#60 The Old and New in Fluvanna County

In August, while the dam at the Woolen Mills was being torn down, there were also pretty dramatic changes taking place downriver in Palmyra. On a day that I am spending in Fluvanna, I retrun via the new Route 15 bridge over the Rivanna and see that the demolition of the old bridge is well underway. Just like at the Woolen Mills site, I am drawn to watch so I park at the river launch just upriver.

A workman is using a high speed grinder to flatten the rivet heads flush so that the segments they pin together can be removed. Behind him follows another with a cutting torch, severing the trusses one by one from the structure. Below, along the river bank, chunks of concrete skewerd by twisted lengths of re-rod lie stranded like the wrappings after a wild Christmas morning. A dump truck is receiving loads of debris and carrying it away.

The dust mingles with the moist air, giving the scene an vintage Virginia red-clay wash. It is still dreadfully hot and the river below the bridges gives no releif to workers in heavy overalls and hardhats. I hear the shrill back-up warning beeps from large equipment and the clash of steel buckets and hammers on concrete. My body registers vibrations from the impact of the foundations of bridge piers being ripped from the river bed.

From where I am standing, I can see the bridge being removed and beyond it, the new bridge, where workers are dodging the traffic to lay down the traffic lines. Below is the fine stonework of the old mill and lock which will soon become centerpiece to Palmyra Mill Park in the floodplain below the new bridge. And when I turn my head 180 degrees and look upriver, I see the small island that marks one of the five bridge piers remaining from another, earlier bridge, a covered one built in 1823, rebuilt in 1884, burned in 1931 to make way for the steel bridge I am watching being demolished. It’s hard to stand and watch in the heat, so I head up Route 53 to catch the Tuesday afternoon farmer’s market at Pleasant Grove.

Entering the wide gates, I am still not sure what century I am in – and perhaps that’s the whole point of the development of the Pleasant Grove complex. Wide mowed fields give way to horse fences that mark the equestrian portion of this County Park system, the athletic fields beyond the line of trees. Vendors are parked in a neat tline, their pickups backed up to small tents to shade the early pumpkins, raspberry jelly, and cut flowers being sold. Further in sits the Pleasant Grove House and its dependency, the outdoor, or Summer, Kitchen – which now houses exhibits on transportation and local history which have been installed by the Fluvanna Heritage Trail Foundation. This site marks the western trailhead of the system of trails that flanks the Rivanna between Pleasant Grove and the village of Palmyra. Here, the morticed timbers, sloping floors, and massive stone and brick chimney anchor the structure in time and place.

There is a lot changing in Fluvanna, and I wonder if at times it is dizzying for folks to travel back and forth in time, protecting the past, making way for the new. The fruits of the efforts of some very dedicated folks are being borne out at the Pleasant Grove Complex in Fluvanna.

The next two weekends bring opportunities to explore this public section of Fluvanna that’s right on the river. There’s a 10k run this Saturday, followed by the ceremonial opening of the Summer Kitchen. The following weekend brings the annual fall event, Old Farm Day on October 6. For those of us who tend to forget what’s downstream on the river below Charlottesville, just a short ride out of town, there’s a whole lot to explore.