I have the clubhouse that every little boy always wanted
April, 2001
In June of 2000 I left my job as Assistant Director of Admissions at Dartmouth College and moved back to Virginia for the purpose of spending one year working on opposition to the proposed Pamunkey discharge. I intended to live at Newcastle Farm, as close as possible to the river itself, but we no longer owned a home there. My parents had lived there in a trailer near the river bank, but the trailer was sold long ago. They also had begun the work of restoring a ruin, the chimney of which is visible in the photograph above, but my father died in 1976 before finishing it. The county has no record of my father's building permit. For several years after his death, my mother and I had resided in a house owned by my uncle, but it was now occupied by another family.
My plan, therefore, was to put a residential trailer on the same spot where my parents had lived in one. To my surprise, Deputy County Administrator John Hodges informed me that I could not do so without subdividing Newcastle into smaller lots, something I had no intention of doing. Owing to the fact that my uncle owns two houses--including the one that my mother and I had lived in--that are within the boundaries of the farm, no more residences are permitted on the single parcel. (Bear in mind that the single parcel is 800 acres large.)
Given these circumstances, I elected officially to move home with my mother and stepfather at their house in Powhatan, Virginia. I also bought and restored a 1961 Airstream Camping Trailer. Then, for approximately eight months interspersed with regular decampments, I stayed at the Airstream and began each day in a small space with a grand view. I was less than 100 yards from the proposed outfall site.
Following the events of March 7, 2001, I temporarily have suspended this long camping trip and have been spending my nights in Powhatan. This ensures that I abide by the terms of the court's injunction and avoid confrontation with the construction workers. (In order to get to my Port-o-let, I have to cross the proposed construction corridor.)
The time I have spent on the Pamunkey River has been invigorating (though sometimes frustrating with respect to the effort to save it). Through this web site and through haphazard social interaction, I have met or become reacquainted with many wonderful people in Hanover County and nearby King William. I have had time to enjoy the Pamunkey River and the phenomenon that Gretel Ehrlich calls "the solace of open spaces." Learning what happens to a minimally insulated camper when one fails to turn the water off on a night when the temperature drops well below freezing was merely a bonus. And the plumber was good-humored about it.
My "year off" will be over soon. I have begun the process of finding employment in Virginia, but it remains to be seen where my new base of operations will be. Regardless, efforts to stop Hanover County from polluting the Pamunkey River will continue. I also intend to spend much of the summer in this 28' aluminum sheath that houses everything I need to survive, but has room for nothing else.
--Henry Ruffin Broaddus
"The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." --MLK, Jr.
