Bald Cypress at Glebe Gut
Bald cypress and loblolly pines grow on the shore of Glebe Gut near Jamestown Island on the Colonial Parkway. The gut passes under the Parkway at left in the photo. Photo courtesy of E. L. McCoy 2025.
This photo used for our late January webpage header was taken earlier this month, along the National Colonial Parkway at Glebe Gut. It features a bald cypress tree and other native vegetation.
Glebe Gut is a narrow, tidal channel that flows under the Colonial Parkway, between College Creek and Mill Creek, near Jamestown Island. The waterway itself forms the western boundary of a 100-acre tract of land known as the Glebe Land, set aside after 1619 for the use and support of the clergyman and parish church on Jamestown Island.
A variety of vines climb the bald cypress tree. Evergreen Smilax, or Greenbrier, is one of the several vines colonizing this tree. The tip of Jamestown Island, known as Black Point, is just visible across the water and behind the tree. Photo courtesy of E. L. McCoy 2025.
Glebe is a middle English word, with its roots in Latin, which designates land set aside to support the Rector of a Church of England parish from its profits or rents. This became a common arrangement throughout the English colonies in North America. Mill Creek forms the eastern boundary of this first Virginian Glebe Land tract.
A gut is a narrow channel that is subject to strong tidal currents flowing back and fort into a river. This term is used mostly for channels or straits along the eastern coast of North America. The strong currents of a gut cause erosion along its banks and create dangerous currents for watercraft. The water is usually brackish.
Glebe Gut, looking out towards Jamestown Island across The Thorofare. Notice the Canada geese resting on a sandbar beyond the channel opening. Photo courtesy of E. L. McCoy 2025.
Glebe Gut flows into a waterway known as The Thorofare, which is a part of the James River flowing between Jamestown Island and the mainland. Black Point, the westernmost tip of Jamestown Island, is visible across The Thorofare from Glebe Gut.
Low tide reveals more of the sandbars at Glebe Gut. Photo courtesy of E. L. McCoy 2025.
The Thorofare also flows into the Black River, south of the Colonial Parkway, and eventually connects to Sandy Bay, which is fed by Powhatan Creek. Sandy Bay flows into the James River at the isthmus connecting Jamestown Island to the mainland. All of these waterways are important winter habitat for a wide variety of birds including bald eagles, osprey eagles, great blue herons, seagulls, Canada geese, a variety of hawks, and several species of ducks. Bluebirds, cardinals, and other small songbirds live in the surrounding fields and forest.
Canada geese rest on a sandbar at the entrance to Glebe Gut in the Thorofare between Jamestown Island and the Colonial Parkway. Photo courtesy of E. L. McCoy 2025.
Currents flowing through Glebe Gut have created an ever-changing pattern of sandbars in the waterways of The Thorofare, south of the Colonial Parkway. The shoreline supports a variety of native wetland species of trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials. Trees like bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, can grow in standing brackish water. It thrives amid rising and falling tides. Its knobby roots, which allow the tree’s roots to ‘breathe’ while underwater, also serve to help hold the shoreline in place against erosion. This is an ancient species of deciduous conifer indigenous to coastal Virginia.
The western bank of Glebe Gut at the Thorofare reveals Jamestown Island in the distance. These sandbars, rich with wildlife, are popular with local sport fishermen and birdwatchers at low tide. There is no parking along this section of the Parkway but walkers and bicyclists are welcome. Photo courtesy of E. L. McCoy 2025.
Other plants found growing along the shoreline include loblolly pine, Pinus taeda; oak trees, Quercus spp.; wax myrtle, Myrica spp,; and saltbush, Baccharis halimifolia; along with various native perennials, grasses and vines.
Dune Saw Greenbrier, Smilax bona-nox, is an native vine that has many uses. It is both edible and medicinal, and its fruits (bottom center in the photo) feed wildlife through the winter. It grows through many of the trees and shrubs on the banks of Glebe Gut.
This area is a rich source of food for wildlife through the winter. We stopped along the Parkway to photograph the geese, but stayed a while to explore this rich habitat and beautiful spot along the Colonial Parkway in the Colonial National Historical Park.
Waterlines on the bald cypress roots and trunk show the most recent high water mark for this channel. Crevices around the roots make excellent habitat for a wide variety of wetlands wildlife. Photo courtesy of E. L. McCoy 2025.