BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Richmond -- Canal Walk

VA -- Richmond -- Canal Walk:

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Description of Pictures: Great Shiplock Park

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CANAL_150602_019.JPG: Virginia Capital Trail: Virginia Capital Trail and Richmond Canal Walk: In Richmond, the Capital Trail follows the Richmond Dock portion of the James River and Kanawha Canal from Great Ship Lock Park to the floodwall at 17th Street. On the other side of the floodwall, the trail connects to the Canal Walk, which continues to 5th Street and the American Civil War Center at the Tredegar Iron Works. Historical markers guide the way. Richmond Slave Trail: You can also follow the Slave Trail, which chronicles the history of the trade of enslaved Africans from Africa to Virginia until 1775, and away from Virginia, especially Richmond, to other locations in the Americas until 1865.
2. CANAL_150602_023.JPG: Great Shiplock Park
3. CANAL_150602_025.JPG: Great Ship Lock Captain John Smith's Adventures on the James -- www.johnsmithtrail.org -- James River Park System Despite the presence of a large Indian village just below the falls -- or perhaps because of good relations with the local ruler Parahunt and his father Powhatan -- Capt. Francis West built a fort near the Falls of the James in 1609. By George Percy's account, his group numbered 140, by John Smith's, only 20. Nominally allied with Powhatan, the English were supposed to help defend the village from the Monacan, Powhatan's historic enemy to the west. However, the settlers proved to be the greater threat, looting and taking hostages. After reports of disarray at the fort, Smith negotiated the purchase of a palisaded town from Parahunt, who perhaps thought it worthwhile to have the unruly English behind walls. According to Smith, an English boy by the name of Henry Spelman was also sent with Parahunt to learn the Algonquian language; the boy, however, thought himself sold as part of the deal. Smith renamed the town Nonsuch, because no other could compare, but West's men refused to abandon their fort. After an altercation with the Indians and an argument with West, an exasperated Smith left the men to their own devices. The attempted settlement was later abandoned, but the ill will between Smith and West, brother to Lord Delaware, may have prevented Smith's return to the colony after he went to England to recuperate from a burned leg. Capt. John Smith's Trail: John Smith knew the James River by its Algonquian name: Powhatan, the same as the region's paramount chief. Smith traveled the river many times between 1607 and 1609, trading with Virginia Indians to ensure survival at Jamestown. What he saw of Virginia's verdant woodlands and pristine waters inspired him to explore the greater Chesapeake Bay, chronicling its natural wonders. Capt John Smith's Trail on the James is a 40-site water and auto tour for modern explorers. Tobacco Grows A Nation: John Rolfe introduced the commercial form of tobacco to Virginia by smuggling in seeds of a mild form of the plant from Spanish Trinidad in 1612. Slightly addictive, the plant was wildly popular in Europe, which encouraged the growth of huge plantations along the Tidewater parts of the James, and small farms along the Piedmont. As agriculture overtook Virginia's piedmont in the 17th and 18th centuries, Richmond's Shockoe Slip became the point of origin for exported crops. In order to bypass the city's rocky rapids, merchants had to have their tobacco products unloaded, hauled, and reloaded for downstream travel. Most of that grueling work was done by slaves. The falls were a barrier to safe river travel, so in 1791, two small canals were completed around the biggest rapids (between the 14th Street Bridge and the Boulevard Bridge today). In the early 1800's the canal was extended westward and named the Kanawha Canal. In 1882, it was extended eastward from its origin at the Turning Basin (where the James Center is today) to the docks at Rockett's. Called the Tidewater Connection, it ended at the Great Ship Lock here.
4. CANAL_150602_032.JPG: Confederate Navy Yard: Begun in 1862, the Confederate Navy Yard occupied both banks of the James River, including the community and port of Rocketts Landing on the north bank. The Yard was the base, construction site, and headquarters for the James River Squadron, commanded by Admiral Raphael Semmes, which included the famous ironclad vessel; C.S.S. Virginia II, as well as other ironclads. Here, too, the Confederate Navy fashioned prototype artillery mounted on a railroad car for General Lee's use at the battle of Savage Station on June 29, 1862. On April 3, 1865, Confederate troops burned the yard and destroyed vessels as a part of the evacuation of Richmond. After the Civil War, Trigg Shipyards continued the tradition of military shipbuilding in this area of Richmond.
5. CANAL_150602_035.JPG: Rocketts Landing: Rocketts, or Rocketts Landing, is the river frontage of the community, named for Robert Rockett who operated a ferry across the James River beginning in the 1730s. Tenant laborers and merchants filled the floodplain with clusters of small houses and commercial establishments. Free black residents, Jews, and immigrants from Germany, Scotland, and Ireland worked to make Rocketts a prosperous world seaport between 1790 and 1830. Shipping lines connected Rocketts to Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and various South American and European ports. Tobacco and flour were the main exports. Between 1830 and 1861 Rocketts became more of a manufacturing center for tobacco products than a bulk shipping center.
6. CANAL_150602_048.JPG: Chapel Island Park
7. CANAL_150602_052.JPG: Welcome to Chapel Island: THE ISLAND ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING HAS A RICH AND VARIED HISTORY. The first record of what is now Chapel Island -- a peninsula of land running from 14th Street to Pear Street -- may well have been the first record of Richmond. When Captains John Smith and Christopher Newport sailed up the James River, Smith's diary described "mountains" to the right (Church Hill), "plains" on the left (Manchester) and the "ocean" (the Fall Line rapids) before them. It is possible the name "Chapel" could have originated at this time for on May 24, 1607, Newport erected a cross around the present day location of 14th and Cary Streets. In 1816, the Richmond Dock Company built three basins forming a ship harbor and a series of wooden locks to serve as the City's primary shipping terminal. The James River Company purchased and improved the lock system to complete the "tidewater connection" in 1854. It consisted of five stone locks, the improved Richmond dock, and the Great Ship Lock, over which you walked to get here. The canal era ended in 1880 due to competition from rail transport , but the area around you continued to serve as an industrial site. From 1898 to 1903, great ships were built here at the Trigg Shipyard, which produced vessels of war such as steam torpedo boats and destroyers. As you walk around the island's trails, you will come across the only remnants of the Trigg Shipyard - the large concrete walls just southwest of the canal bridge. TODAY, FIVE ACRES OF THE ISLAND'S 25 ACRES ARE NATURAL AND ACCESSIBLE FOR RECREATION. A major portion of the island is covered by the retention basin for the City's Combined Sewer System (CSS) as shown in the aerial image above. Thanks to a grant from the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program and the help of many volunteers, the City of Richmond, and the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission (RRPDC), there is a half-mile gravel trail winding around the island with interpretative signs like this one. The grant also funded a kayak/canoe launch just down the path to the left, which gives access to the tidal section of the James River. The island is accessed by a now immovable 1929 bascule bridge leading to a Norfolk Southern railway siding.
8. CANAL_150602_058.JPG: The USS Thurnton fitting out at the Trigg Shipyard, 1900
9. CANAL_150602_068.JPG: Here Stood the Trigg Shipyard: THE CONCRETE WALLS IN FRONT OF YOU are all that is left of the once-bustling Trigg Shipyard. The yard employed 2,000 men and was comprised of 16 large industrial buildings on a 25-acre site with 20 acres in water, dock, and boat basin. In 1898, Richmond business man William R. Trigg, already a successful and well-known fabricator of locomotives, announced several contracts for steam torpedo boats and destroyers for the U.S. Navy. Torpedo boats were those used to attack larger ships, first introduced in the Civil War. Destroyers, short for "Torpedo Boat Destroyers", were introduced shortly thereafter to attack the torpedo boats. On October 31, 1899, President William McKinley, his cabinet, and 30,000 observers attended the launch of the first boat, the USS Shubrick. The yard built torpedo boats, destroyers, steamers, cruisers, tugboats, dredges, and cutters until 1903 when William Trigg declared bankruptcy. The last ship to be built, the USS Galveston, was unfinished and eventually transported to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for completion. Ships were laid down in a dry dock or "caisson". The photo on the right (looking west) shows two of the largest and well-known ships, the USS Decatur and the USS Dale, being fitted out in 1900. The stadium-like structure could be emptied of water to create a protected area for construction. Opening the gate filled the caisson with water to allow ship launching into the canal. The buildings in the background supported the shipbuilding operations. THE PLACE in which YOU ARE NOW STANDING was once under water in a "laying up basin," an area for ships to move in and out of the caisson. The wall remnants before you (photo left) formed the ship lock shown on the map below. In the woods west of where you are standing is a long, vertical depression which may be the only remaining evidence of the huge caisson.
10. CANAL_150602_073.JPG: The retaining walls as they exist today, from east side facing southwest
11. CANAL_150602_076.JPG: Trigg Shipyard, circa 1900
12. CANAL_150602_087.JPG: Water Quality in the James: FOR MUCH OF THE 20TH CENTURY, the James River became extremely contaminated with acids used in metal production, bases and dyes used in paper manufacturing, and untreated sanitary wastewater. As was common practice in most cities, the James River was used to dilute wastewater and carry it away from populated areas. Sewers constructed before 1950 delivered wastewater directly to the river without treatment. Illness and disease were common occurrences for people who came in contact with the river. In 1954, the City began construction of its wastewater treatment plant, which provided solids removal, also known as primary treatment of wastewater. THE 1972 CLEAN WATER ACT, one of the most important and successful Federal laws impacting public health, restricted the release of industrial wastes into water bodies and required the construction of wastewater treatment plants meeting secondary treatment requirements. Richmond's existing wastewater treatment plant, located on the other side of the river just downstream from here, was upgraded to meet the requirements for removing solids and organic material prior to discharge in the James River. Additional regulations such as the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act continue to require water quality protection measures that result in the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus to protect the James River and Chesapeake Bay ecosystems. YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY THE INFRASTRUCTURE THAT MAKES ALL THIS POSSIBLE. Miles of sewers are necessary to collect wastewater and convey it to the treatment plant. Richmond's original sewer system, some of it dating back to the late 1800s, was comprised of pipes that carried a combination of sanitary wastewater and stormwater runoff. No longer constructed, this type of Combined Sewer System (CSS) may be overwhelmed by large rain fall events. In these events, the CSS is designed to overflow at designated locations called combined sewer outfalls (CSO). The original CSS still serves over one-third of the area within the City of Richmond, although only separate sanitary wastewater and stormwater sewer systems have been constructed since the 1950s. The City has invested a large amount of resources to reduce overflows and close outfalls where possible. THE DIAGRAM AT THE RIGHT shows how the Shockoe Retention Basin works. During dry weather, wastewater flows from the Shockoe Creek CSS area through the large Shockoe Arch Sewer and the Shockoe Diversion Structures to the 96-inch Shockoe Creek Interceptor and ultimately to the wastewater treatment plant across the river for full treatment. During rain fall events, combined wastewater and stormwater flows through the Shockoe Arch Sewer and is diverted into the Shockoe Retention Basin. At the same time, the wastewater treatment plant increases its pumping and treatment capacity to maximize the treatment of combined wastewater and stormwater, up to its wet-weather capacity of 75 million gallons per day. The contents of the Shockoe Retention Basin are held here until it can be pumped through large pipes to Richmond's wastewater treatment plant for full treatment. DESPITE THESE MAJOR ADVANCES, water quality in the James River is far from perfect. The brown color of the water indicates that silt and sediment are flowing off of farm fields, construction sites, and other disturbed lands upstream. Occasionally, due to extremely heavy rain fall events, combined sewer overflows containing untreated stormwater may discharge into the river, though these events have been greatly reduced due to the construction of the Shockoe Retention Basin and other structures. It is advised that you do not swim in the river after heavy rain fall events due to increased exposure to bacteria from untreated runoff.
13. CANAL_150602_123.JPG: Great Ship Lock The first Great Ship Lock was built in 1816. It connected the navigable part of the James River with the Richmond city dock, which extended for 10 blocks to the west. The lock raised sailing ships and steamboats approximately 13 feet above the tidewater of the river into the harbor, safe from the river current, for loading and unloading cargo. In 1854, the James River and Kanawha Company constructed the present Great Ship Lock to accommodate ships as large as 180 feet long by 35 feet wide. It opened the city to transatlantic trade and made Richmond a world port. Richmond Trade in 1860: After the Great Ship Lock opened in 1854, trade increased steadily, with packets arriving from New York, Baltimore and Boston. Great Ship Lock traffic nearly doubled before the Civil War limited trade activity. What were they carrying? The numbers below show typical cargoes transported in and out of Richmond in 1860, the height of its trade activity. Incoming vessels Coal: 29,897 tons Iron: 13,333 tons Fish: 25,470 barrels Oats: 27,035 bushels Lime: 48,491 casks Salt: 73,177 sacks Shingles: 3,116,600 Outgoing vessels Flour: 423,194 barrels Wheat: 143,000 bushels Tobacco: 56,367 packages
14. CANAL_150602_127.JPG: The first Great Ship Lock was built in 1816. It connected the navigable part of the James River with the Richmond city dock, which extended for 10 blocks to the west. The lock raised sailing ships and steamboats approximately 13 feet above the tidewater of the river into the harbor, safe from the river current, for loading and unloading cargo. In 1854, the James River and Kanawha Company constructed the present Great Ship Lock to accommodate ships as large as 180 feet long by 35 feet wide. It opened the city to transatlantic trade and made Richmond a world port. The Gates of the Great Ship Lock: With the opening of the new lock, oceangoing ships had access to Richmond Dock.
15. CANAL_150602_130.JPG: Richmond Trade in 1860: After the Great Ship Lock opened in 1854, trade increased steadily, with packets arriving from New York, Baltimore and Boston. Great Ship Lock traffic nearly doubled before the Civil War limited trade activity. What were they carrying? The numbers below show typical cargoes transported in and out of Richmond in 1860, the height of its trade activity. Incoming vessels Coal: 29,897 tons Iron: 13,333 tons Fish: 25,470 barrels Oats: 27,035 bushels Lime: 48,491 casks Salt: 73,177 sacks Shingles: 3,116,600 Outgoing vessels Flour: 423,194 barrels Wheat: 143,000 bushels Tobacco: 56,367 packages
16. CANAL_150602_133.JPG: Map of the City of Richmond: Prepared by M. Ellyson, 1856. Drawn shortly after the construction of the Great Ship Lock and the Tidewater Connection, the map shows the route ships traveled from the James River into the canal and directly to the city's dock. The canal system and lock helped make Richmond an important transportation and commercial hub. Massive cargoes of its flour, wheat and tobacco products were shipped to coastal ports and from there to points all over the world.
17. CANAL_150602_138.JPG: Rocketts Landing and Wharf / Confederate Navy Yard / Powhatan's Birthplace Rocketts Landing and Wharf: Rocketts is the river frontage and community named for Robert Rockett, who operated a ferry across the James River beginning in the 1730s. Over the years, tenant laborers and merchants filled the floodplain with clusters of small houses and commercial establishments. Between 1790 and 1830 free black residents and immigrants from Germany, Scotland and Ireland also settled here. Growing opportunities in trade gradually made Rocketts a prosperous world seaport. Shipping lines connected Rocketts to Philadelphia, New York, Charleston and various South American and European ports. Tobacco and flour were the main exports. Confederate Navy Yard: Begun in 1862, the Confederate Navy Yard occupied both sides of the James River, including the community and port of Rocketts on the north bank. The Yard was the base, construction site and headquarters for Admiral Raphael Semmes's James River Squadron. The Squadron included the ironclad CSS Virginia II, which was built here. It was the successor to the first CSS Virginia, which fought with the USS Monitor. The Confederate Navy Yard also produced prototype artillery mounted on a railroad car for General Robert F. Lee's use at the Battle of Savage's Station on June 29, 1862. On April 3, 1865, Confederate troops burned the yard and destroyed vessels as a part of the evacuation of Richmond. Powhatan's Birthplace: Powhatan, paramount chief of Algonquian-speaking Indians of Virginia's coastal plain, was born in a town east of here. Powhatan's supremacy in this region provided order and protection for the tribes in his chiefdom. Virginia's Indians lived in towns, sore protected by wooden palisades, and surrounded by fields for growing vegetables, grain and corn. In 1607, when Jamestown's colonists were foraging for food north of the settlement, Captain John Smith was captured and brought before Powhatan at his center of power on the York River. Smith later claimed that Pocahontas, Powhatan's favorite daughter, intervened to save Smith. Powhatan "adopted" Smith into the chiefdom and allowed him to return to Jamestown. Riverfront: Immediately beyond the Great Ship Lock was the S.H. Hawes and Co. coal yard (ca. 1880-1925). After 1925 it was used as a sand and gravel yard and concrete plant until the 1990s. Beyond the yard were wharves for passenger steamships, first the Old Dominion Steam Ship Co. for service to New York (ca. 1875-1935), and beyond that the Buxton Line. Distance: 0.1-0.2 mile Rocketts Landing: Rocketts Landing is a modern residential area. Previously it was the site of the Yuengling James River Steam Brewery (1870s), the Richmond Cedar Works (1880s-1950s) and the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Works. Distance: 0.6-0.9 mile Confederate Navy Yard -- South: The main Confederate Navy Yard (burned April 1865) was located on the south bank of the river. Later the site was occupied by the Allison & Addison fertilizer plant and by wharves for the Richmond & Danville and Southern railroads. Distance: 0.2-0.3 mile Confederate Navy Yard -- North: The north bank section of the Confederate Navy Yard (burned April 1865) is today occupied by the silos and plant built by the Lehigh Portland Cement Co. in the late 1940s. Distance: 0.25 miles Rocketts Wharf: The north bank area has served a s a public wharf since the 18th century. In 1933, it became the City of Richmond Intermediate Terminal. Distance: 0.3 mile Powhatan Town: This site was occupied by the Algonquin in 1607-1609 and then traded to the English. The site is at Tree Hill, on the north bank, off Route 5 beyond Almond Creek. Distance: 1.7 miles
18. CANAL_150602_142.JPG: Confederate Navy Yard -- North: The north bank section of the Confederate Navy Yard (burned April 1865) is today occupied by the silos and plant built by the Lehigh Portland Cement Co. in the late 1940s. Distance: 0.25 miles Riverfront: Immediately beyond the Great Ship Lock was the S.H. Hawes and Co. coal yard (ca. 1880-1925). After 1925 it was used as a sand and gravel yard and concrete plant until the 1990s. Beyond the yard were wharves for passenger steamships, first the Old Dominion Steam Ship Co. for service to New York (ca. 1875-1935), and beyond that the Buxton Line. Distance: 0.1-0.2 mile Rocketts Wharf: The north bank area has served a s a public wharf since the 18th century. In 1933, it became the City of Richmond Intermediate Terminal. Distance: 0.3 mile
19. CANAL_150602_144.JPG: Powhatan Town: This site was occupied by the Algonquin in 1607-1609 and then traded to the English. The site is at Tree Hill, on the north bank, off Route 5 beyond Almond Creek. Distance: 1.7 miles Confederate Navy Yard -- South: The main Confederate Navy Yard (burned April 1865) was located on the south bank of the river. Later the site was occupied by the Allison & Addison fertilizer plant and by wharves for the Richmond & Danville and Southern railroads. Distance: 0.2-0.3 mile
20. CANAL_150602_146.JPG: Rocketts Landing and Wharf: Rocketts is the river frontage and community named for Robert Rockett, who operated a ferry across the James River beginning in the 1730s. Over the years, tenant laborers and merchants filled the floodplain with clusters of small houses and commercial establishments. Between 1790 and 1830 free black residents and immigrants from Germany, Scotland and Ireland also settled here. Growing opportunities in trade gradually made Rocketts a prosperous world seaport. Shipping lines connected Rocketts to Philadelphia, New York, Charleston and various South American and European ports. Tobacco and flour were the main exports.
21. CANAL_150602_148.JPG: Rocketts Landing by George Bacon Wood, 1860
22. CANAL_150602_151.JPG: Confederate Navy Yard: Begun in 1862, the Confederate Navy Yard occupied both sides of the James River, including the community and port of Rocketts on the north bank. The Yard was the base, construction site and headquarters for Admiral Raphael Semmes's James River Squadron. The Squadron included the ironclad CSS Virginia II, which was built here. It was the successor to the first CSS Virginia, which fought with the USS Monitor. The Confederate Navy Yard also produced prototype artillery mounted on a railroad car for General Robert F. Lee's use at the Battle of Savage's Station on June 29, 1862. On April 3, 1865, Confederate troops burned the yard and destroyed vessels as a part of the evacuation of Richmond. The Confederate Navy Yard at Rocketts: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 1, 1865. Valentine Richmond History Center CSS Virginia II: Harper's Weekly, July 26, 1862. The 197-foot-long ironclad ram was built at the Confederate Navy Yard at Rocketts and completed in 1864. Valentine Richmond History Center
23. CANAL_150602_154.JPG: The Confederate Navy Yard at Rocketts Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 1, 1865. Valentine Richmond History Center
24. CANAL_150602_156.JPG: Powhatan's Birthplace: Powhatan, paramount chief of Algonquian-speaking Indians of Virginia's coastal plain, was born in a town east of here. Powhatan's supremacy in this region provided order and protection for the tribes in his chiefdom. Virginia's Indians lived in towns, sore protected by wooden palisades, and surrounded by fields for growing vegetables, grain and corn. In 1607, when Jamestown's colonists were foraging for food north of the settlement, Captain John Smith was captured and brought before Powhatan at his center of power on the York River. Smith later claimed that Pocahontas, Powhatan's favorite daughter, intervened to save Smith. Powhatan "adopted" Smith into the chiefdom and allowed him to return to Jamestown. Virginia, Discovered and Discribed by Captayn John Smith (detail), 1625 Note the James River with the "Fales" (falls) and "Powhatan" marked there. Valentine Richmond History Center Captain John Smith Smith's leadership saved the Jamestown settlement. In 1609, he returned to England, after being wounded in a gunpowder accident. Cook Collection, Valentine Richmond History Center
25. CANAL_150602_180.JPG: Plants at Work: Great Shiplock Park Stormwater Biofilter
26. CANAL_150602_203.JPG: Tobacco Row The area in Richmond known as Tobacco Row has been the site of tobacco warehouses and manufacturing since long before the Civil War. Beginning in the 1600s, after Virginia tobacco became popular in Europe, planters and shippers maintained facilities here. Tobacco was Virginia's most valuable export. The substantial buildings you see along Dock Street date from 1886 to 1929. They were constructed of brick to protect the contents from loss due to fire. By the late 1980s, however, most of the tobacco companies had moved elsewhere. After the James River Flood Wall was built in 1995, many of the old warehouses were converted into apartments and retail space. 1900 E Cary, Philip Morris building Built 1893-1927, Philip Morris cigarette factory until about 1990 2800 E Cary, Climax warehouse Built 1899, American Tobacco leaf storage 2100 E Cary, Edgeworth building Larus & Brother Company (1921-25); later Edgeworth pipe tobacco factory. In 1925, WRVA radio began broadcasting from a studio in the warehouse 2200 E Cary, Carolina warehouse Built 1900, American Tobacco; later P. Lorillard leaf storage 2201 E Cary, Consolidated Cigar building P. Lorillard cigar factory (1926); later Consolidated Cigar 2300 E Cary, Whitlock building Whitlock branch cigar factory (ca. 1903) of American Tobacco; later P. Lorillard; then Philip Morris leaf storage 2400 E Cary, Cameron building Cameron & Co. smoking tobacco factory (ca. 1885); later American Tobacco leaf department 2500 E Cary, Kinney building Kinney & Co. (ca. 1885), by 1893 Allen & Ginter branch of American Tobacco; after 1911, American Tobacco stemmery and cigarette factory until 1980s 2600 E Cary, Lucky Strike building Built 1929-30, American Tobacco cigarette factory made Lucky Strike and Pall Mall brands until 1981
27. CANAL_150602_213.JPG: Tobacco Row, ca. 1930: This photo shows many of Richmond's major tobacco companies. In 1890, five tobacco firms merged to create the American Tobacco Company, which dominated the tobacco industry and Tobacco Row until a Sherman Antitrust lawsuit broke it up in 1911. The railroad yard (in the foreground of the photograph) was once the site of the Town Commons in the plan laid out by William Byrd in 1737. Valentine Richmond History Center
28. CANAL_150602_216.JPG: 1900 E Cary, Philip Morris building Built 1893-1927, Philip Morris cigarette factory until about 1990 2800 E Cary, Climax warehouse Built 1899, American Tobacco leaf storage 2100 E Cary, Edgeworth building Larus & Brother Company (1921-25); later Edgeworth pipe tobacco factory. In 1925, WRVA radio began broadcasting from a studio in the warehouse 2200 E Cary, Carolina warehouse Built 1900, American Tobacco; later P. Lorillard leaf storage 2201 E Cary, Consolidated Cigar building P. Lorillard cigar factory (1926); later Consolidated Cigar 2300 E Cary, Whitlock building Whitlock branch cigar factory (ca. 1903) of American Tobacco; later P. Lorillard; then Philip Morris leaf storage 2400 E Cary, Cameron building Cameron & Co. smoking tobacco factory (ca. 1885); later American Tobacco leaf department 2500 E Cary, Kinney building Kinney & Co. (ca. 1885), by 1893 Allen & Ginter branch of American Tobacco; after 1911, American Tobacco stemmery and cigarette factory until 1980s 2600 E Cary, Lucky Strike building Built 1929-30, American Tobacco cigarette factory made Lucky Strike and Pall Mall brands until 1981
29. CANAL_150731_11.JPG: On this site stood Libby Prison CSA 1861-65 for Federal prisoners of war. Placed by Confederate Memorial Literary Society, AD 1911 Re-erected 1980 by Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
30. CANAL_150731_14.JPG: Libby Prison "Hope was all that sustained many." Near this site, from about 1845 until 1889, stood the building that housed Richmond's famous Libby Prison. Originally built as a warehouse by wealthy Richmond businessman John Enders, Sr., a portion of the structure was leased prior to the Civil War by Northern-born Luther Libby, who sold groceries and shipping supplies here. When the war began Libby was evicted by the Confederate government, which used the building as a prison for Union officers captured at battlefields throughout the South. Later in the war nearly all Union prisoners in Virginia came though Libby before being distributed to other facilities such as Belle Isle here in Richmond, or Andersonville in Georgia. On Feb. 9, 1864, 109 Union officers escaped from Libby through a 50-foot-long tunnel; only 48 were recaptured. After the war Libby Prison was carefully dismantled and moved to Chicago, where it was reconstructed as the "Libby Prison National War Museum." It was demolished there about 1898 to make room for a coliseum. Many prisoners felt inspired to record their experiences at Libby Prison. Pennsylvanian Clarence Wilson remembered lying down at night "dovetailed together like sardines in a box, on the bare floor, without anything to cover us. I came out weighing 90 pounds." The overcrowding affected Libby Hospital as well: Ohioan George Peet wrote of being jammed into one room with 110 other patients. From their mats of straw the men fought daily battles with maggots and filth, while "every now and then some poor fellow would get delirious and would shriek out; others were groaning horribly." Andrew Hamilton, who escaped from the building in 1864, recalled "great, gloomy rooms" in which nearly 1200 men sat, watching "the inexpressibly slow passage of time." "Hope was all that sustained many," he concluded. Libby Prison as seen from the back, with Canal Street in the foreground. Three separate buildings joined together to make the prison, and the joints are readily visible in this photograph. Note how the building was taller in the back than in the front. A photograph of the prison, surrounded by sightseers, taken just after the fall of Richmond. Both the canal and the James River can be seen in the background. The Stars and Stripes flutters from the roof.
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Wikipedia Description: James River and Kanawha Canal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The James River and Kanawha Canal was a canal in Virginia, which was built to facilitate shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western counties of Virginia and the coast.

Personally surveyed and planned by George Washington himself, the canal was begun in 1785 under the James River Company, and later restarted under the James River and Kanawha Canal Company. It was only half completed by 1851. It was an expensive project which failed several times financially and was frequently damaged by floods. By the time it was halted, it had only reached Buchanan, in Botetourt County, Virginia, even though it was largely financed by the Commonwealth of Virginia through the Virginia Board of Public Works. When work to extend the canal further west stopped permanently, railroads were overtaking the canal as a far more productive mode of transportation.

After the American Civil War, when funds for continued financial support were not available from the war-torn Commonwealth or private sources, the canal project did poorly against railroad competition, and finally succumbed to damage done by massive flooding in 1877. In the end the canal's right-of-way was bought and the canal itself was largely dismantled by the new Richmond and Allegheny Railroad as tracks were laid on the former towpath. The R&A became part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the 1890s, and much of the former canal route is now an important line for eastbound West Virginia bituminous coal headed for the Peninsula Extension to reach coal piers on Hampton Roads at Newport News and worldwide export aboard large colliers.

Planning a route to link western waters:

The James River and Kanawha Canal was a project first proposed by George Washington when he was a young man surveying the mountains of western Virginia, which at the time consisted of what is today West Virginia, Kentucky, and to the north bank of the Ohi ...More...
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (VA -- Richmond -- Canal Walk) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2012_VA_Canal_Walk: VA -- Richmond -- Canal Walk (218 photos from 2012)
- 2006_VA_Canal_Walk: VA -- Richmond -- Canal Walk (78 photos from 2006)
- 2001_VA_Canal_Walk: VA -- Richmond -- Canal Walk (29 photos from 2001)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [Heritage Trails] [Transportation (Water)]
2015 photos: I retired from the US Census Bureau in god-forsaken Suitland, Maryland on my 58th birthday in May. Yee ha! Trips this year: a quick trip to Florida. two Civil War Trust conferences (Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA), and my 10th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles). Ego Strokes: Carolyn Cerbin used a Kevin Costner photo in her USA Today article. Miss DC pictures were used a few times in the Washington Post. Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Number of photos taken this year: just over 550,000.
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