Make it a priority to visit historic Scottsville,
Virginia this Wednesday, June 24th and join the town in a
celebration for the 30th Annual James River Batteau Festival! The Batteau Festival is a FREE all-day
celebration filled with live music, art/museum exhibits, food vendors, and much
more!
Not only is this the 30th year of operation,
but also the strongest year in boat totals.
Twenty-five batteaux total will be floating down the James River for a
grand eight day voyage starting in Lynchburg and finishing in Richmond,
VA.
The “batteaux” are long wooden, flat bottomed boats
that are directed by poles. Each batteau
will float a crew dressed period costumes along with supplies for their journey.
We should all go out and celebrate, as Scottsville
marks the half way point on their voyage.
The stretch is a total of 120 miles.
One goal of the James River Batteau Festival other
than having a great and memorable time is to preserve the heritage of the
batteau and its voyage. The first
batteau was hand crafted by Anthony Rucker in the mid to late 16th
century. This life style and previous
mode of transportation are very important to mark in history. In previous centuries, this network of
transportation was so popular that there were more than 500 batteaux on the
James at one point in time. Many of
these boats were carrying items such as Irish linens, tobacco, fine French
wines, and more. As you can see this
path from Richmond to Lynchburg was very important for the installation and improvement
of trade to the west parts of Virginia.
In the meantime, France was undertaken by political
conflict, foreshadowing a future revolution on the horizon. Look forward to read more about the French
Revolution leading up to our Bastille Day Celebration on July 14th.
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