Markers of History

State Historical Marker
Virginia K-311
James River

Location: Just S of the James River Bridge on the E side of US 17/US 258/Carrollton Blvd, Carrollton, VA 23314

Visited: July 4, 2009, 10:15am

Transcription of marker: The James River flows about 340 miles from the junc­tion of the Jackson and Cowpasture rivers in Botetourt County to Hampton Roads at the Chesapeake Bay. In 1607 the first per­ma­nent English set­tle­ment in the New World was estab­lished on its banks at Jamestown. The colonists used the river as a path for explo­ration. With mod­ern cities and ship­yards as well as ancient plan­ta­tions lin­ing its banks, the James River remains one of Virginia’s most impor­tant nat­ural resources.

Department of Historic Resources, 1991

My impres­sions: On pre­vi­ous trips (which were all south­bound), we had seen the marker about the time we flew past it on the other side of the road, so this time, my wife was alert to find it (or, at least, a place to pull off the road before we reached the bridge, head­ing north). She cor­rectly guessed which signs were point­ing to a place to park, and was slow­ing down even before I spot­ted the marker.

There is some­thing about the James River. My wife has men­tioned to me a few times how, on her vis­its to my home­town, she found the Ottawa River sim­i­lar to the James. And now, I think I can see the sim­i­lar­i­ties. Both are fairly wide rivers (though the James, espe­cially at this point, is wider) and it can be miles between cross­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. And, look­ing at this marker, the Ottawa held an impor­tant role in Canada’s explo­ration at a sim­i­lar era (in fact, Samuel de Champlain is reputed to have lost his astro­labe near Cobden, ON in 1613).

Notes for future snar­fers: This is one marker you have to be pre­pared for, because you are mov­ing too quickly to stop in time once you’ve seen it (and it’s a long drive if you miss it, head­ing north and have to cross the whole bridge again). You’ll want to watch for signs for the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries area, called Ragged Island and use its park­ing lot. The marker is just S of the park­ing lot entrance.

Markeroni sta­tus: Logged.