Ancarrow’s Landing

Richmond Times-Dispatch Archives

Published: September 22, 2008

MAP: James River

Slideshow
Ralph White talks about the history of Ancarrow’s Landing

Slideshow
See and hear from fisherman after the spring runs in the tidal James River

Richmond Boat Ramp (Ancarrow’s Landing). To reach Ancarrow’s landing, take I-95 to the Maury Street exit. Head east on Maury and follow road around municipal sewage plant. Follow signs to parking area on left. Parking is available for 200 cars. It is directly across the James River from Great Shiplock Park.

Ancarrow’s Landing is a boat landing and fishing spot that is one of the area’s most valuable historic sites. It is the place where William Byrd is believed to have established Richmond when he set up his trading post. Later, slave ships docked there in the 1700s and 1800s. It became known as Ancarrow’s Landing because it also was the home of Newton Ancarrow’s speedboat-manufacturing company.

The area also included a boat-building navy yard from the Civil War era and was also the terminus of the first railroad in Virginia, which came from the coal mines of Midlothian to the docks here at Manchester.

Take a walk along the Slave Trail. The trail starts at Ancarrow’s Landing. Walk the trail many imported slaves took upon their arrival and entry into Virginia at Manchester Docks to Richmond. The same route also took some slaves sold from Lumpkin’s Jail and other establishments in downtown Richmond during the antebellum years to the docks to be exported. The walk is 1.3 miles in length. It continues along the Richmond Flood Wall and over the Mayo Bridge. It is part of the Richmond Slave Trail, which was recognized by the Richmond Slave Trail Commission in the late 1990s to raise the level of awareness and informational accuracy about Richmond’s role in the slave trade.

What can you do?
• Walking: Good views of downtown Richmond and the calm waters in this section of the James River. The Manchester Slave Trail is well-maintained and clear, but knowing the history of the area and the trail is important to grasping its significance.
• Boating: The ramp is wide and there is ample parking in the park. There is not much dock space, so don’t expect to anchor there for long when it is busy. No swimming in the boat landing area.
• Fishing: In the tidal area below the falls. Rockfish and others migrate through in the spring. A license is required.

Most common: Shad, perch, rockfish (stripped bass), small mouth bass. Also you’ll see: River herring, several types of catfish.

Shad: The most popular fish is shad, and the most common of that species is hickory shad “they are so common now, which is an indication of how clean the water is,“ said Ralph White, manager of the James River Park System.

White perch (also referred to as “stiff-backs” because of the sharp spines on their dorsal fins): They live in the bay and come up the James River to spawn only at the Mayo Bridge and the Falls of the James. In the spring runs “it is sometimes so dense with fish that you can drop a baited hook in,“ said White, “that before your hook hits the bottom, you’ve got a fish on your line.“

Rockfish or striped bass: “This fish has come back bigtime,“ White said. They were “once endangered, are almost now prolific.“ Almost all of the boats and fisherman around the Mayo Bridge, Great Shiplock, Anncarrow’s Landing area are fishing for rockfish. “The management has been successful due to the hard work of the Marine Resources Commission and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.“

Small mouth bass: They become a target in the summertime. Richmond is “one of the nation’s great small mouth bass fishing sites,“ White said. The river is “managed for giant trophy-sized fish ... you can’t even keep a small mouth that is less than 22 inches long.“

Catfish (flathead, blue and channel): “Channel is quite good eating,“ White said, “especially in the 1 to 2 pound range.“ None of the really large fish should be considered as food because large catfish “bio-accumulate” in their tissue when they travel downstream of the Richmond region and can absorb chemicals in the water.

Info: Call: 646-8911 www.jamesriverparks.org, www.ci.richmond.va.us or 646-8911.

James River Park system: www.richmondgov.com