Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
James River flows 350 miles from the Appalachian Mountains to Chesapeake Bay. In pre-colonial times, Native Americans called it Powhatan River, after the Chief of the Tsenocommacah people. English colonists named it after King James the First when founding Jamestown in 1607. It served as a major highway in Virginia’s infancy and facilitated the tobacco boom that further drove America’s immigration. It envelops Belle Isle, which houses the abandoned hydroelectric power plant in the video. It opened in 1904 and powered the USA’s first trolley system in Richmond. It closed in 1967 and has since fallen back to nature and daredevil graffiti artists that make the climbs inside.
James River flows 350 miles from the Appalachian Mountains to Chesapeake Bay. In pre-colonial times, Native Americans called it Powhatan River, after the Chief of the Tsenocommacah people. English colonists named it after King James the First when founding Jamestown in 1607. It served as a major highway in Virginia’s infancy and facilitated the tobacco boom that further drove America’s immigration. It envelops Belle Isle, which houses the abandoned hydroelectric power plant in the video. It opened in 1904 and powered the USA’s first trolley system in Richmond. It closed in 1967 and has since fallen back to nature and daredevil graffiti artists that make the climbs inside.
