Back to Belle Isle

     Well hello! Why yes, I do still blog, though lately not often. It's just that I've been working very hard this summer, and playing equally as hard. I also helped throw a big party, spent time dodging a health bullet, and lastly, but not leastly, we managed to get our only child off to college. This last item was why I found myself in Richmond, and at VCU, two weekends in a row. He said "no" when I first asked if he wanted to bring his bike when we took him and his things up for dorm move-in weekend. However, sometime in the ensuing week he changed his mind, and I ran it up to him this past weekend. I didn't mind, the trip is just two hours, and I wanted to see him, the dogs did too, plus I enjoy Richmond. Although I wasn't born there, it was where I was raised, and I guess I still call it my hometown.

     After my delivery was made, lunch eaten, and recent dorm room enhancements viewed and complemented, the dogs and I traveled a few blocks down to the James River for a hike to Belle Isle. In my late teens and twenties, my friends and I would often have great adventures there. To reach the island back then we would hop the rocks if the water was low enough. Otherwise, we had to scale a stone railroad support column, using old electrical cables to reach an abandoned trestle, then we crossed over the rushing water, while avoiding the missing, rotten or loose railroad ties. Once there we usually had the island to ourselves, and could explore its flood-ravaged, abandoned buildings unhindered. These days the island can be reached by a pedestrian bridge that is suspended from the undersides of the Lee Bridge. Judging by the full parking lot, and all of the people on the island, Belle Isle today must be one of the city's most popular attractions.

     To reach the footbridge, I first had to walk underneath the still active CSX trestle, cars overhead carrying coal to the coast.

     You can easily tell that the railroad trestle, and the current incarnation of the Lee Bridge (from which the footbridge is suspended) were built in different eras.

     Belle Isle has a long history. Native Americans and early colonist fished here, Capt. John Smith explored it in 1607, stone was quarried here, and it was the site of some of Richmond's first industry. It was also the site of a notorious Civil War prison for Union soldiers. During the 20th century it was home to a hydroelectric power plant, and steelworks, the remains of which are now covered in thick vegetation, as is most of the island. There are many native tree species thriving on the island including river birches, sycamores, oaks, black cherries, hickories, and sassafras, with non-natives like Paulownia, mimosa, and Ailanthus doing there best to take over. The trees themselves, and the ruined structures are covered in vines, especially native trumpet vine and Virginia Creeper, of course English Ivy has also made the island home. In sunnier areas large grasses and wildflowers grow lush. There are many trails throughout the island for hiking, biking, jogging, and whatever; signs interpret the island's varied history along the way.

      Haven had many roles in Richmond's history, I am so glad that today Belle Isle is a much needed city-center oasis for both wildlife and people.