With its 400-year history and its contributing role in the forming of the nation, Williams Wharf Landing has always been a vibrant port, commercial hub, and cherished waterway asset of Virginia’s Middle Peninsula.

Williams Wharf has now been added by the National Park Service as a Chesapeake Gateways site—a network of places that provide visitors with opportunities to enjoy, learn about, and help protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“We are pleased to receive this prestigious designation and put it towards advancing our core mission to preserve and protect waterway access for public use, benefit, and education,” said Mathews Land Conservancy president Bernadette La Casse. “With this designation, Mathews Land Conservancy joins a broad system of nearly 200 sites, trails, museums, parks, refuges, and communities across the six states and the District of Columbia within the watershed.”

The National Park Service provides financial and technical assistance through the Chesapeake Gateways Network to promote, enhance, and conserve special places in the Bay’s watershed. Included in the network are diverse natural, cultural, historical, and recreational sites, trails, museums, parks, refuges, interpretive and orientation facilities, and associated programs. These places, and Chesapeake Gateways as a whole, serve as entry points and the key guide for experiencing the Chesapeake watershed.

Mathews Land Conservancy was formed in 1994 to acquire and protect Williams Wharf Landing from continued industrial use. The Maritime Center at Williams Wharf Landing, once completed, will house rowing clubs along with other groups with the shared values of environmental stewardship and conservation. MLC relies solely on private donations, grants, and use fees for general operations, as well as maintenance, improvements, and project construction. For more information about community water access, educational events, or to donate go to: www.mathewslandconservancy.org.