From its mouth at the James River to its headwaters in the western part of metropolitan Richmond, the Chickahominy flows for 86 miles. When traveling between Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia, its swamps can be seen from Interstates 64 and 295 as the waterway and roads travel through New Kent, Hanover, and Henrico Counties.
Early History
The Chickahominy was named for the “coarse pound corn people” of the Chickahominy tribe who lived around it when John Smith mapped the area. The Chickahominy tribe is associated with the network of Algonquin-speaking chiefdoms in the land Englishmen claimed and named Virginia.
The birthplace of the chiefdoms’ leader, Powhatan, is at the head of the Chickahominy and this fact was so noted by John Smith in his 1612 Map of Virginia. The highest chief of the approximately 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes in the region was and is often referred to by his birthplace name. Powhatan is also applied to the “flu” or river later named in honor of King James.
John Smith and the Chickahominy
One of the band of first English settlers at Jamestown, John Smith was captured while exploring the Chickahominy and taken to Chief Powhatan at a lodge probably located in today’s Gloucester County, on the York River or “Pamunkey Flu,” where he was ceremonially rescued by Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas. Powhatan was a member of the Pamunkey chiefdom.
Algonquin towns were thought to number about 150 in 1607. Although the tribes were relatively settled around agriculture, the towns could be dismantled and moved to take advantage of natural resources and strategic advantage elsewhere in the region.
Chickahominy and the American Civil War
While the Interstate highway is firm beneath modern travelers’ wheels, the swampy Chickahominy was less so. The perils of travel on foot through the sluggish swamp are hauntingly told in tales of Civil War battles fought to capture or defend the Capital of the Confederacy at Richmond. On the Interstate 295 bypass around the present state capital city, signs point to Civil War parks and echo the battle places around Seven Pines. The upper reaches of the Chickahominy were a major obstacle to Union General George B. McClellan who failed in his attempt to capture the city in 1862. His approach through the swamp was complicated because the river was in flood stage much of the time, dividing the Army and challenging bridge-building operations. Had he succeeded, the war might have ended three years sooner.
In 1864, Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee engaged in the area once more during the Battle of Cold Harbor.
Today’s Interstate highway traveler can see stands of large trees with branches overhanging what was assuredly a muddy scene of misery and death. The trees grew tall and wide in the years between America’s Civil War and the late twentieth century while the land laid fallow and little used. They continue to grow like living tombstones in cemeteries called battlefield parks.
Chickahominy Headwaters
Today’s Interstate 295 circles above Richmond along a path that roughly follows the Chickahominy to its headwaters. Leaving the watershed and the Richmond metropolitan area, the highway nicks the corner of modern Powhatan County, birthplace of the great Alquoquin leader, and rejoins Interstate 64 west.
Chickahominy Today
Nearly a million people live in the Chickahominy watershed. Millions more travel through it on the primary, east-west Interstate 64 corridor each year. It is threatened by development and water withdrawal for drinking water, yet protected by scenic waterway designation and carefully managed forest and wildlife preserves along its shores.
Most people who live and work in the watershed are highly sensitive to its tenuous situation, located as it is between city and country lifestyles. Preservation of historic Chickahominy watershed land and attention to its water quality have an impact on regional economics. Some tout its recreational areas, others monitor underwater grasses, and still more enjoy fishing and kayaking in its nooks and crannies.
Driving Around in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Although the Chesapeake Bay’s waterways served as highways less than a century ago, most modern travelers use asphalt roads to get around. The Chesapeake Bay is polluted and many of its species are threatened. Looking for watershed streams while driving around the watershed and thinking about their role through time may help us develop a stronger appreciation for the past and future of clean rivers.
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