Favorite Virginia River City (Norfolk, Chesapeake: house, college, subdivisions)

[Rwarky]

Which is your favorite Virginia river city?

[lammius]

Do Roanoke and Charlottesville have rivers?

Alexandria, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Hopewell, are major river towns.

[jballa]

Originally Posted by lammius

Do Roanoke and Charlottesville have rivers?

Alexandria, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Hopewell, are major river towns.

Yahoo! Maps, Driving Directions, and Traffic

The Roanoke River dumps into Smith Mtn. lake and then lake Gaston, then eventually to the Ablemarle sound.
The Rivanna river is even smaller than the Roanoke and dumps into the James, then the Chesapeake Bay. Neither city would have been founded where they are without them so they are/were fairly important to the city's existances. Hopewell and Petersburg are both usually lumped in with Richmond as far as metropolitan areas.

Norfolk, Portsmouth and even Alexandria (since the Potomic is largely a overflow from the bay) are founded on the Chesepeake Bay and would have been located where they are without a major river influence.

I believe this is why C-Ville, Roanoke, Danville, Richmond, and Lynchburg are usually considered VA's "River Cities".

[lammius]

When I think of a "river city" I think of places like Pittsburgh, Memphis, New Orleans, where the river is a part of the beat and life of the city. I've seen the Rivanna River in Charlottesville. It's a tiny stream and the built environment of the city doesn't address the river at all. It might as well not be there at all. I've been to Roanoke on 3 occasions and never knew a river existed there, so IMO these two cities don't seem to be river-oriented places. Lynchburg certainly has a good James River frontage, Richmond too. Danville I don't know. Alexandria's Potomac Riverfront is huge. It's an old, old river city (the Potomac is not bay "overflow" whatever that means). Norfolk and Portsmouth were established on the Elizabeth River. The docks and steam replica paddlewheel ferry boats definitely give you that old river city ambience.

I think given its history as being the inland port at the Fall Line, its industrial heritage, and the recreational opportunities that exist on the riverfront there that Richmond would get my vote, though.

[jballa]

Originally Posted by lammius

(Rivanna)is a tiny stream and the built environment of the city doesn't address the river at all. It might as well not be there at all. I've been to Roanoke on 3 occasions and never knew a river existed there, so IMO these two cities don't seem to be river-oriented places. Lynchburg certainly has a good James River frontage, Richmond too. Danville I don't know. Alexandria's Potomac Riverfront is huge. It's an old, old river city (the Potomac is not bay "overflow" whatever that means). Norfolk and Portsmouth were established on the Elizabeth River. The docks and steam replica paddlewheel ferry boats definitely give you that old river city ambience.

Historically,
I mentioned the Rivanna is tiny, but my point was when the people who set up shop origionally years ago probabaly wouldn't have chosen there if there wasn't a river.
If you haven't seen the Roanoke River and have been to Roanoke 3 times I wonder where you've been? Smith Mountain lake (hardy area), Explore park (demostrating settler life), River's Edge, the old Victory Stadium, etc. are all centered on the Roanoke River..... which is about the size of the James just before Lynchburg where the Maury comes in. Trust me, my house overlooks it and my parents the Roanoke.
The Dan River runs through DANville (get it?) and is also small but I'm sure played a major part of the city historically.

And when I say "overflow from the bay" I am referring to the swell of the ocean/bay otherwise known as tidal influences. The Elizabeth, Hampton, Back, Nansemond and Potomac rivers are all very wide, but not very long indicating that they are not fuelled by run-off but the ocean or bay. Norfolk has as much bay frontage as Elizabeth River

[lammius]

The Potomac is a very long river, I believe as long or longer than the James, actually. Norfolk's city core is on the Elizabeth River. The bayfront is not much more than residential subdivisions that were not acquired by the city until the 1950s. The face of Norfolk is the Elizabeth Riverfront.

My point about the smaller rivers was not that they have always been insignificant in the cities' histories but that they do seem quite insignificant today, and hence I don't see how they'd be considered "river cities" in the same way places like Memphis, New Orleans, Cincinnati, etc. are.

And in Roanoke, I've seen the downtown area, the market, Mill Mountain (beautiful views!!), Roanoke College and some of the Salem area.

[Rhett_Butler]

Charlottesville is NOT a "river city". The downtown isn't even that close to the Rivana in the first place and it is not a feature of the surrounding county that anyone ever really references as having anything to do with the history of Charlottesville or Albemarle County. I think Charlottesville's main importance had more to do with railroads.

[Upstate Dave]

I've read recently that there are folks in Roanoke campaigning to highlight the river more than it is today. Plus there is an ongoing project creating river walkways which will eventually all link together.

[jballa]

All your opinions are great, but I resorted to some research to clear up some things for mainly myself I thought I'd share.

The Potomac is actually the 4th largest (flow wise) on the eastern seaboard and is some 300+(forgot exact number) miles long but its not VA's river, its actually owned by Maryland bank to bank and VA only has about 30 miles of frontage before the fall-line (where its tidal, fuelled by ocean & bay swells)

The Rivanna actually was made navitable by Thomas Jefferson to get tobacco to Richmond via the James on Bateau boats so it is responsible for a large part of the growth of C-Ville historically. I agree however, and wouldn't consider C-Ville a river city after researching though it does owe much early development to it's only river.

The James reaches the fall-line a few mile east of Richmond and any river or bay area beyond that is tidal with minimal influence from run-off or upstream flow. The flow of the James is very respectively comparable to that of the Roanoke just above Lynchburg and just below Roanoke at 1000 cfm so Lammius, next time you're on Mill Mountain look almost straight down the River flows around the base of the Mountain.

The city is actually putting a bit of effort forth to use the river more, however surrounding counties Franklin and Bedford take advantage of the river by collecting it for Smith Mnt. Lake, then Leesville lake, then Lake Gaston (all in VA). Regardless, VAFury is correct in that the major RECENT development of C-Ville is due to Norfolk Southern & Conrail intersections. This is also true for Roanoke and Lynchburg so if that is your theory I guess that makes Richmond VA's only true "Rivercity."

[lammius]

Interesting info, jballa! I never knew that Maryland had jurisdiction of the entire (err, almost entire) Potomac River, or that the Rivanna was dredged to get the boats upstream. I'll have to take that look straight down from Mill Mountain. The view of the city and mountains on the horizon must've kept my attention the whole time I was there last time.