What’s in a Time Capsule? the turning basin By jon gerlach intricate route of commerce, controlled by the Rappahannock Canal Company, utilized narrow flat-bottomed boats, called "bateaux", similar to a barge, to haul cargo up and down the river. At least 25 such boats, some of which were up to 65 feet long and almost ten feet wide, plied the canal system for several years.
Some places in town are buried, unseen and all but forgotten. One such place is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Canal Trail. It's a veritable time capsule underneath a neighborhood, waiting for some future archaeologist to reveal. So what is this place? It's somewhere under the yards of the houses on the odd-n numbered side of the 1500 block of Prince Edward Street, right behind the Dorothy Hart Community Center. This is the site of the Turning
Basin, a key part of the canal system of the 1840-50s. It may very well contain the remains of canal boats nearly 200 years old! Not to be confused with a Viking ship burial, but fascinating in its own right. The story begins with the Rappahannock River. Starting in 1829, construction began on an extensive system of river locks, canals, crib dams, and ponds that, by 1849, would stretch from Fredericksburg toward the agricultural region around Fauquier County. This
The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center is a non-profit, all-volunteer archives whose mission is to preserve historically valuable material of the region and make it available to the public for research 900 Barton St #111, Fredericksburg, VA www.crhcarchives.org contact@crhcarchives.org 540-373-3704 Volunteers Wecome! Contact us about donating collections of documents and photographs
Bateaux, capable of hauling many tons of cargo, were slowly propelled by brute force (especially going upriver!): as men maneuvered long oars and poles (unlike the towpath system used along the C&O Canal). Going downriver, upon reaching Fredericksburg, the boats needed a place to turn around for the return trip. Called a "turning basin", this was a wide manmade pond, with wharves along the edges, where bulk cargo from upriver mostly merchandise, timer, lumber and farm products - was offloaded. And here, the emptied boats were loaded with cargo for the laborious trip upriver: hauling mostly merchandise, plus bricks, guano, lime and yes, good ole whiskey. It must have been a busy place. In use as a transportation route for only a few years, the canal system was made obsolete by improved roads in Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, and the arrival of the railroad. The Rappahannock Canal Company was shuttered for unpaid debts in 1853, and subsequent ventures to rehabilitate the system proved futile. Soon, the canal here in town was repurposed and improved by the Fredericksburg Water Power Company, which led to new mills being constructed in the upper end of town, and for decades the canal provided water power to local industry. At Fall Hill Avenue, the canal was diverted away from the Turning Basin, which was filled-in by the late 1920s and built over.
I first learned of the Turning Basin from Bill Trout, who specializes in canal studies, in early 2017 during the stakeholder input for the City's new Archaeology Ordinance. Bill hoped that if any buildings with deep foundations were built there, archaeologists could monitor the work. Enacted in 2021, the ordinance provides a path for that to actually happen someday. No archaeology has ever occurred there, and who knows what lies beneath this neighborhood? One turning basin in Richmond contained the remains of at least 100 sunken vessels! The history of canals in Virginia is brief, but fascinating. Today, "canal buffs" are alive and well. Check out the Virginia Canals & Navigations Society, whose motto is to "Preserve, Enhance & Explore": www.vacanals.org/. You can see our Turning Basin on Gray's 1878 Map of F r e d e r i c k s b u r g : http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksb urg/plats/graysmap1878.jpg. Also look at the Rappahannock River Water Trail Guide published by Friends of the Rappahannock - it maps the locks found upriver that you can still explore today. So … what's in a Time Capsule? Here, maybe the buried remains of sunken boats, right below our feet. An attorney and retired archaeologist, Jon Gerlach chairs the Architectural Review Board in Fredericksburg. Jon is a candidate for City Council, Ward 2 in the Nov. 2021 election. Image from c. 1865 Sketch of Bateaux, Richmond, VA by J.R. Hamilton (Library of Congress)
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