Embrey Dam (1910-2004) Historical Marker

The Fredericksburg Water Power Company (FWPC) built the now-demolished hydroelectric Embrey Dam between 1909 and 1910 to provide electricity to the city and region. The company also built a power plant in the city on Caroline Street in Fredericksburg. The dam was removed in 2004 to restore the flow of the Rappahannock River and allow fish to swim upstream.

Fredericksburg was a center of industry thanks to the waterfalls of this stretch of the Rappahannock River. The fast-flowing water-powered mills also facilitated the transport of goods and products. The 50-mile Rappahannock Canal was built between 1829 and 1849 to transport bulk cargo, including gold which had been first found in Spotsylvania County. Construction began in Fredericksburg, but by the time it was completed, railroads had taken over as the faster mode of transportation, rendering the canal obsolete within just a few years. It closed in 1853.

The FWPC then built an 18-foot high wooden crib dam upstream from where the Embrey Dam would later be built and converted part of the canal into a raceway (a fast-moving channel of water). The dam directed water into the raceway, generating 5,000 horsepower of water. The company sold lots along the canal and rented water power by horsepower. Further industrialization occurred after the Civil War as northern businessmen invested heavily in the city, acquiring existing mills and building new ones.

The arrival of electricity into the region in the early 1900s marked the beginning of the end of the canal as the focal point for the city's industries. Mills and factories could be connected to the electrical grid and did not have to be located along the canal. The river was still useful, however, as a potential source for generating power. When completed in 1910, the Embrey Dam, which was built of reinforced concrete, was 22-feet high and produced 8,000 horsepower of electricity. The dam's power plant operated until the early 1960s by which time it had become inefficient and generated a fraction of what the company's nuclear power plants were producing (in 1910, the FWPC became the Virginia Electric and Power Company). The city continued to use the canal until 1999 to deliver water to the water treatment plant.

While the dam benefited the city and region, a number of factors led to its eventual removal. One is that it prevented striped bass and other fish from swimming upriver to spawn, which was detrimental to the health of the river. The dam itself had fallen into disrepair and would cost millions to restore. In the mid-1990s, the city and Spotsylvania County agreed to build a joint water treatment plant, which meant that water plant in Fredericksburg would soon no longer be needed.

In 1996, Senator John Warner got involved, and following a lengthy study, the US. Army Corps of Engineers decided to remove the dam as a training exercise. The Corps detonated the dam in two explosions in 2004. The first failed since only a small amount of explosives ignited, but the second detonation was successful. Large machinery removed what was left of the dam.

Upon the dam's removal, the Rappahannock River became the longest free-flowing river in the eastern United States. In 2012, scientists reported that not only had migratory fish made their way upriver, but American eels did as well (they were found in Shenandoah National Park). Non-migratory fish such as largemouth bass and channel catfish are also now found upstream.

Allen, Nancy. "Boom time at Embrey dam." International Water Power & Dam Construction. April 6, 2004. https://www.waterpowermagazine.com/features/featureboom-time-at-embrey-dam.

"Embrey Dam: Explore the aftermath of a special moment in our river’s history." River Friends. Accessed June 23, 2023. https://riverfriends.org/embrey-dam-before-and-after.

"Embrey Dam." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed June 23, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=7663.

"Embrey Dam." Virginia Places. Accessed June 23, 2023. http://www.virginiaplaces.org/watersheds/embreydam.html#seven.

Hodge, Robert. "The Story of the Rappahannock Canal." Central Rappahannock Regional Library. October 30, 2018. https://www.librarypoint.org/blogs/post/the-story-of-the-rappahannock-canal.

"Walk Through History . . . Mill Sites and Water Power." Central Rappahannock Regional Library. October 3, 2018. https://www.librarypoint.org/blogs/post/mill-sites-and-water-power.