Williams Island Dam is located on the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

in the independent city of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Just below the dam, of rapids mark the descent of the river downstream through the geological

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

region to the navigable tidal portion below Richmond, which extends southeast to

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

. Williams Island Dam was built in 1905 as part of a drinking water project of the City of Richmond which made use of a portion of the former James River and Kanawha Canal along the north shore of the river west of Richmond. A gravity dam, its height is . Its normal storage capacity is estimated to be . It was connected with an early waterworks building which is located on Pumphouse Drive just west of the city's Boulevard Bridge. Williams Island Dam is wholly located within the city's

James River Park System The James River Parks System (also known as James River Park or simply JRPS) is a municipal park in Richmond, Virginia. It consists of multiple sections along the James River between the Huguenot Memorial Bridge in the west to a half mile (0.8&n ...

. Williams Island, which separates the two sections of the dam, is a wildlife preserve and has the nest of a

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

. According to the James River Park website, Richmond is the only capital city in the lower 48 states to have an eagle nesting inside the corporate limits.

References

External links

James River Park official websiteDiscover Richmond - Williams Island and Dam
* {{coord, 37, 33, 25, N, 077, 30, 35, W, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-VA_source:gnis Williams Island Dam Dams in Virginia Dams completed in 1905 1905 establishments in Virginia