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Jack Trammell, Ph.D. |
Randolph-Macon College Professor Jack Trammell, Ph.D., is the author of a recently-published book about the Chickahominy River.
Down on the Chickahominy: The Life and Times of a Vanishing Virginia River (The History Press, October 2009) is a narrative of the river community that Trammell wrote after spending three years on the river, researching its vivid past and uncertain future.
For centuries, the Chickahominy River has blessed the Tidewater region of Virginia with life, even in the face of deteriorating resources and dramatic environmental change. While an abundant ecosystem thrived in the water, a unique and culturally rich community that once dotted the Chickahominy’s riverbanks has dwindled near extinction.
Drawing on old letters, photographs and the still extant memories of lifelong watermen such as Captains Bill Buck Jr. and Retired R-MC Professor Art Conway, Trammell weaves a fascinating narrative of this river community. He discusses the vanished villages, the proud Chickahominy Tribe and the vestiges of the Civil War in this definitive and easy-to navigate history of a sacred Virginia tributary.
Trammell joined the faculty at Randolph-Macon in 2000. He is the director of disability support services and an assistant professor. In August 2009 he won the Virginia Writer’s Club award for non-fiction for his
Reflections of a Southern Gentleman Farmer, a collection of vignettes about life with his wife and children on his small farm in Louisa County.
Trammell is a long-time resident of the Richmond area, and a two-time graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, where he earned a M.Ed. in history and a Ph.D. in education. He is an accomplished author and in 2008 he was elected president of the Blue Ridge Virginia Writer’s Club. He has also written columns and articles for
The Washington Times and many other publications.