by Megan Schiffres
Hidden beneath the shifting shores of the Rappahannock River, pieces of the distant past are preserved, buried over thousands of years by sea level rise and land erosion.
For generations, collectors and hobbyists have discovered ancient artifacts in the shallow waters and on banks of the river with shocking frequency. After only two months of pacing one of the beaches that line the shore of the Rappahannock, Kilmarnock resident and professional landscaper Russell Brumley says he’s found more than six arrowheads and two pieces of what he believes to be Native American tools.
“When I look at them and I pick one up, there’s a feeling you get,” says Brumley. “I can tell that somebody had that, somebody possessed that and that’s the glory in it. Just knowing that you find little pieces of the people that are here before us.”
According to Russell, it only takes patience and time to discover native artifacts…
