iconic point of the northern Fluminense restingas. Located at
the right bank of the mouth of the great river, this village was
well known in the past. Houses of wealthy people were built be-
side fishermen’s houses. At present, the location is agonizing
with the severe erosion caused by the advance of the sea and
by the loss of flow of Paraíba do Sul River. Grussaí is a beach
located more to the South that grew as an extension of Atafona
and today surpasses it in population density.
On the other hand, the Açu village was distinguished by
the rural tourism for a long time. Annually, people from the coun-
tryside directed to the city in their ox cars, transporting their nec-
essary belongings for the annual vacations. Their origins are not
well known, but it can be presumed that after the Açu, other lo-
calities were settled, like Xexé, Marrecas, Quixaba, Azeitona and
several other villages. Maria Rita da Silva Lubatti(2) lived in a pe-
riod that the relative isolation of these localities still allowed the
development of strong cultural manifestations and wrote a book
about them, just as Alberto Ribeiro Lamego(3) wrote about the
muxuangos, annotations that later were worth an article wrote by
An‘Augusta Rodrigues(4).
At the sandy strip that connects the two large restingas,
a large lighthouse of French origin was erected to alert boats
about the danger of the reefs of Cape of São Tomé. Around it
was established a town known by the name of Farol de São
Tomé. Somehow, the lighthouse was mentioned by the great
novelist José Cândido de Carvalho(5). Further to the South, the
farmhouse of the Captain José de Barcelos Machado, one of the
pioneers in the colonization of the region, gave way, much later,
to a housing nucleus known as Barra do Furado. Its story is very
rich.
From this point on, the southern restinga was super-
ficially occupied. Its lagoons and its native vegetation were
protected by the own nature, although there was a route with
intense movement towards Rio de Janeiro passing through it.
This way gave access to the village that later became the city of
Campos.
Curiously, from the cultural point of view, there was much
more circulation of people and goods in the southern restinga
than in the northern one. However, after the coming of railroad
and the highways, the southern restinga was set aside of the
economic transformations. Except for Macaé, no expressive
urban nucleus has developed around this restinga, as Macaé
expanded by the left bank of the river that has its name. Quis-
samã and Carapebus were established in the tablelands zone,
although near the coast. On the other hand, the northern restin-
ga was occupied by a city and by several population nuclei ini-
tially dedicated solely to fishing. More recently, agriculture and
industry have been consolidating in this restinga.
There may be many viewpoints about restinga, but one
of them is unquestionable: that one showing its importance as a
natural heritage site and consequent historical-social role. The
need to preserve this ecosystem, now reduced to isolated green
islands when compared to the original vegetation of the Flumi-
nense coast, tends to be limited to the preservation zones. In
contrast, in this chapter we register the history of those born
in the northern restinga, which extends from Guaxindiba to the
Cape of São Tomé. We went further until reaching the southern
restinga, positioned between the Cape of São Tomé and Macaé.
We introduce its People, its villages and the traditions of its cul-
ture so that future generations become aware of how restinga
leaves indelible marks in those that inhabit it.The oldest restinga of the region is located between Ma-
caé River and Flechas channel, with about 120 thousand years
old, according to Martin, Suguio, Dominguez and Flexor. Be-
tween the Cape of São Tomé and Guaxindiba, the second one
was formed 3,000 years ago. The first one is known as southern
restinga, here denominated Jurubatiba because of the fields of
the same name, registered by the cartographer Manoel Martins
do Couto Reis, and the Jurubatiba Restinga National Park, which
occupies the greatest part of its area. The second one or North-
ern restinga, denominated Paraíba do Sul restinga because this
river plays a fundamental role in its formation by acting as water
spigot. This restinga is the largest one in Rio de Janeiro State.Whether in the Jurubatiba or Paraíba do Sul restinga, it
is common to observe mangroves. A mangrove can develop on
sandy soil, notably in mouth of rivers in the sea, where estuaries
are formed, creating an environment favorable to mangroves.
Mangroves are formed in the edges and in the center of Paraí-
ba do Sul restinga. There are also those mangroves of the Açu
lagoon, formerly the mouth of the Iguaçu River, those of the la-
goons of Iquipari and Grussaí, in the past, auxiliary and peri-
odical defluents of Paraíba do Sul during flood periods, that of
Paraíba do Sul itself and that of the Guaxindiba River.The occupation of restingas may lead to the replacement
the native vegetation by crops and pastures, as it happens in
both restingas of the northern Fluminense. In addition, the in-
put of clay sediments transported by the Paraíba do Sul from
the mountain area and tablelands is deposited on the sandy
substrate, conferring it a great fertility. Moreover, the mangrove
tends to create a muddy substrate with the deterioration of or-
ganic matter, especially vegetation.