Defender of the James
Original Text by Erica Bovey, Archivist, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.
Newton Hopper Ancarrow (1920-1991) was a Richmond, Virginia native who majored in chemistry and physics in college, served in WWII, and in 1958 opened a luxury boat business, Ancarrow Marine Inc. Perhaps an unlikely botanist, his path to activism began when the polluted water of the James River spoiled his marina and peeled the paint off his high-end speedboats.
Prior to purchasing his property and building the marina, Ancarrow was assured the river would be cleaned up in a few years. As problems with the river accumulated, he got angry. He later described city leaders as giving him "the runaround" when he sought accountability.
At this time in US history, there were little to no regulations protecting water quality. As a result industrial chemicals, heating oil, and raw sewage were all regularly dumped into the James River by both businesses and the government. The Environmental Protection Agency was not formed until 1970, and the first robust Federal protection of our nation's waters - the Clean Water Act of 1972 - was still years in the future.
WIldflowers
Ancarrow understood that in order to change policy, he would have to convince regular folks to get invested in the cause. In 1964 he began walking the banks of the James photographing evidence of the polluted water to bring to city leaders. As he did, he also began to notice the abundant wildflowers. He began his wildflowers photography because he thought they would be likely to appeal to a large audience and help gain support in his quest to curb the pollution. However, he fell in love with his subject, teaching himself botany and documenting over 500 species of plants growing along the James!
Ancarrow took dozens of photos of each specimen over the course of several years, in every state of growth, and from multiple viewpoints. His large wildflower photography archive was donated to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden after his passing. This image showing a pollinator visiting an Alleghany Monkey Flower in 1970 is part of a selection that was digitized by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) libraries in 2015-2016.
Ancarrow collected some of his most alluring images into a slide show, which he showed to different garden clubs and other social clubs throughout Virginia. Though his activism for cleaning the James hadn't abated, his new passion for botany changed his perspective about how best to live his life.
Advocacy
Ancarrow kickstarted the environmental movement in Richmond, Virginia through his passionate defense of the natural ecosystems in and along the James. He spent thousands of dollars and hours creating and sharing content to persuade others to join his cause. He continuously challenged city, state, and federal government through lawsuits in defense of nature. Ancarrow also joined or formed citizen groups, advisory groups, committees and boards such as Reclaim the James, Inc. and Campaign Clean Water, Inc. to help form or change policy.
In 1975, the city took his property under eminent domain for expansion of the wastewater treatment public utility. His boat business had closed a few years prior, but he had poured a lot of money into the property building a marina which is still available for park visitors to use today. Due to the pollution, the fair market value of the property was assessed to be quite low. The Ancarrow's sued the City of Richmond for failing to control the river pollution that rendered their marina property unusable, but lost. They continued to appeal the case, but in 1979 the Supreme Court waived it, confirming the judgments of lower courts. The unattractive but lawful pollution from the sewage treatment plant was considered to be in service of the public, which outweighed the Ancarrow's claim. Frustrated and fed up, Ancarrow retired to his home.
Legacy
Despite his setbacks, Ancarrow also saw great successes in his activism. He inspired thousands of fellow Virginians to join in his advocacy for clean water. In 1973 the State Water Control Board recommended the creation of a James River Basin board to oversee the uses of surface and groundwater from Goochland County through Hampton Roads, of which Ancarrow was a member. That committee later adopted his 'bullfrog' amendment, directing that non-human life forms be protected in the allocation of water uses. He was named Conservationist of the year by Virginia Wildlife Federation in 1974.
Today, organizations like the James River Association and Friends of the James River Park continue to work for the health of the river and its natural communities. Without Ancarrow's activism, who knows how clean the James would be today?
Since the 1970s Richmond has worked to address the combined sewer overflow (CSO) problem, in which wet weather overwhelms water treatment capacity and raw sewage flows into the James River. Today an estimated 91% of Richmond's CSOs are captured before going into the James, with a goal of capture of up to 5 billion gallons per year.
Learn more
Ancarrow served on the advisory board to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Board of Directors in the early 1980s. His commitment to affecting change at the local level is an inspirational reminder to us all to appreciate our natural environment and to raise our voices in its service.
His archive continues to be a valuable tool for educating Virginians about the ecosystem around them. To see more of Ancarrow's archive, learn more about environmental conservation issues in Virginia today, or help preserve the health of Richmond's river, follow the links below.
Ancarrow Wildflower Digital Archive
Virginia Conservation Network
James River Association
Friends of James River Park