In what was a bittersweet event for many in the region, workers last week demolished the 70-year-old building that for many held memories of fun, good food and celebration, all in preparation for construction of the new bridge to begin in 2028.
In its last iteration, it was known as Willaby’s Cafe and Catering, but the building was first known as White Cap View when it opened in 1956, feeding many of the bridge construction workers, according to Phil Cross. His aunt and uncle, Thelma and Ralph Spencer, purchased the restaurant around 1959, renaming it The Mariner. Cross recalls helping out during the summers doing handyman/maintenance work. The old ferry dock was turned into a fishing pier where they charged $1 to fish.
In 1962, Joseph and Cornelia Sinclair purchased The Mariner and expanded it into a full 20-acre resort on the Rappahannock River. Son Jay Sinclair said in addition to four rooms above the restaurant, his parents built the 10-room Mariner Motel, which opened in 1964. Promoting the resort, they noted the “friendly atmosphere and charm mixed with the tranquility and serenity of its surroundings.”
In addition to the motel, the Sinclairs added the Captain’s Campground, a 100-site campground complete with a freshwater pond stocked with fish. Fishing was still available on the pier, for which a then 8-year-old Sinclair collected a $1.25 fee while also running Ye Olde Snack & Tackle Shop “and selling gas for 35 cents a gallon.” Even if you did not have a boat you could still spend the day on the water with rentals or a charter service run by Sinclair’s brother, William Forrest.
“It was a lot of fun,” Sinclair said, with summer romances and celebrity sightings among the highlights during the 60s and 70s.
“The place was packed with all kinds of people”
including locals and fishing captains passing through, as well as star athletes like Joe Namath and Washington Redskins quarterback Sonny Jurgensen. Even actor Tom Selleck paid a visit while looking for property in the area.
But all good things must come to an end. The Sinclairs sold the property in 1979 to Herb Stover, who reopened in 1980 and operated the restaurant as the River Crossing, along with a refurbished motel renamed River Crossing Lodge.
Sometime in the 1980s, the property was divided and the hotel and campgrounds were developed into residential housing, leaving the restaurant by itself, just as it began. Around 1986, John Grecco went bankrupt trying to remodel the restaurant into the riverboat-themed Annabel Lee.
Lee and Joy Matthews took over and opened it in 1988, but it went up for auction a year later. Rocket Billy’s owner, William “Billy” Ancarrow, then operated the restaurant under the same name for much of the 1990s before chef/owner David Rose decided to reopen as River Crossing and The Lounge in 1999. The building went up for sale in 2002 and remained vacant for the next eight years.
It was a rebirth for both restaurateur William Barnhardt and the building when Willaby’s relocated to the riverfront after a February 2010 fire destroyed much of their White Stone location, where they had been for 18 years. They reopened just four months later and spent the next 16 years celebrating food, music, friends and Sunday Fundays on the riverfront. Patrons can now find Willaby’s at 86 Harris Road in Kilmarnock.
Contractors for the Virginia Department of Transportation on Monday, July 13, began demolition (below) of the 70-year-old structure at the foot of the Robert O. Norris Jr. Memorial Bridge. The last of a scenic mural painted by Bruce Burgess when the River Crossing opened under chef/owner David Rose in 1999 is still visible near the bucket of the excavator. (courtesy Virginia Department of Transportation)
According to Darragh Frye, a senior communications specialist with the Virginia Department of Transportation, the entire demolition and site restoration process will last until Labor Day weekend. “The property will be secured by a fence during and after demolition through the beginning of construction in 2028. The property will not be open for recreational use.”
The bridge is currently in the preliminary engineering phase and a design public hearing will be held this fall. Specific dates, times and locations are expected to be announced soon.
