Dear Friends

Belle Isle has sat in the James River near what would become downtown Richmond for millions of years. The fall line that created the rapids and the conditions for the island to exist is estimated to be more than 300 million years old. A lot of people know about the island’s brief stint as an infamous Civil War prison camp that housed captured US soldiers in brutal conditions. Some people might even remember the Old Dominion Iron and Steel plan that occupied the island into the 1960s, but what other people or industries have called Belle Isle home? And how did those people use the island’s strategic location in the James River to their advantage?

Those are just a couple of of the questions we hoped to find better answers to when we started working with Tim from Black Star Cultural Resources back in the Spring. We hired Tim to conduct a comprehensive survey about Belle Isle’s history, in part so that we could make doubly sure that our proposed projects won’t disrupt any potential archaeological sites, but also so we could develop better interpretative signage to help tell the story of Belle Isle.

This week Tim has agreed to share some of his findings with the general public at an event we are hosting. Please join us on Thursday, October 17th at Basic City Brewing at 6:00 pm. At this event, Tim is going to talk about the history of Belle Isle, new insights into the island’s history, and how the island has changed over the centuries.

Also, if you have not had a chance to check it out yet, please take a look at our Annual Report by clicking here.

Thank you again for your ongoing support! I hope I will see some of you at Basic City on Thursday!

-Josh