Blackwater River (Virginia)
| Blackwater River | |
| River | |
 |
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Virginia |
| Source | |
| - location | Prince George County |
| - coordinates | 37°10′49″N 77°22′54″W / 37.18028°N 77.38167°W |
| Mouth | Chowan River |
| - coordinates | 36°32′38″N 76°54′58″W / 36.54389°N 76.91611°WCoordinates: 36°32′38″N 76°54′58″W / 36.54389°N 76.91611°W |
 The Blackwater River is the northernmost of the Albemarle Sound river system.
|
|
The Blackwater River of southeastern Virginia flows from its source near the city of Petersburg, Virginia for about 105 miles (170 km) through the Inner Coastal Plain region of Virginia (part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain). The Blackwater joins the Nottoway River to form the Chowan River, which empties into Albemarle Sound. The Blackwater-Nottoway confluence forms the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina.
The Blackwater River is a true blackwater river. Its water is clear, dark, slightly acidic, and tannin stained. Its drainage basin contains many swamps. The river's flood plain is mostly forested and swampy, including bald cypress and tupelo swamp forests. The upper Blackwater River is called Blackwater Swamp. In this region of Virginia, many streams are called "swamps" but still function like streams in being long and linear, with water moving from one end to the other and laid out in a normal stream tributary network. In contrast, some of the region's wetlands are not streams, such as the bog-like pocosins found on the higher land between swamp-stream drainages.
The Blackwater River was a transportation route in the 17th and 18th centuries, connecting the Chesapeake Bay settlements with the Albemarle Settlements. It was one of the few rivers of colonial Virginia that did not empty into Chesapeake Bay yet lay close to the colony's oldest settlements on the James River. Settlements in the Blackwater's drainage basin were founded very early in Virginia's history. As a result, the Blackwater River became one of the early migration routes southward from the James River into the region then called Southside Virginia, and beyond into the Albemarle District of Carolina (later North Carolina). Today's usual definition of Southside differs somewhat from that of colonial times.
...
Wikipedia