Before Memorial Day weekend, members of the Lake Anna Islanders Club were shocked to find that the floating volleyball court and tables — that have been present since the early 90’s at “The Island” — were removed by Dominion Energy personnel.

The Lake Anna Islanders Club formed in 1992 with a handful of boaters who regularly frequented the Lake Anna Campground. After the campground closed, people continued to hang out at the small island on the cold side of the lake; more gathered after members started wearing t-shirts with the club’s name emblazoned on the front.

This history is documented in the 2012 The Central Virginian article, “Lake Anna Islanders Club celebrates anniversary.” A group of Lake Anna locals met every weekend for 20 years and even considered themselves an extended family. In 2012, the club had 150 regular members, with more than 200 people stopping by on that day of the anniversary to hang out at the islands and participate in their favorite pastime of water volleyball. Today, the Lake Anna Islanders Facebook group has 1,600 members.

The island is owned by Dominion Energy. The company purchased the land beneath and surrounding the lake, including the small islands, before building the North Anna Power Station. According to David Dumas, one of the club’s founding members, Dominion personnel approved of the club’s activities as long as they do not set foot on the island, which he said they have always abided by.

Tim Eberly, a media relations spokesperson with Dominion, stated in an email to The Central Virginian that the volleyball net and tables were only recently brought to their attention and were removed on May 20.

“We canvassed the closest homes in the nearby subdivision to determine who owned the items,” Eberly wrote. “Dominion Energy does not permit recreational free-standing objects to be anchored into the lakebed. When the neighborhood canvas didn’t lead us to the items’ owner, we removed the net and tables largely due to safety concerns.”

Additionally, Eberly stated that Dominion was notified of the presence of these items late last year and removed them before the influx of people that spend time at Lake Anna in the summer.

“If the equipment had been there for years, it hadn’t been brought to the attention of our management team at North Anna Power Station,” Eberly wrote.

Kim Berkley and her husband have been coming to the islands for over 25 years; they’re the couple that used to visit a neighboring sandbar and set up and break down a volleyball net every weekend before the one that was established at the Islands. Every year, the duo buys a new net and new noodles to establish a boundary for the volleyball court.

“We go every weekend,” Berkley said, noting that the volleyball court has always been open to all who want to play throughout the week and that the tables that were taken away were used by people to grill and cook on. ”It’s a very family-friendly place. We have met lifelong friends there… there was rarely ever trouble if any. We’ve been doing this for years. It’s what we do.”

Berkley argues that the structures that were removed were never permanent and that the court already exists in a no-wake zone. The volleyball net is on a pole and mounted on tires that are filled with concrete; when the water gets low, they have to roll them around, she said, and the tables have historically sat on top of the sand, but have sunken down over the years.

On May 18, NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy announced a plan to combine for a $67 billion deal that will create the world’s largest regulated electric utility business. With the announcement of the merger, Islanders speculated this was the reason for the structures to be taken down.

“All of a sudden this buyout is going through and, ‘boom’, everything is gone,” Berkley said. “We assume — and you know what they say about assuming — that it has something to do with that.”

“I think that’s fairly obvious,” Jerry Stephens said, who has been coming to Lake Anna since the early ‘90s and now owns a home in the area since retiring in 2014. “Dominion is probably doing their due diligence to make sure there is nothing to stand in the way of this merger.”

In response to these speculations, Eberly wrote that the decision to remove the items was a safety issue and had no relation to the NextEra Energy merger.

“A lot of people don’t really understand what goes on over there,” Stephens said. “I like to tell people it’s like a family picnic where people get together. I have really enjoyed watching many of my friends’ children grow into adults. Over the years, things have changed and we don’t have as many children as we once did. Quite a few of the original [members] have passed on.”

It’s the hundreds of friends that he has made over the years that makes the place special, Stephens said.

“I split time between here and Florida — but I really love to come here because of all the friends I’ve had,” Stephens said. “I look forward to every weekend when we meet out there and have a good time… as far as I know, we’ve never received anything but compliments on the fact that we’re peaceful and we keep everything clean and are respectful of the island. In the many years I’ve been going there, there has never been an incident that required calling the police.”

Berkley highlighted that the location of their court is even on Google Maps and wished there was better communication with Dominion personnel. She has already secured a new volleyball net with plans to take it down and put it up as needed.

“This isn’t going to break our spirits,” Berkley said. “We’re going to be back up there this coming weekend and we’re going to have a volleyball net that we take up and down every weekend, but we’re still going to be out there.”