• The Elizabeth River Watershed is on the west side of the City, and shares boundaries with

  

  the cities of Norfolk and Chesapeake. The Elizabeth River is home to a thriving community that enjoys recreational amenities along the tidal urban river and creeks. 

• Watershed 9300 acres

• 10.6mi shoreline (approx)

• Land Use- EB of Elizabeth River (portion in Virginia Beach)

• Land elevations highest in all the watersheds with only 3% of the tidal land under 3ft elevation

• None

• No federal or state open space areas

• Lake James, freshwater (94-acre water body; est. in 1984 as a stormwater pond)

• Lake Edward, freshwater

• Diamond Lake, freshwater

• Eastern Branch Elizabeth River, brackish–salinity is high enough to support oyster restoration

• Moon driven tides

• Flood risks due to increased urbanization, degradation of naturalized landscapes, aging infrastructure and sea level rise.
• Marked as severely degraded
  

• Sea level WISE report-Part II

• ERP State of the River 2008

• Carolanne Farms Park
  (375 Gainsborough Drive)
  Provides access to the Elizabeth River
  *approximately 300 yards from parking area to kayak/canoe launch
• Woodstock Park
  (5709 Providence Rd, VB 23464)
• Ferry Point Park (5544 Normandy Ave, VB 23464) *Opened 2019; 9 acres of wetlands and forest; Living River Restoration Trust newest land conservation nonprofit (Cova Biz, 2019) 
• Neighborhood Parks in the Elizabeth River watershed

• Waterway access map 
• Bikeways and trails map
• Virginia Beach Parks, Natural Areas & Waterways map 
• Woodstock Park VB Gov

• Click to view map of LRNow’s Pearl Schools located in the Elizabeth River Watershed.

Flora And Fauna 

• Trees: Live oaks, red maples, dogwood, sycamore, American elm, river birch, American Holly, red bud, coniferous, loblolly pines, bald cypress, sweet gum and hickories.

• Shrubs, vines and grasses including (but not limited to): poison ivy, greenbrier, Virginia creeper, elderberry, wild rose, black cherry, honeysuckle, needlerush and blue-eyed grass

• High Marsh dominates with some coverage of salt marsh, woody wetlands and scrub

• young blue crab, baby spot and croaker, some oyster toadfish, small summer flounder, eastern oyster, river otter, Red Drum, great egret, bald eagle, marsh fiddler crab
• muskrats, raccoons
• crested cormorant, plover, common tern, snowy egret, gulls, coot, black duck, Heron, bald eagle 

ERP Learning Barge River Facts 

City of VB-Elizabeth River Nature Trail Brochure

• Colonial port for sailing ships at Kemp’s Landing (now Kempsville).
• John Ackiss was the first Virginia casualty of the American Revolution in the 1775 Skirmish of Kempsville.
• Pleasant Hall, 317 S. Princess Anne Road, used as headquarters by Lord Dunmore in the early days of the Revolutionary War.
• Courthouse moved to New Town on the North side of the Eastern Branch of Elizabeth River in 1758
  Courthouse was located in Kemps Landing, in now Kempsville area, from 1778-1784
• Carraway House-oldest surviving structure in Kempsville. 317 S Witchduck. Built 1735
• Former Oyster Mecca-Oyster shells were used to form the foundation of “Shell Road” now Indian River Road in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. 

PilotOnline History of Kempsville