Virginia Regions

Tidewater Virginia

(The following is the beginning of the Introduction to the Tidewater Virginia

Region of Natural Virginia prepared by Deane Dozier)

Rappahannock. Tangier.  Chesapeake and Chincoteague and Chickahominy. Back Bay and Great Dismal Swamp.

For Virginians, the very words can summon the smell of salt air in the mind, or perhaps stir up a memory of poking around the tidal ooze searching for clams with the toes.  Say “Eastern Shore” or “Sandbridge” and recall the sound of waves rolling into the Atlantic shoreline, sizzling up the beach, dissolving into foam.  

Here in Tidewater Virginia are rich wetlands where ospreys and eagles nest, wide expanses of marsh grasses where wild ponies graze, and tidal waters where anadromous fish with an urge to spawn follow the paths of early explorers upriver to the fall line.  Time spent savoring a salty breeze, watching porpoise roll through breakers along the coast, poking about a Chesapeake Bay tidal gut in a small boat, listening to songbirds in a marsh—all these have a way of seeping into your very marrow, leaving lasting impressions in mind and spirit.

If the mere mention of a place name has the power to conjure up sensory images, then viewing the detail in the photographs of this book is certain to produce beautiful memories, if you have been here.  Wanderlust, if you have not.  Ben has selected images that reflect his own favorite haunts from areas east of the fall line—the physiographic demarcation where rivers from more western counties meet the coastal plain and become tidal. 

What is Tidewater?

The area covered here lies east of Interstate 95, and includes the Northern Neck, the Middle Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay, the Bay itself and its tributary rivers, and Virginia’s portion of the Eastern Shore, as well as the entire southeastern corner of the state down to the North Carolina line.

All 14 of the national wildlife refuges located in Virginia are sprinkled about the Tidewater area.  Additionally, the Tidewater is home to 30 natural area preserves, five state parks, nine state forests, and 11 state wildlife management areas, as well as some privately owned preserves of The Nature Conservancy that are open for gentle use.  Some preserves and refuges feature significant wetlands for marsh birds, or they may protect pristine sandy shorelines, low dunes, and salt marsh habitat. Others provide protection for some of the oldest and tallest trees in Virginia.  On preserves and refuges where beaches border the Chesapeake Bay, wind and water move sand around, creating an ever changing habitat for rare marsh birds and colonial nesting birds. 

Of course, these varied habitats provide wonderful variety for Ben’s camera.  He makes repeated trips to such places as Caledon State Park on the Northern Neck, with its old growth forest and largest concentration of bald eagles on the East Coast.  The wild ponies and wading birds add life to images of the barrier beaches, dunes, marshes and maritime forests of Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge.  Osprey and bald cypress trees are among his subject matter at First Landing State Park near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and the adjoining False Cape State Park in the southeastern corner of Virginia also have photogenic barrier island beach and dunes, shrubby habitat, and brackish marshes.