City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Address: 490 Tredegar St.

Description: The Tredegar site is more than a fabulous place to learn about the causes and effects of the Civil War at both the American Civil War Center and Richmond National Battlefield Park Visitor Center. It also has remnants of Richmond’s industrial past—a foundry building, millraces, waterwheels, canal infrastructure, and other vestiges of Richmond’s reliance on the river for waterpower. Across the river on Belle Isle, Union POWs suffered and died. Across the canal on Brown’s Island, Confederate munitions were made, and later, former slave and renowned orator John Jasper started Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in an abandoned Confederate building there.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Description: For that last century some of us still remember, the flood wall is our symbol, for without it, much of the downtown economic development of the last 20 years would not have happened, and we wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun in Shockoe Bottom and Manchester. After the devastating and expensive floods in 1969, 1972, and 1985, the city finally won approval for a flood wall. Finished in 1995 by the Army Corps of Engineers, the flood wall protects more than 750 acres of the city on both sides of the river, and the southern section provides great city, wildlife, and river views.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 276-7600

Description: This longtime Richmond company offers white-water instruction and guided kayak or tubing trips.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 794-2004

Address: 11500 Midlothian Turnpike

Description: A great community partner, BRMS offers “Hit the H2O” free kayak demo days several times a year at area parks and occasional day-trip paddles for a fee. Besides kayak and canoes and the associated gear, they also carry rock-climbing equipment for those so inclined. A second location is at 10164 W. Broad St. (804-965-0494).

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 550-2188

Address: 10193 Washington Hwy.

Description: For more than 60 years it’s been the place in central Virginia to go for fishing and hunting gear and expert advice. The staff knows the outdoors and is dedicated to getting you out there. The store, not far from Virginia Center Commons, is open seven days a week.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 748-1124

Description: Paddling instruction in white-water and flat-water canoeing and kayaking for beginners and intermediate folks is available through the county outdoor adventure and nature programs at both Dutch Gap and Pony Pasture in the city. Equipment is provided. Once you have completed certain classes, the county offers play days with supervised kayaking around town.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 938-2350

Description: Any time of the year, hit the river for half- or full-day (or even night fishing sometimes) guided catch-and-release fishing trips, guaranteed to make sure the big one gets away only after there’s a photo of you holding it. With 25 years of fishing experience, Mike Ostrander finds the hot spots in the James aboard either a 24-foot pontoon boat or a 16-foot runabout in the lower James, or in a raft or Jon boat in the upper section. You’ll be amazed at the size of the fish that live in this river, and whether it’s blue catfish, flathead catfish, striped bass, or hickory shad that you hook, photos proving your prowess are all part of the deal, as are all fishing gear, tackle, and a light meal. For the novice, fishing instruction is available at various waterways around town.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Address: 100 Stockton St.

Description: This rafting company offers raft trips to appeal to the thrill seeker or the more tame among us. One trip floats along Class I and II rapids that are barely bump-worthy, and the other trips take you all the way through Hollywood Rapids and the Class IIIs and IVs for the real deal. You’ll hear about the well-named Mitchell’s Gut rapids and other tidbits of Richmond history while you’re along for the ride. Rafting trips must be reserved in advance. Tube rentals and guided tube trips for groups are also available.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 560-0068

Address: 6836 Old Westham Parkway

Description: This adventure outfit near Pony Pasture is full service, offering canoes, kayaks, tubes, and river boards for rent with a handy and free equipment shuttle thrown in, as well as guided white-water rafting, canoeing, and kayaking trips down the James. The white-water rafting trips are your chance to tackle the Class II, III, and IV rapids that flow through downtown in an exhilarating and adrenaline-producing rollicking ride. The upper raft trip and all of the canoeing and kayaking trips are more serene, offering flat water and in some cases Class I and II riffles. There are even sunset trips to catch the river at its most beautiful. Reservations are required for the guided trips.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Description: This boat club is for those who want to be the motor of the boat, either sweeping (pulling one oar) or sculling (pulling two). Once you join the Virginia Boat Club, you have access to both of the group’s convenient boathouses and boats set near miles of rowable water above and below the falls. The downtown boathouse occupies the bottom two levels of the building that houses the Boathouse Restaurant at Rockett’s Landing, so that’s easy to remember. The Robious Landing boathouse is in Robious Landing Park in Chesterfield County. The club offers recreational and competitive rowing and welcomes novice and veteran rowers alike. They host the Rockett’s Landing Sprints downtown in June.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 780-1392

Description: Richmond is smack in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Because everything connects, and two-thirds of Virginia is drained by rivers and streams that wind up in the bay, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation works to educate those living in the watershed that what we do affects the health of the bay. Restoring oysters and native grasses to area waterways is just part of their work. Encouraging land conservation and working to improve water quality is another. Volunteer projects are ongoing, so call to become a member and/or get involved.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Description: The Friends’ mission is to provide ongoing support to the James River Park System, financially and otherwise, so that the park is preserved and maintained and so park users’ visits are enhanced and enjoyable. This group is all over the map, literally, conducting an annual survey of the parcels held in the Conservation Easement, holding cleanups in the park, and volunteering at park events like the Parade of Lights event at Libby Hill Park, to spread the good news about what the park has to offer. FOJRP also raises funds to ensure important park educational and outreach programs can continue. For as little as $15 you can be a friend, too.

City: Richmond, VA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (804) 788-8811

Address: 9 S. 12th St.

Description: This statewide advocacy group works to preserve and protect all 340 miles of the James from its headwaters in Iron Gate to its mouth at the Chesapeake Bay. When you realize that more than one-third of Virginians are connected to the James and its tributaries either by drinking water, recreation, or industry, it’s a good thing JRA is here to take care of the river. Two paid river keepers monitor the James’s health year-round, and JRA gets the community involved with habitat restoration, land conservation, and extreme stream makeovers. Recently they collaborated with Virginia Commonwealth University to increase sturgeon spawning grounds. You can join JRA for as little as $35 a year.