75: Deerskin Onesie
F L O W E R D E W, V A
In 1607 the English landed in Jamestown and established a first permanent settlement in what would become America. Soon after, expansion spread upriver to places like Flowerdew Plantation which began producing tons of tobacco for shipment back to England. Flowerdew flourished for decades and is now a private residence.
Abutting
Flowerdew is James River National Wildlife Refuge (JRNWR) - a 4,300 acre
limited-access property which has seen virtually no development since
1607. Hence, it still resembles what the
new world looked like when Jamestown was founded.
Whenever
east of Richmond, especially when following the James River, I recall days of
sitting on a couch with my young daughters watching the classic film Pocahontas. Through the magic of imagination, Disney
conjured up a beautiful and mysterious woman darting through the forest in
sleek deerskin onesie. Her darting
presence is easy to sense in these parts of Virginia.
As
I turn off of Route 10 onto Flowerdew Hundred Road just before sunrise under a
blue harvest moon on Halloween, I enter the refuge and it gets wild in a hurry;
the thick forest quickly dampens all surrounding civilization. A mile in there’s a small parking lot for the
Powell’s Creek trailhead. The lot is
empty. It’s just me and Pocahontas in
this corner of the preserve.
Earlier
this year, a permit was needed to reach Powell’s Creek but the US Fish &
Wildlife Service in recognition of the importance of native landscapes and
connecting people with nature just last month eliminated the permit process – a
very welcomed change in these pandemic days of people yearning for open-air
respites.
My
respite begins lyrically – a late migrating wood thrush serenades as I wend
along the first few steps of today’s walk.
Soon after, the trail begins paralleling Powell’s Creek. The reflections off its surface on this
autumn day are exquisitely Renoir-like. Les
couleurs sont ravissantes! The trail
soon reaches a land bridge crossing to a small island – a passage attracting
not just walkers but flocks of birds as well.
It’s a boisterous, flittering crossing.
Though
this tiny island has no name, I’d recommend Haliaeetus
Island in homage to the scientific term for the American bald eagle. The loop trail around this island reveals
many sightings; the final two perch perfectly for an ideal image capture.
To
stretch out my time at the JRNWR, and in honor of Flowerdew’s deep crop
history, I stop for a cigar break at a clearing halfway around the island. The views amplified by the golden light of
sunrise are outstanding. Sitting quietly
amid this primordial environment savoring a little rolled tobacco seems very
1607-Virginia-like. When in Rome…
After
returning to the still-empty parking lot, the tour of this large property
continues. I head to its interior by way
of a favored route: forest service roads.
How many amazing driving experiences have I had on such roads? Rarely do they disappoint, and they surely
don’t today. The thin route slices
through towering trees and past several vernal pools left behind by Hurricane
Zeta. I drive slowly, allowing the
sights to more deeply endure.
After a mile the road enters a well-managed longleaf pine savanna forest. With help from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), prescribed burns here have conserved a forest type that in 1607 was quite common in this part of the state. The openness of the understory gives the tall straight trees room to breathe… and allows Pocahontas to easy dart between them. Beyond fire, TNC has also assisted the forest service in easement acquisitions and strategic planning that keep this historic property pristine. TNC’s partnership with the refuge is an example of just how widespread their work is. If you dig into the history of many of this country’s preserved lands, you’ll sometimes find stories of TNC contributions – often subtle and behind-the-scenes, but hugely instrumental nonetheless.
The
forest service road ends at the driveway of Flowerdew Plantation. Cleared fields replace what was once long-ago
a pine savanna. Tobacco no longer is grown but the rich land here at Flowerdew
in the flood plain of the James River remains very productive. This border symbolizes why the work of both
the forest service and TNC is so important. It brings focus to the right
balances that can exist between indigenous nature and human activity, including
that of a deerskin-onesie-wearing beauty.
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