A privately marked channel with a depth of about 4 feet leads to a small-boat basin at Tappahannock, 0.2 mile above the bridge. Water, ice, gasoline, a 6-ton lift and some supplies are available; repairs can be made.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
Rappahannock River flows into the west side of Chesapeake Bay 45.7 miles by channel from the Virginia Capes. Fredericksburg, 93 miles above the mouth, is the head of practical navigation.
The river has natural depths of 15 feet or more to the bridge at Tappahannock, 37.4 miles above the mouth.
The channel from the mouth of Rappahannock River to Tappahannock is comparatively straight, but gradually decreases in width and leads between shoals that make out from both banks. The principal dangers are marked. Strangers can take a draft of 10 feet to Tappahannock by day with the aid of the chart, but navigation of the narrow, crooked channel farther up requires local knowledge.
Tappahannock is at Mile 37.4W. The highway bridge over the river at Tappahannock has a fixed span with a clearance of 50 feet. A wharf just below the bridge is in ruins.
