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Rappahannock River

The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately 195 mi in length. It traverses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west where it rises, across the Piedmont to the Fall Line, and onward through the coastal plain to flow into the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River.

An important river in American history, the Rappahannock was long an area of occupation by indigenous peoples. Similarly, during the colonial era, early settlements in the Virginia Colony were formed along the river.

During the American Civil War, due to the river's acting as a barrier to north–south troop movements, it effectively functioned as the boundary of the eastern theater of the war, between the "North" (the Union) and the "South" (the Confederate States of America). It was at the center of a major theater of battle where tens of thousands of troops fought against each other. In this period some 10,000 enslaved African Americans escaped to freedom across the river to Union lines, after the first Battle of Fredericksburg.

The river drains an area of 2,848 sqmi, approximately 6% of Virginia. Much of the watershed is rural and forested. Development in the area has increased since the late 20th century with the southward expansion of the metropolitan Washington, D.C. suburbs.

Course
The Rappahannock River rises at Chester Gap, a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains a few miles southeast of Front Royal, Virginia, near the single point where Warren, Fauquier, and Rappahannock counties come together. It flows southeastward, past Remington, Kelly's Ford, and Richardsville, before it is joined from the right by the Rapidan River, its largest tributary. The Rappahannock passes through the city of Fredericksburg.

Southeast of Fredericksburg, the river begins to slow and widens into a brackish tidal estuary approximately 50 mi long. It passes two small, important historic, river towns, Port Royal and Port Conway, which developed opposite each other, the former on the south bank, the latter on the north. The last navigable points for ocean-going ships, they were early ports for the export of tobacco, the major commodity crop.

As it flows past Tappahannock on its southern bank, the river is well over a mile wide. The last settlements of any size before it reaches the Chesapeake Bay are Irvington, Urbanna, Stingray Point, and White Stone Beach.

The broad river enters the Chesapeake Bay approximately 20 mi south of the mouth of the Potomac River and approximately 60 mi east of the state capital, Richmond. At the point where the river enters the bay, between Windmill Point, on the north, and Stingray Point, on the south, it is more than 3.5 mi wide. This estuary, south of the Northern Neck peninsula, is a productive oyster and crab fishery.

Above Fredericksburg, the Rappahannock provides fine opportunities for recreational canoeing and kayaking. Most of the rapids are Class I and Class II in difficulty, but, near Remington, there are some rapids that are considered to be Class III.

The river's watershed is protected in various places as parcels of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Oysters
The oysters that thrive in the estuary of the Rappahannock River are the least salty oysters of the East Coast. They are renowned for their sweet and smooth flavor, described as almost buttery. The low salinity allows a Blue Ridge minerality to come through. These oysters are known for being good to consume with wine.

The nutritious oysters were eaten on a large scale in 19th-century Washington. They were served fresh, grilled, stewed, or as part of a pie.

History

The name of the river comes from an Algonquian word, lappihanne (also recorded as toppehannock), meaning "river of quick, rising water" or "where the tide ebbs and flows," the name used by the local Rappahannock tribe. In 2018 it became one of the federally recognized tribes in Virginia.

Although a few small hamlets developed along the lower Rappahannock during early colonial times, the settlement of the Rappahannock River valley began in earnest during the first years of the eighteenth century, at the urging of Governor Alexander Spotswood. The James River had been surveyed up to its fall line, the point where, geologically, continental bedrock of the Piedmont meets the sedimentary rocks and alluvial soils of the coastal plain. It is usually the last navigable portion of a river from the sea.

Spotswood encouraged settlement in a river valley other than that of the James. In 1714, he began recruiting Protestant immigrants from the Rhineland-Palatinate and Switzerland to homestead on lands he controlled near the confluence of the Rappahannock and the Rapidan. Known as the Germanna settlement(s), these villages were founded in order to exploit the iron ore deposits of the region.

During the War of 1812, the Battle of Rappahannock River was fought on the river. Seventeen British boats filled with hundreds of marines and sailors captured four American privateers. During the American Civil War, the river, with few convenient fords and fewer bridges, provided a barrier and defensive line behind which movements of troops could be accomplished with little fear of attack from the river-side flank. It was an especially difficult barrier for Union troops to overcome in their attempts to thrust into southern Virginia, as they were vulnerable to attack while trying to cross the river on temporary bridges. Control of the river changed hands many times during the course of the war. Significant battles fought along the river include the Battle of Fredericksburg and two Battles of Rappahannock Station. The defensive line at the river was finally circumvented by General Ulysses S. Grant in the Wilderness (or Overland) Campaign of 1864, ending in the ultimate Union victory.

During and after the first battle at Fredericksburg in late December 1862, about 10,000 enslaved African Americans from area plantations and the city reached for their futures, crossing the river to gain freedom behind Union lines. This exodus and its "Trail of Freedom" was commemorated in 2010 by installation of historical markers on both sides of the river, in Fredericksburg and in Stafford County. The exodus to freedom is now celebrated in an annual re-enactment starting in Fredericksburg.

In some 18th- and 19th-century documents, including some Civil War records, the Rappahannock River was referred to as "Hedgeman's River". A 1736–1737 survey labeled the Rappahannock above the mouth of the Rapidan as "Cannon", and further upstream it was identified as "Hedgeman's River," named after Nathaniel Hedgeman, an early settler of the region.

title: Rappahannock River


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Talk:Coming of age

Comments
In Hispanic culture "La Quinceañera" (The fifteen-year-old one) is the joung girl who turns fifteen, not the celebration itself.Hobbit 16:49, 12 December 2005 (UTC)pooooooooooooooooooooooo

gembuku, genbuku, gembaku, and genbaku: I've never seen "fuku" pronounced "baku" (or "haku"); is there confusion with "atomic bomb"?

I've never heard the first two, but they're more plausible.

Move "gembuku" to here?

Somehow, I don't think that the description of the genpuku ceremony is very accurate... Idekii 06:32, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

If this page is going to talk about examples from a variety of cultures (which is an excellent idea), then it needs information from a wider variety of backgrounds (which I am not even remotely qualified to add). It's already showing great promise! Aranel 17:40, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)

as practiced in the past by all societies - is it true that all socities in the past have had coming-of-age rituals? I find it hard to believe that modern civilization is truely unique in that aspect. Surely there must be some ancient cultures that had no formal rituals?

The differents coming of ages in countries
In some countries, when you come of age (become adult) you must reach a certain age e.g. UK - 18 and the USA 21 (I am unsure about this). I think if this is researched into a lot more, this would prove interesting to read.

The the United Kingdom as well as the United States, when you turn 18 you are legally considered an "adult," independant from your parents or guardians. This is somewhat different from technically "coming of age," as you are only considered an adult "in the eyes of the law." Many people have varying degrees of actual independance from their parents before or after turning 18. For instance, many people live with their parents or depend on their parents for money long after turning 18, while others are independant in every way but legally long before turning 18. In America, the only thing related to "coming of age" and turning 21 is that at the age of 21 you can legally by alcoholic beverges. Scheater5 00:12, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Need a new Islam section
We need to have a new Islam section. I removed the existing one because it appears to be copyrighted. The url of the webpage that is the most likely origin (it appears on multiple sites) is in the edit summary. The text was added in this edit. Someone could also try to get the content released under the GFDL. -- Kjkolb 08:51, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Someone directly copied and pasted copyrighted content again, this time from islamweb.net. I'm adding "unreferenced section" and "Close paraphrase" tags, but the section should really be rewritten entirely. 75.84.133.31 (talk) 18:47, 14 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I decided to rewrite the section myself. I did the best I could, but I'm not by any means an Islam expert, so there may still be a few phrases carried over from the original (e.g. "obligatory acts" or "obligations") that can be rewritten. Anyone familiar with Islam should of course feel free to make further improvements to the section. 75.84.133.31 (talk) 21:47, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Unitarian Universalism Coming of Age
I am suggested that Coming of Age (Unitarian Universalism) be merged into this article because it is only a stub and, because the coming of age rituals in an Unitarian Universalist community are but only one of the many of the verities that exists in the world. Also because its content fits with the overall objective of this article, and I feel it better to have one well written article then two which are lacking in fullness.--Devin Murphy 11:30, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
 * No, I don't think that's a good idea. Coming of Age (Unitarian Universalism) is an organized program within the UUA and CUC, and specific enough that the article can probably be expanded significantly. Instead, there should be a section in this article that covers the topic briefly and links to the "Main article", using summary style. — coe l acan t a lk  — 22:52, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

 * I also think that keeping the two articles separate would be better. The UU programme is notable enough for an article.  --Alynna 02:24, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Ragging
User:62.150.107.106 added a sizable chunk of unsourced text:

 * In India, the term for "breaking in" a first year student is "ragging". Ragging, in theory, is supposed to encourage interaction between seniors and the first years through a set of humiliating albeit memorable experiences. Depending on the university, the student undergoes many hilarious experiences like spending a night in a cadaver storage room or measuring the length of a football field with a coin. Yet, unsurprisingly, many seniors have brutally abused this "privilege" and have forced students into leaving college, experiencing severe trauma, and in some cases, suicide. Hence, "ragging" of any kind has been declared illegal in India and comes with rustication and 2-year jail term. Of course, a lot of students do indulge in ragging but the frequency and the severity of the "pranks" have greatly decreased. In turn, this has empowered first year students to make false claims about their seniors causing them a lot of trouble nearly instantaneously. All in all, the move to make ragging illegal has greatly helped thousands of students in India, but at the justifiable loss of camaraderie between juniors and their seniors.

This needs to be sourced and then added back in. — Edward Z. Yang (Talk) 22:51, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Coming of Age- Literary
The Coming of Age story was mentioned very briefly but should be expanded to an article. In a coming of age story the internal struggle of becoming an adult is explored through a pivotal character, in contrast to a coming of age ritual or ceremony wherein an outside force either marks or somehow magically bestows maturity. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ktobacco (talk • contribs) 14:32, 30 April 2007 (UTC). hiiiii

Universities
''In turn this led to bejants being given receipts in Latin. If a bejant failed to produce the receipt, he could be thrown into a fountain.'' - um I don't get this part at all. Are the two occurences different, since presumably you have a receipt once after being given it? Obscurans 03:59, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

UK legal meanings
"Twenty one does not mean anything legally" - it certainly did in my days:
 * stand for parliament
 * adopt a child
 * drive certain kinds of vehicle (still the case according to this)
 * age of consent for gay men (which I believe has changed since)
 * no doubt a handful of other things....

And since when has 18 been the minimum age for marriage? When I went to school it was always 16; the only difference at 18 is that you no longer need parental consent. -- Smjg (talk) 16:35, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

 * I will change the sentence accordingly.--EchetusXe (talk) 22:51, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

 * btw, gay age of consent has been 16 (along with heterosexual of course) for the past 8 years so you are quite out of date with that statement.--EchetusXe (talk) 22:56, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

what festival does coming-of-age do —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.40.101.94 (talk) 17:41, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

I Scotland you can get married at 16 without parental consent. 86.147.50.241 (talk) 23:57, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

"A boy will become a man so it does not really matter". What the hell is that supposed to mean? Does it make sense to anyone else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.135.158.81 (talk) 19:49, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Professional initiatory rituals
In my opinion the section on "Professional initiatory rituals" isn't closely related to the topic of the article, and should be deleted.--75.83.69.196 (talk) 02:15, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

 * Agree It's been 10 years so I'll delete it right now.

1.127.109.38 (talk) 16:41, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Prom night in American culture
Prom night obviously is the rite of passage of the current strongest country in the world, it is shown a lot in American movies, how come it is not introduce here? I have search the prom page, and they treated it like a new type of popular culture, not really a tradition, just because United States is very strong, its tradition is less like a tradition? why so? Because people think a popular culture which is traditional at the same time is like an oxymoron? 24.90.19.27 (talk) 06:44, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Cultural Rituals?
I really don't think the section about cultural rituals in different countries is encyclopaedic for the most part. Talking about drinking beer from "yard glasses"? It's ludicrous to see ridiculous generalisations like that in an encyclopaedia. Bonzostar (talk) 15:58, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Coming of age in Africa.
This section is grossly generalised and mostly inaccurate. Africa has too many countries and each country too many cultures for this section to be adequate. To make matters worse, the description here only applies to a very small minority of tribes currently and female genital mutilation which is now outlawed in practically every country was only present in a few select tribes to begin with. Where in the world did this writer get his/ her data on Africa?! Lornakrys (talk) 10:57, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

o — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.211.154.6 (talk) 20:44, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
 * The text was unsourced, and there was undue weight on female genital mutilation. So I removed it. Please, anyone who has good sources on "coming of age" in (parts of) Africa, write a new text!  Lova Falk     talk   11:15, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Islam: should material removed be restored?
The following was recently removed from the Islam subsection:
 * A boy may reach maturity from the age of 12 lunar years (eleven years and eight months) and will be considered mature at the age of 15 lunar years (14 years, 6 months and 22 days) if no signs of maturity are found. Signs of maturity for a boy: wet dream, ejaculation, impregnating a women. A girl may reach maturity from the age of 9 lunar years (approximately eight years and eight months) and will be considered mature at the age of 15 lunar years (14 years, 6 months and 22 days) if no signs of maturity are found. Signs of maturity for a girl: menstruation, wet dream or pregnancy.

Should it be restored? HGilbert (talk) 06:59, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Come of Age (album) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 21:32, 6 February 2017 (UTC)

 * In Ukraine, Poland and Scandinavian countries, the age of majority of a person is celebrated either at 18 or at 21, as well as in Russia and Belarus 37.54.230.242 (talk) 22:25, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

need a section for indigenous cultures all over the world
the talks seem quite modern, i would suggest putting a section and subsection for the original nations in north america, for example and australia also — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.179.8.181 (talk) 23:38, 18 May 2017 (UTC)

Ancient Greece
Shouldn't the "Ancient Greek Religion" section be called simply "Ancient Greece?" And it only mentions boys--shouldn't we include girls, and how they went through various rituals leading up to and during marriage, and cut their hair (a detail that could be connected to what's already mentioned about boys!) Temerarius (talk) 01:05, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

Merging
I suggest merging "Coming of age celebration" with "Culture"... Since they basically talk about the same thing right? --Fkhistory (talk) 23:58, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

Coming of Age picture library is almost all religious or in opposition to religion. "Coming of Age" is also a secular concept.
The picture library is almost entirely religious based. Coming of Age is defined as "A person's journey from childhood or adolescence to adulthood." There's NO mention of religion is the definition. This article should be NPOV tagged diue to the lack of secular viewpoints. There's lists of Coming of Age movies that include titles like: DeadPoet Society, Summer of '42, Karate Kid, etc where the young person achieves adulthood without a religious focus. The focus is on the young person realizing their focus in, or philosophy of, life and many times by creating a strong bond to another human or group of humans. The cultural and by country section is a good start but needs more work. Please improve this article with less focus on the religious. 47.233.68.106 (talk) 08:41, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Coming of age