Fones Cliffs
Jeff Allenby
Fones Cliffs is a stunning four-mile stretch of white-colored diatomaceous cliffs rising more than 100 feet above the Rappahannock River in Virginia. This nearly pristine and majestic site is the ancestral homeland of the Rappahannock Tribe and has been designated by the National Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area with global significance for resident and migratory bald eagles and other migratory birds. This largely unspoiled landscape is a place of natural and cultural importance and is a key feature along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (Chesapeake Trail).
Before contact with the English, the Rappahannock Tribe lived in at least three villages on the Cliffs–– Wecuppom, Matchopick and Pissacoack. Fones Cliffs is where the Tribe encountered and defended their homeland against English settler Captain John Smith during his explorations in 1608.
The Rappahannock Tribe’s Return to the River
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Photo by Peter Turcik
The Rappahannock Tribe’s Return to the River initiative trains Tribal youth in traditional river knowledge and practices and educates other communities about Indigenous culture. In 2017, thanks to a generous donation from the late Virginia U.S Senator John Warner and his daughter, Virginia, Chesapeake Conservancy purchased an acre of land near Fones Cliffs and donated it to the Rappahannock Tribe to serve as a land base for the initiative and to store related equipment.
Conservation of Fones Cliffs
Conservationists from the Bay region and beyond have been fighting to save the cliffs from commercial, residential and resort development since at least 2009. That was when the first rezoning proposal was approved to carve 252 acres into 47 residential lots, 22 of which had direct frontage on the Rappahannock River. That potentially catastrophic decision was followed in 2016 by another rezoning approval to create a massive golf course resort development on nearly 1,000 acres. Fortunately, neither of these ill-fated development proposals got off the ground. Illegal land clearing, which led to erosion of the cliff face, other legal challenges, financial woes and lack of market demand ultimately, and fortunately, led to their demise.
Matchopick
The first domino to fall in a positive direction was the 47-lot subdivision, now reunited with its ancestral name of Matchopick (see map at end). After 10 years of negotiations by The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Fund, Trust for Public Land, Virginia Outdoors Foundation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Conservation Fund finally convinced the former landowner/developer to accept a market value offer. In June 2019, partners gathered to celebrate the protection of 252 acres, which were added to the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Thanks to The Conservation Fund and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this parcel, referred to by the Tribe as its original name, is now permanently protected and will add opportunities for hiking and birdwatching. Chesapeake Conservancy is proud to have been among the principal partners who successfully secured funding for this acquisition from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Pissacoack
Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program
On April 1, 2022, at an emotional event attended by U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the Rappahannock Tribe announced that it had re-acquired 465 acres at Fones Cliffs, a sacred site to the Tribe located on the eastern side of the Rappahannock River and restored its original name of Pissacoack.
This was made possible by a donation to Chesapeake Conservancy by the family of the late William Dodge Angle, M.D. Chesapeake Conservancy purchased the 465 acres, negotiated and donated a permanent conservation easement to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and then donated fee title to the Rappahannock Tribe, making it the first partnership of its kind in the history of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
The land will be publicly accessible and include trails and a replica of a 16th-century village, where tribal members can educate the public about their history and Indigenous approaches to conservation through the Return to the River initiative. The Tribe intends to place the land in Trust with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through Walmart’s Acres for America Program provided additional funding for the project.
Phase II
The Pissacoack land conveyance to the Tribe by Chesapeake Conservancy is intended to be a two-phased project, with the second phase consisting of 703 acres of forested habitat adjacent to phase 1. The plan is to recoup as much funding as possible from grants and other funds secured by the Tribe and from the Land and Water Conservation Fund so that donations from the Angle family could continue to protect even more habitat along the Rappahannock River and beyond, a tribute to the family’s conservation legacy. During phase II, Chesapeake Conservancy partnered with the Tribe to provide GIS mapping and grant writing assistance. In October 2023, Chesapeake Conservancy acquired these 703 acres and expects to convey a permanent easement for inclusion into the refuge in early 2025 and convey fee title to the property to the Tribe soon thereafter.
Wecuppom
In December 2022, The Conservation Fund again stepped up and purchased the 969-acre proposed golf course development property at a bankruptcy auction. Over the next two years, the Tribe raised the capital necessary to acquire the property. The property, now known under its historic name of Wecuppom, is expected to be conveyed to the Tribe by the end of 2024 or early 2025, with an easement to be conveyed as part of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
While the partners mentioned above all worked together toward purchasing lands at Fones Cliffs, there were many more conservation-minded community members, agencies and organizations that contributed to the ultimate success of saving this special place. This chapter in the conservation of Fones Cliffs is a 15-year story of persistence, partnership and patience and a reminder of the good things that can come from the combination.
Take a virtual tour of Fones Cliffs and learn more by reading the Partnership for the National Trails System and the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Case Study on Fones Cliffs.
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Photo by Randall Larrimore
Feature Photo by Jeff Allenby
