Despite overcast skies and intermittent rain, members of the Northern Neck Land Conservancy (NNLC) took to the water on May 4 2005 with a kayak/canoe paddle on Cat Point Creek from Heritage Park, ending later in the day with an in-door “picnic” at the Menokin visitors center. Both venues are in Richmond County. Over 20 NNLC members participated in the event guided by wildlife biologist Sandy Spencer of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The paddle and brown bag lunch were unique in that they combined for the intrepid NNLC paddlers exploration of Cat Point Creek floral and fauna with a review of the Menokin National Historic Landmark. Moreover, the soggy day turned out to be a lot of fun, especially for the birders in the group.

The paddle started about six miles up-creek from the Rappahannock River and round some four miles through the habitat. “I wanted them to see how the creek changes as you get into the forested drainages that feed this creek,” Spencer explained. “This is predominately a fresh water portion of the creek, although it is tidally influenced and sometimes brackish. So you see a lot of fresh water plants,” she added.

Paddlers saw native bamboo and native wild azalea in bloom, as well as an enormous array of shrub species that were starting to flower. In addition, birds were everywhere, including bald eagles and the rarely seen prothonotary warbler. In all Spencer estimated that the group saw and heard 43 different birds.

“This is really an important resource for the Northern Neck. Because it is so long and is so forested, it is an important corridor,” she concluded.

Once dry and warm at Menokin, the NNLC paddlers had a chance to review the trip. “It was amazing,” enthused Jane Wells, “we saw eagles. They’re brooding presence is all along the creek like this was their ground, not ours. This creek is pretty remarkable.”

Helen Murphy, president of the Menokin Foundation, welcomed the NNLC, saying that this group is a perfect partner. “We feel as though this a very happy gathering of our two groups,” she observed.

Doris Lackey, executive director of the foundation, reviewed the history of Menokin and the foundation’s mission as an education center intent on restoring the ruins of the plantation house. She said that Menokin was the plantation and home of patriot Francis Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife Rebecca Tayloe.