A sneak peek at Pleasure House Point

VIRGINIA BEACH

Imagine a quiet walk along the marshes of the Lynnhaven River where herons and egrets stalk the edges, big oysters clump together in the shallows and ducks silently swim, leaving V-shaped ripples in the water.

That's what a walk around Pleasure House Point off Shore Drive was like the other day when I took a tour of the property.

Though it was a chilly January day, the experience only reinforced for me how wonderful it would be if the city owned this last major piece of undeveloped property on the river.

Everything about the views and ambiance of Pleasure House Point could only be called a real pleasure.

PHP, as it has come to be known, has been a dream of Shore Drive citizens and one of the priorities of the city's open-space acquisition plan for a decade.

Now the dream may be within reach as the city, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the trust for Public Land have been collaborating to purchase the $13 million tract, said Barbara Duke, senior open-space planner with the Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Department.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is making plans to raise funds to build an environmental education center at PHP. Grants and commitments from public and private sources, and donations from citizens, are continuing to come in. Duke said Parks and Recreation hopes to have a package regarding final funding to present to City Council in the next month or two.

She thinks the property also will be a complement to First Landing State Park, farther east on Shore Drive.

"It's something that everybody in the city will be able to enjoy," Duke said.

And if the package comes together, it won't be long before citizens can enjoy their new city park, as I did the other day. I went with City Arborist Susan French and Virginia Tech Horticulture Extension Agent Laurie Fox. The two had been a part of a group that had surveyed PHP for its plant and animal life last fall.

Though some of the land was once a dredge spoil site, native trees, shrubs and grasses are beginning to grow on the sand flats. Fox pointed out a sumac thicket, its bare stems hanging heavy with what Fox called "broomy brushes." The brushes are clusters of dried sumac berries, a feast for some birds.

Live oaks and loblolly pines are growing back off the water. Even a Virginia pine or two along with American hollies and their bright red berries have taken up residence. Prickly pear cactus, Carolina jasmine and smilax are just some of the natives that are taking over inland.

Saltbush with its puffy cottony seed pods were growing closer to the water. The tide was low that day and more oysters than you would think possible were growing along the water's edge. Periwinkle snails were crawling on the spartina grass stems that grow in the tidal marsh area.

Beyond the marsh, you could see the calm waters of a Lynnhaven River creek with more toasty brown marsh grasses on the other side. A great egret fed on the far shore, a kingfisher darted off an old post in the water and buffleheads bobbed on the creek.

It was hard to believe that busy Shore Drive was to the north. The only development you could see was the Bayville Golf Course, a pretty pristine view at that.

"People can look around and see what Virginia Beach used to look like," French said. "You don't see this wide expanse of the Lynnhaven River anywhere else."

For more information:

* To learn more about the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's plans and to see an informal list of birds found at PHP, check out this website and add your bird sightings, too.

* If you want to donate toward saving Pleasure House Point and find out what groups such as the Dominion Foundation have done to help, visit Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Foundation's website .

* Lastly, you can call Barbara Duke at 385-4310.