The Origins Of The James River

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The latest edition of the "James River Journal" came out in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Monday.  The article focused on the origins of the James.  Reportedly, it’s not located where you might think it is. . . 

(See the link below.)

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/JAME20_20090719-222806/281038/

Photo: flickr user the other eric cohen

A Boathouse Restaurant Update

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Last week I toured the Boathouse Restaurant building site at Rocketts Landing with owner Kevin Healy. There is a lot of saw dust everywhere and loose wires hanging from the ceiling. But Healy reassured me that by mid-August it will be open for business.

 “I am more than satisfied with the building project thus far,” he said. “We are ahead of schedule and under budget.”

Healy said he is throwing a three-day party for friends and family when it opens.

Upon entering the restaurant, he said guests will come face to face with a massive wine shelf. In 2008, the Brandermill Boathouse Restaurant Healy currently owns and operates on the Swiftcreek Reservoir in Chesterfield won the Wine Spector Award of Excellence, an honor given to 3,249 restaurants in the U.S. that typically offer at least 100 wine selections. Healy aims to uphold that achievement at the Boathouse Restaurant at Rocketts Landing but also change a few things in terms of ambiance and tablefare.

“We’ll still have an open-air, wood-stone pizza oven and fire place, but the new restaurant will be less suburban than the one at Brandermill and more sophisticated,” he said.

Eight new Maki rolls, a larger selection of oysters, more “interesting” pizza ingredients and a wider variety of steaks will be the difference between the two restaurants’ menus, according to Healy.  All these new dishes will be cooked in a state-of-the-art kitchen with specialized equipment like a Ruth’s Chris broiler that can reach temperatures of 1,800 degrees and a la Plancha, which is a Spanish-style fish cooking surface that equalizes heat distribution.

“Because we have so many seats at the Brandermill restaurant, we have to do more with less,” Healy said. “The Rocketts restaurant will be much smaller so that is why we are able to expand the menu.”

The chef for the new boathouse restaurant has not been announced yet, but Healy did say that he will be “a local” and that the Rocketts Landing restaurant will additionally employ at least 35 servers and 18 cooks.

A total of 16 booths and an in-door/outdoor bar will line the restaurant floor and a community table for big parties will be at the center of the main dining area.  Also Healy said that private parties will be able to rent the Harbor Masters Head Quarters located on the top floor of the power plant building for special occasions. 

 “This will not only be my flagship restaurant, but we are hoping it will also be Richmond’s flagship restaurant and a premier restaurant in Central, Virginia,” Healy said.

A Brew Story About Rocketts Landing

Monday, July 13, 2009

After the Civil War, thousands of entrepreneurs from the North flooded the business markets of the defeated Southland’s major cities.  Richmond was no exception.  And among the budding business men headed to the capitol city was David Yuengling Jr., a second-generation German immigrant with beer brewing in his blood.

In 1866, Yuengling Jr. established the James River Steam Brewery at Rocketts Landing. The brewery was America’s first fully steam powered brewery and was located on grassy area just north of Fall Line.

In 1829, Yuengling Jr.’s father, David Sr., established D.G. Yuengling and Son, the oldest operating brewery in the US.  The newly founded establishment was called the Eagle Brewery back then. And for more reasons than one, David Jr. decided to leave it in 1866 to set up shop on the banks of the James River, according to Brooks Smith, the author of Facts and Legends: The Hills of Richmond.

“Back then, Richmond was known as a place for saloons, old-country beer recipes and all around good cheer,” said Smith, whose book examines the historical significance of the many hills surrounding Rocketts Landing. “Not only that, breweries from up North were especially attracted to the city’s cheap labor force and river access.”

Ice was imported up the James River on barges from Maine in order to keep freshly brewed beer cold. According to Smith, this was an expensive endeavor given the long distance the ice had to travel and the city’s warm climate.

“A lot of breweries in Richmond went out of business on account of how expensive the ice was,” he said.

In addition to importing ice, deep cellars were dug around the James River Steam Brewery to keep the stored beer out of the sunlight and as cold as possible.  The oldest beer cellar in Richmond, Smith said, is on Chimborazo Hill, north of Rocketts Landing. It served as a bomb shelter during World War II, but was filled with dirt sometime after that to keep out trespassers.

Rocketts Landing has its own abandoned beer cellar just behind the new pool. The cellar is now fenced off and has standing water on the floor. But it once would have been lined with clean brick and stacked with crates of beer. That is until the James River Steam Brewery closed only a couple years after its opening. The reason why and the exact date the brewery was shuttered remain unknown Smith said.

Rumor has it though that there are plans to turn the old beer cellar at Rocketts Landing into a restaurant in commemoration of the James River Steam Brewery. Smith said he supports the idea. But before any building takes place, he would like to put on some hip waders and take a look around down there. 
 

Photo: Flickr user Ourkid