The Rivanna River begins in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Albemarle and Greene Counties, flows through the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle, Louisa, Orange and Fluvanna Counties. The Rivanna merges with the James River at Columbia, VA. This tranquil and beautiful river is home to hundreds of species of plant and animal life — fish, birds, trees, wildflowers and reptiles. Some of these birds and fish include; Blue Heron, Green Heron, Osprey, Canadian Goose, Wood Duck, American Shad, Mute Swans, Small Mouth Bass and Large Mouth Bass.
The Rivanna and its stream tributaries provide central Virginia with drinking water and a number of recreational activities that include fishing, boating, swimming and hiking. The Rivanna River watershed is one of the finest freshwater river and stream systems in the Piedmont. It is home to fish, turtles, deer, birds, and the rare and endangered James spiny mussel.
But a healthy future for the Rivanna is not guaranteed. This is because, as the population throughout the watershed grows, so does the potential for pollution and misuse.
Often called “Mr. Jefferson’s River,” the Rivanna is one of our nation’s most historic rivers. Thomas Jefferson, himself, grew up on the shores of the Rivanna and built his Monticello home along its banks. Sharing Mr. Jefferson’s appreciation for this river, a group of Fluvanna County residents established the Rivanna Conservation Society (RCS) in 1990.RCS is a non-profit organization dedicated to protection of the river for the benefit of present community and for generations to come. Our mission is “To develop public support to safeguard the ecological, recreational, cultural, scenic and historic resources of the Rivanna River Watershed.”
To learn more about the RCS log on to:
Website at www.rivannariver.org
Blog at http://rivannariver.wordpress.com/
Telephone: 434 97-RIVER (434 977 4837)
I live in Maryland but am a volunteer with the Fluvanna County Historical Society putting together a coffee table book on Palmyra including Pleasant Grove. I have not been able to collect any pictures of activities on the Rivanna. Hopefully you have some that we may use. We do not usually identify individuals in a picture but rather the activity, but we do list the photographer and/or organization as a photo credit.
We can use river views as well as activities that are/were in the Palmyra/Pleasant Grove area.
Thank you for your help,
David
Good evening David,
We do have a few pictures from our Rivanna River Sojourn last year. We would be pleased to share them with you.
Robbi
This will be very helpful. Is it possible to send a CD? Or, if not too many photos are sent per email attachment that method will work. For each photo please identify location and photographer.
Thank you,
David
Dear David,
This may be a little late, but I have two pictures of me and my friend fishing on the Rivanna River. The pictures include a fine specimen of a Rivanna River small mouth bass, a shot of the water, and one of them includes some of the banks and surrounding area. I can e-mail them to you if it’s not too late.
We would be pleased to work with you on this Julius. Please give us a call at the RCS office at 434 977 4837. Best. Robbi Savage