Blog Post

Botanical Bike Tour on the ERT

By Kate Melhuish, Class of ’04 • September 30, 2021

The Elizabeth River Trail, or ERT, runs 10.5 miles along the urban waterfront on Norfolk’s west side, from Harbor Park Stadium up to Norfolk International Terminals. 

As a trainee, Jim Affeldt adopted a highly ambitious class project, outlining a Botanical Tour of the ERT. Actually, this is not as daunting as it sounds, because Jim tackles the trail in reasonably small chunks. He’s developed a series of fun tours lasting no more than an hour or two, and leads one of these Botanical Tours almost every month. Some are on foot and some are by bike. When I recently saw a Facebook ad for Bike Tour of Larchmont starting off from the Larchmont Library, that seemed like a good reason to pump up the tires on my old Schwinn and sign up.


Several familiar faces joined the participants on a temperate Sunday afternoon. Sally Hartman, Lucia Herndon and Chris Schweitzer, all classmates of Jim’s, turned up at the Library. No spandex in sight (thank goodness!). The tour set off at a reasonable pace and we rolled through neighborhood streets to the home of Karen Wilson ’10, where her beautiful backyard oasis set the tone for some very special stops. 


Besides unique home gardens, Jim stopped the group at the tall redwood tree on Magnolia Avenue, a Sequoiadendron outlier on a thoroughfare better known for towering Grandifloras that date back to 1844. Crossing Hampton Blvd – blessedly traffic-free – we visited the stunning parterre garden belonging to Trisha Rawls, and the waterfront property of landscape architect Ann Stokes. The last stop was at my house, for more details on butterfly host plants than most people care to know.


The Botanical Tour series is a very effective partnership among VCE and Norfolk Master Gardeners, and the ERT. To view more information and register for a future tour yourself, visit https://events.elizabethrivertrail.org/botanicaltours. Jim will make you feel right at home on the trail.


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