [to of the prisoners’ work was only slightly higher than the Pen] and sent to the canal” so they were listed the cost to the company, because they had to be at least twice). Of these, 47 are marked “escaped” guarded, chained, housed in a secure building, and - so about a third of them escaped. Only four of tracked down and caught every time they ran away. these are marked “escaped & captured.” No fate There is a bit of that on p.24 of THE MAURY was noted for 33 convicts. Did they die, working RIVER ATLAS. on the canal, or did the record keeper just not enter And here’s another thought: If, as planned anything? Scott Nelson found a medical newspaper (and actually approved by the US Congress), the reporting a high death rate amongst convict canal James River & Kanawha Canal had been built over workers about that time. He also found an 1868 the Alleghany Mountains, where the C&O Railway state law requiring the return of either the convict, is now, then John Henry would have been drilling or $100, to encourage their recapture. So perhaps a canal tunnel, and his ballad would have begun: some of the convicts marked “returned” were returned dead, to be buried in the mass graves which When John Henry was quite a little lad were excavated on the Penitentiary grounds a few He sat on his mammy’s knee. years ago. Eighteen of the 128 canal workers are Said, “The Big Bend Tunnel on the JR&K marked just “returned.” But another 42 are marked Will be the death of me.” 14 The Tiller The James R. Batteau or Tobacco Boat; An Authentic Replica for Virginia ~~William Trout, Ph.D Reprinted from The Tiller, Volume 5 Issue 1, March 1984 Editor’s Note: This article was originally printed in The Tiller in 1984. It empha- sizes how much we have learned and how far we have come in 23 years.

In August of 1983, five batteaux and a canoeists now enjoy shooting the sluices built for packet boat were discovered in the James River & batteaux up to two centuries ago. Kanawha Canal’s Great Basin at the foot of Capitol The James River Batteaux was like no other Hill in Richmond. These had been buried under American batteau. Anthony Rucker of Amherst silt and fill for over a century and were uncovered County invented it to replace the James River’s during excavation by Faison Corporation for an double canoes, which had been virtually wiped out office building in CSX’s James Center. With the by a destructive flood in 1771. Thomas Jefferson help of volunteers organized by the Archeological was present when the first James River Batteau Society of Virginia and the Virginia Canals and was launched, and he later helped secure a patent. Navigations Society, the boats were excavated, The James River Batteau was developed measured and photographed, then disassembled specifically to carry tobacco – the money crop (and and stored underwater. They will be taken to the in fact the money itself) of Colonial Virginia – in Science Museum of Virginia to soak for a year and large hogsheads from upland plantations down to more in polyethylene glycol, a water logged-wood the tobacco warehouses and the coastal markets. preservative. Then they can be reassembled for The batteaux were just wide enough to carry the display and study. The excavation received both hogsheads, which were rolled onto it from either local and national coverage and has created a end. The Patent Office burned down so we do not renewed interest in Virginia’s Canal Era. yet know the details of Rucker’s patent. But it was Before the Great Basin dig, no one now no doubt general enough to cover variations on the living had ever seen a James River batteau – also original theme, including the five batteaux found known as the Tobacco or Market Boat. “Batteau” that August in the Great Basin. is French for “boat” so is a general term, but it The five batteaux recovered from the basin primarily referred to a relatively light, keelless, flat- are basically similar but differ from each other in bottomed craft pointed at both ends, steered by long detail, probably reflecting both different boatyards sweeps and propelled by poles, oars, and (rarely) and different eras. One of them, which we call the square sails. The late Eighteenth Century saw the “Bridge Boat,” is the smallest, about five feet wide, peak of the American batteau era, but in Virginia held together with wooden pegs. This had been and the South, where there were few towpath flattened out and turned over onto logs to form a canals, batteaux were the typical craft of the upland road bridge across a narrow gully in the bottom of rivers almost into this century, running the rapids the basin. It must have been an abandoned hulk from the Appalachian Mountains east to tidewater before being used as a bridge, so it considerably and west to the Ohio. In Virginia there still are predates 1800, when water was first let into the sluices, wing dams, locks and canals from her basin, inundating the bridge. batteau era, scattered along more than a thousand The other four batteaux are eight feet wide miles of upland rivers and streams. Whitewater and forty or more feet long, built to the same The Tiller 15 general pattern. The oldest, probably built before been constructed in America, but no canal batteaux, 1800, is the “Red Boat,” fastened together with even though they are smaller and less complex. rose-head nails (an early type) and painted red. There are quite a number of canal parks, especially The other had machine-cut nails, so are probably in Virginia and the South, where a batteau would from the early 1800s. These are the: “Hatch Boat,” be the appropriate craft to give visitors a genuine with evidence of a decked platform at the stern; canal experience. In and around Virginia these the “Hearth Boat,” with a stone and brick cooking include Great Falls Park and Harper’s Ferry (on hearth; and the “Coal Boat” still with a few inches George Washington’s Potomac Navigation), the of coal in the bilges. None of the boats were canals in Fredericksburg, Petersburg and completely intact, but elements of each can be used Richmond; the canal towns of Columbia, to design an authentic replica. Scottsville, Lynchburg, Buchanan and Lexington; These boats have added importance at the Roanoke Transportation Museum and the because they were not only early American inland Mariners Museum; and on the Staunton Scenic river craft, but were also canal craft on the first River and the New River. On the James River canal system in the U.S., the James River Canal system, the James River Batteau would be (later the JR&K), of which George Washington appropriate; elsewhere, every effort must be made was President. The American Canal Society had to determine the appropriate local type… referred to them as “the most significant towpath Everyone from the Reverend Robert Rose, canal era archeological discovery to date. The boat Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and George remains found in the Great Basin in Richmond Washington, down to the skilled and courageous will prove invaluable for study and understanding boatmen, had a part in developing a navigation of the earliest canalboat development, construction system especially designed to carry batteaux and and useage in the new world.” their tobacco from the landlocked farmers down to Before the discovery of the James River tidewater on the sea. Now we can build one of batteaux, we could only guess at the details of their these batteaux and relearn the lost art of batteau construction. Now it has suddenly become poling. In doing so we can generate a greater possible to build an authentic replica, using appreciation of a forgotten part of our past, and original boats almost two centuries old as full-scale encourage the creation of canal parks, trails and patterns. Over a dozen replicas of canalboats have other space.

Addendum The project was a joint one between to the Parks Department, with the intention of VC&NS and the Archaeological Society of making it into a visitor center for Richmond’s Virginia. The boats (mainly batteau bows, and one James River Park System. Pump House Park has canal freighter bow) were disassembled, labeled, two locks, three canals, and the grand entrance and put underwater in the Byrd Park Pump House. arch from George Washington’s time, so this will They still need to be treated with a preservative be great for canals in Richmond. If the Pump so they can be dried out without cracking and House is developed as we expect, we will need to falling apart, and reassembled again for study and move the boat parts out. display. The third happening is that new treatments Recently three things have happened: for waterlogged wood have been developed, since Late last year the Archeological Society of Virginia the boats were put in the water in 1983-85. These was given a James River Plantation, Kittiewan, new treaments make it affordable now to treat our to use as its state headquarters, and ASV has several tons of wood. offered us the use of a barn there to put the boats If you want to get involved with this project, in. Also, earlier this year the Pump House was contact Bill Trout at [email protected] or transferred from Richmond’s Utility Department Buddy High at [email protected] Dewey Wood July 28, 1955-May 23,2007 Photo by Holt Messerly