River Journal: Batteaux set sights on Bent Creek

UPDATE 1:30 p.m. Sunday
The batteaux are due to arrive in Bent Creek late this afternoon after a hot and humid day on the river. Cell phone service is spotty, so check back later for more updates.

UPDATE 1:27 p.m.

By Darrell Laurant

At 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, a barrage of cannon fire along the James River in downtown Lynchburg signaled the start of the 25th annual James River Batteau Festival.

And for those aboard the 20-some batteaux and the flotilla of canoes and kayaks that accompanied them, the celebratory noise also ushered in an annual phenomenon - the abrupt change from Standard Time to River Time. As the various river craft glided away from the Percival’s Island launch site and passed beneath the John Lynch Bridge, it was almost as if the bridge was a portal into another dimension, a place of serenity and surrender.

“This is all about stress relief,” said crew member Ned Nelson of the Dreaming Creek batteau. “If we can just sit there and float down the river, we’ll do it. If we have to get out and push once in awhile, we’ll do that. The river decides.”

This year, the James decided to be just a little low, although nothing like the daunting logistical problems presented during drought years.

“It not only has to rain here, it has to rain upriver in Covington,” said batteau veteran Jeff Taylor. “That’s what fills the river up.”

A crowd of several hundred gathered on the bank to see the boats off. They will travel downriver this week to Maiden’s Landing in Powhatan County, spending each night at a campsite near what were once significant river landmarks - Galt’s Mill in Amherst County, Bent Creek in Appomattox, Wingina and Howardsville in Nelson County, Scottsville in Albemarle, and Slate River in Buckingham. Much of the way, they will be walled off from the outside world by lush greenery.

“If you just let it happen, it can be a wonderful experience,” said John Rothert of Powhatan, one of the event founders. “What I don’t understand are the people who get all worried about ferrying cars and equipment to each site. Just keep it simple, and it will reward you.”

This philosophy has created a sort of batteau cult, a collection of like-minded souls who burn their vacation time on the river instead of at the beach, carry on arcane discussions about batteau building and maintenance, and know each other’s nicknames and stories.

Like the time a batteau passenger overindulged in strong drink and passed out on the riverbank at Slate River.

“Just for fun, we buried him up to his neck,” said Taylor. “We even held a mock funeral service for him.”

Or the tale city employee Luanne Hunt tells about an experience aboard the Travel Log batteau during a period of high water.

“We got into this channel,” she recalled, “and we were just flying through it because the water was so high. I was on the front sweep, and all of a sudden I saw the overhanging tree coming at us and yelled for everybody to duck down. Everyone did except for one person on the boat who actually grabbed the tree. The boat kept going and left him hanging there.”

Although the battaux are all lineal descendants of 18th and early 19th century boats unearthed in a parking lot in downtown Richmond during the early 1980s, there is room for creative differences. The same applies to historic authenticity in terms of dress.

“The original batteaumen just wore whatever they happened to own at the time,” said Mike Lee of the Dreaming Creek. “There was no uniform.”

Moreover, those first river runners were even more in contact with the river than their descendants.

“They wouldn’t go down the river if the water was too low,” Lee said. “They’d just wait awhile until conditions were better. In our case, we’ve locked in a date every June, so we have to take what’s there at the time.”

The event has never been cancelled, although it was cut short a day in 1995 because of dangerous high water conditions.

On Saturday, the boats were filled with men, women, teen-agers, small children and even dogs. The lure of the James cuts across artificial barriers of age and occupation, thus ensuring a constant supply of new boatbuilders, captains and navigators.

It was hot on the island, and one woman with two small children tugging at her wiped her forehead as the boats were leaving and expressed what many of the people on the bank were probably thinking.

“I wish I was going, too,” she said.

UPDATE 1 P.M.

By Joe Stinnett

The batteaux launched on schedule, complete with a flotilla of nearly 200 canoes and kayaks and the traditional cannon firing to signal the beginning of the journey.

UPDATE 10:48 A.M.

By Liz Barry

The 25th annual James River Batteau Festival celebrates the 120-mile journey by merchant boats that hauled tobacco and other commodities from Lynchburg to Richmond during the 1700s and 1800s.

Manned by crews in period clothing, the fleet of batteaux launch from downtown Lynchburg. Eight days later, they bank at Maiden’s Landing in Richmond.

The batteaux are replicas of historic flat-bottomed boats, crafted by hand and designed to withstand the perils of the river.

Liz Barry, reporter with The News & Advance, has joined the journey and will blog from the James River.

Less than an hour before the launch, the boats start heading to Percival's Island. Photo by Liz Barry / The News & Advance

Howardsville artist Randy Smith has been painting scenes from the festival for 23 years. Photo by Liz Barry / The News & Advance

Reporter Liz Barry has her period clothes on and is ready for the adventure to begin. Photo by Kim Raff / The News & Advance