Exploring the Delta of the Appomattox River

A heron on the Appomattox River.

Kenny Fletcher

The tidal Appomattox, short delta though it is, has offered at least a millennium of value to Homo sapiens.  Captains Christopher Newport and John Smith met the Queen of the Appamattuck people at her “bower” on the north bank in April 1607 on their first exploration up Powhatan’s River (which they named the James).  The Appamattuck tribe was well established on the river of its name then, as a member of Paramount Chief Powhatan’s Confederacy.   

In those days, the waters and marshes of the Appomattox Delta offered a rich, seasonal tapestry of edible plants, waterfowl, wildlife, and fish that had sustained the Appamattuck.  They included cattail stalk hearts and bloom spikes, arrowhead tubers, wild rice grains, ducks, Canada geese, tundra swans, muskrats, American shad, river herring, rockfish (striped bass), white perch and Atlantic sturgeon.  The uplands, including the high north bank today named Point of Rocks, provided fertile soils for farming, woodlands for hunting deer, turkeys, and small game, and trees various sizes and species for building dugout canoes and longhouses.  Ravines carrying rainwater downhill provided freshwater springs and paths to river landings.  Culturally attuned to this environment, the Appamattuck developed reasonably comfortable lifeways here. 

When exploring the Appomattox Delta today, keep this historical viewpoint in mind.  The waters, the marshes, and the uplands are still there, and while they lie within the bustling Tri-Cities area that surrounds them, they remain remarkably healthy.  There are multiple places where it’s not difficult to look around and feel as though the calendar has run backward for five-hundred years.   

The best way to absorb the feel of the Delta is by paddling a canoe or kayak.  That said, there’s enough mileage here that full self-propelled discovery would take a week or more.  Thus a day aboard a small (14-18’) outboard skiff running at moderate speed can be useful to get an overall sense of the Appomattox delta’s layout.  Two good landings that we have used are the Hopewell City Marina, including its adjacent Riverside Harbor Kayak Launch, and White Bank Park, on the tidal section of Swift Creek in the City of Colonial Heights.   

Over the past thirty years, the upper tidal James and the Appomattox Delta have drawn a constant stream of amateur and professional anglers to local, regional and national fishing tournaments for largemouth bass.  There is a thriving recreational fishery for trophy blue catfish, along with a growing commercial fishery for younger “eater catfish.”  Endangered Atlantic sturgeon have come back from near extinction.  The nearby Presquile National Wildlife Refuge, which also serves as the site of the James River Association’s Ecology School, attracts large numbers of bald eagles and great blue herons, plus summering ospreys and wintering migratory waterfowl. 

River deltas?  We love ‘em, especially when they help us weave geography, ecology, and human history together.  The Appomattox Delta has come a long way, and it’s only going to get better.  Come see for yourself.

This is an abridged article originally written by Kenny Fletcher.