Richmond

Geological map

Geology - West End Richmond

Rivers & lakes

Indian tribes & paths

Native languages

Indian settlements

Werowocomoco
Original location of the Powatan Indians.

Orapax
Powhatan moved his primary residence from Werowocomoco, off the York River, to Orapax [Orapakes], located in a swamp at the head of the Chickahominy River. [Wiki]

Chickahominy River

Early trails & roads

Great Indian Warriors & Trading Path > Great Wagon Rd / Great Valley Rd
Great Indian Warrior & Trading Path - This became the Great Wagon Rd (from Philadelphia through Lancaster and York, PA, Hagerstown, MD to Roanoke), where it became the 'Wilderness Rd' to the Cumberland Gap. The Chesapeake branch was the main path through western VA and ran southwest through the Shenandoah Valley.
Great Valley Road - Refers to that segment of the Great Wagon Road which traversed the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia via present day US Route 11. This was also known as the Valley Pike.

Great Warriors' Path

Phildelphia

Lancaster

York

Chambersburg

Hagerstown

Martinsburg

Winchester

Harrisonburg

Staunton

Roanoke

Wilderness Road
South of Roanoke, the extension of the Great Wagon Road was called the Wilderness Road and was the path to the Cumberland Gap. It was also called the Carolina Road, stretching southward into the back-country of North and South Carolina with several branches linking the related coastal areas.

Wilderness Road

Bristol, TN

Cumberland Gap

Lexington, KY

Monocan Trail / Three Notch'd Rd / Three-Chopt Rd
Legend states that it began as an old Indian trail which was marked by making three notches on the trees, presumably so the same path could be followed by all.
Monocan Trail - This was the name for the ancient Native-American path from the village of Orapax (east of Richmond) to the western Shenandoah Valley. The later-named Three Notch’d Rd > Three Chopt Rd followed this route.
On an 1819 map of the county, Broad Street and Broad Street Road were called Richmond Turnpike Road. On an 1853 map of the county, the road was named Deep Run Turnpike.
Much of the current U.S. Route 250 (established in the 1930s from Short Pump in Henrico County west to Crozet in Albemarle County) closely follows this path.

Three Chopt

Three-Chopt west

Short Pump

Crozet

Occoneeche Trail
This Native-American trail started near the James River and went through what became Petersburg, VA; then southwesterly to the Indian trading town of Occaneechi (later Clarksville, VA), then to the Waxhaws in Charlotte, NC and the Cherokee villages of the Carolinas and Georgia. [See Upper Road.]

Occoneechee Trail

Fredericksburg

Clarksville

Fall Line Road
Built in 1735 this route runs between the King's Highway (Post Road) and the Upper Road along a geographical feature called the “fall line”, caused by erosion that stretches from Maryland to Georgia.

Fall Line Road

Petersburg, VA

Henderson, NC

Raleigh, NC

Columbia, SC

Augusta, GA

Upper Road
In colonial times this was one of the most important north-south travel and trade routes. It closely paralleled much of the Native-American Occaneechi Path. Use of this route started around 1740 as an alternative route to the Fall Line Road.

Upper Road

Greensboro, NC

Atlanta, GA

Saura-Saponi Trail
This Native-American trail was developed to connect the Saura tribe in the Carolinas and their cousins, the Saponi tribe, in northern Virginia. The route closely parallels U.S. Route 29.

Saura-Saponi

Stewardsville, VA

Charlottesville, VA

Lynchburg, VA

Danville, VA

Mooresville, NC

Richmond Road - north & south
There were two routes from the Great Warriors' Path to Richmond. The northerly route started at Lexington... and the southerly route from Salem-Roanoke.

southern route

Amelia Court House

Farmville

Appomattox

Bedford

Salem

northern route

Powhatan

Cumberland

Buckingham

Amherst

Lexington

Bermuda Hundred-Amelia Trail
This Native-American pathway became one of the first used by European settlers to travel inland from the coast.

Bermuda Hundred
"Bermuda Hundred was the first incorporated town in the English colony of Virginia. It was founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1613, six years after Jamestown. At the southwestern edge of the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers opposite City Point, and annexed to Hopewell, Virginia in 1923, Bermuda Hundred was a port town for many years.
The terminology "Bermuda Hundred" also included a large area adjacent to the town. In the colonial era, "hundreds" were large developments of many acres, arising from the English term to define an area which would support one hundred homesteads. The port at the town of Bermuda Hundred was intended to serve other 'hundreds' in addition to Bermuda Hundred." [Wiki]

Bermuda Hundred Historic District

Bermuda Hundred-Amelia Trail

Bermuda Hundred

Chester

Beach

Scott's Fork

Pioneer Roads

to Roanoke River, Tar River & Albemarle Sound

to Tar River

Petersburg

South Hill

Corresponding maps of early Virginia roads

Great Vally Road

Saura-Saponi Trail

Richmond Rd. - north & south

King's Highway / Post Roads
The King's Highway was a roughly 1,300-mile road laid out from 1650 to 1735 in the American colonies. It was built on the order of Charles II of England, who directed his colonial governors to link Charleston, South Carolina, and Boston, Massachusetts.
In the section north of New York City, the road followed an Indian trail known as the Pequot Path. It was laid out in January of 1673 and became the Upper Boston Post Road.
The three main Boston Post Roads - Upper, Middle & Lower- were a system of mail-delivery routes (some following other trails of Native American Indians) used by post riders between New York City and Boston. The entirety of the King's Highway evolved into the first major road system in the United States.
During the 19th century, turnpike companies took over and improved pieces of the roads. Large sections of the various routes are still called the King's Highway and Boston Post Road. From Virginia southward, modern U.S. Route 17 has many segments that follow the old King's Highway. [Wiki]

Old Post Road

Boston, MA

New Haven, CT

Fairfield, CT

Greenwich, CT

Rye, NY

Kingsbridge, NY

New York City

Newark, NJ

Elizabeth, NJ

Rahway, NJ

Perth Amboy, NJ

New Brunswick, NJ

Princeton, NJ

Lawrenceville, NJ

Trenton, NJ

Bordentown, NJ

Burlington, NJ

Philadelphia, PA

Chester, PA

Wilmington, DE

New Castle, DE

Baltimore, MD

Annapolis, MD

Alexandria, VA

Fredericksburg, VA

Bowling Green, VA

King William, VA

Williamsburg, VA

Yorktown

Hampton, VA

Norfolk, VA

Suffolk, VA

Edenton, NC

New Bern, NC

Wilmington, NC

Georgetown, SC

Charleston, SC

King's Highway

Boston Post Roads
The Boston Post Roads were a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States [The King's Highway]. The colonists first used these trails to deliver the mail using post riders. The first ride to lay out the Upper Post Road started on January 1, 1673.
Later, the newly blazed trails were widened and smoothed to the point where horse-drawn wagons and stagecoaches could use them. During the 19th century, turnpike companies took over and improved pieces of the roads. Large sections of the various routes are still called the King's Highway and Boston Post Road. [Wiki]
The three major alignments were:
Upper Post Road (now US 5 & US 20) from New Haven, CT via Springfield, MA
Middle Post Road (which diverged from the Upper Road in Hartford, CT and ran northeast to Boston via Pomfret, CT
Lower Post Road (now U.S. Route 1) along the shore via Providence, RI

Upper Post Road [Pequot Path]
The Upper Post Road was originally called the Pequot Path and had been in use by Native Americans long before Europeans arrived. What is now called the Old Connecticut Path and the Bay Path were used by John Winthrop the Younger to travel from Boston to Springfield in November, 1645, and these form much of the basis for the Upper Post Road.
The country's first successful long-distance stagecoach service was launched by Levi Pease along this road in October, 1783. Much of the Upper Post Road is now U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route 5, & U.S. Route 20. [Wiki]

Upper Boston Post Road - north end

Cambridge, MA

Watertown, MA

Waltham, MA

Weston, MA

Wayland, MA

Sudbury, MA

Marlborough, MA

Northborough

Shrewsbury, MA

Worcester, MA

Leicester, MA

Spencer, MA

Brookfield, MA

West Brookfield, MA

Western [Warren], MA

Palmer, MA

North Wilbraham

Springfield Plain/Springfield

West Springfield, MA

Suffield, CT

Windsor, CT

Hartford, CT

Wethersfield, CT

Berlin, CT

Meriden, CT

Wallingford, CT

North Haven, CT

Boston Post Road - south end

West Haven, CT

Milford, CT

Stratford, CT

Bridgeport, CT

Southport, CT

Green Farms, CT

Norwalk, CT

Stamford, CT

Greenwich, CT [Horseneck]

Port Chester, NY

Mamaroneck, NY

New Rochelle, NY

West Farms, NY

Morrisania, NY

NYC

Middle Post Road
This road ran from Boston to Hartford, where it intersectd with the Upper Post Road.

Middle Post Road

Roxbury, MA

Ames [locate]

Dedham, MA

Medfield, MA

Medway, MA

Holliston

Bellingham [Holliston]

Milford, MA

Mendon. MA

Uxbridge, MA

Douglas, MA

Thompson, CT

Pomfret, CT

Ashford, CT

Mansfield, CT

Coventry, CT

Bolton, CT

East Hartford, CT

Lower Post Road
This road ran from Boston to Providence & Newport, RI; then across the southern coast of New England to New Haven, CT where it joined the main route into New York City.

Lower Post Road

S. Dedham [locate]

Wrentham, MA

Attleboro, MA

Providence, RI

Warren, RI

Bristol, RI

Newport, RI

Kingston, RI

Westerly, RI

Stonington, CT

New London, CT

Old Lyme, CT

Old Saybrook, CT

Guilford, CT

Branford, CT

Ferries & Bridges

Edwards Ferry
Located between Leesburg, VA and Poolesville, MD on the Potomac River.

Harpers Ferry Rd.

Hatton Ferry - late 1870s
"James A. Brown began operating a store and ferry at this site in the late 1870s. A few years later, he bought the land and the store became a stop on the Richmond & Allegheny Railroad which was built along the towpath of the James River and Kanawha Canal in the 1880s.
In 1914, James B. Tindall purchased the store, ferry, and ferry rights. He operated the ferry until 1940 when it was taken over by the Virginia Department of Highways. A new ferry was built by the Virginia Department of Transportation and it was rededicated in September 1973.
The Hatton Ferry is the last poled ferry in the United States." [Wiki]

Jamestown Ferry
"The Jamestown Ferry service was privately established in 1925. The Commonwealth of Virginia acquired it and the Department of Transportation (VDOT) assumed operations in 1945. It runs it as a state service." [Wiki]

Little Creek-Cape Charles [?1930s?]
"The Little Creek-Cape Charles Ferry was a passenger ferry service operating across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay from the 1930s until 1964." [Wiki]

Whites Ferry - 1817
The first known ferry operation at this location was Conrad's Ferry [or "Coonrod's" Ferry] in 1817. After the Civil War, former Confederate officer Elijah V. White purchased it and made many improvements to the service. He named his ferry boat in honor of his former commander, General Jubal Anderson Early. [Wiki]

Ferry Rd - Danville

Ferry Rd - Fredericksburg

Ferry Rd - Hampton

Ferry Rd - Heathsville

Ferry Rd - Virginia Beach

Ferry Landing Rd - Alexandria

Ferry Point Rd - Suffolk

Little Ferry Rd - King George

Old Ferry Rd - Charles City

Old Ferry Rd - Gloucester Point

Old Ferry Rd - Hudgins

Old Ferry Rd - West Point

Old Ferry Rd - White Stone

Old Point Ferry Lane - Virginia Beach

Early European settlements

Jamestown - 1607
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" in May of 1607 and was considered permanent after a brief abandonment in 1610. This followed several failed attempts elsewhere, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke off the coast of North Carolina.
Jamestown served as the capital of the colony of Virginia for 83 years... from 1616 until 1699. [Wiki]

Henricus - 1611
The "Citie of Henricus" [also called Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico] — was founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown. It was named for Prince Henry, the eldest son of King James I.
The site of Henricus later became part of the Shire of Henrico (1634), then renamed Henrico County in 1637. In 1749, the portion of Henrico County that lay south of the James River was detached to form the present-day Chesterfield County. [Wiki]

Manakin Huguenot Settlement - c. 1700
Land grant of 10,000 acres was made in 1704.

Manakin Huguenot Land Grant

Manakin Land Grant - 10,000 acres

18thC James River plantations

Plantations along the James

?Bellefield?

Belvedere

Berkely Hundred

Bermuda Hundred [Carter]

Brandon [Randolph]

?Burwell [Burwell]

Carter's Grove [Burwell]

?Eltham [Burwell]

?Fairfield [Burwell]

Kingsmill [Burwell]

?Rippon Hall [Carter]

Rosewell [Carter]

Shirley [Carter]

Tuckahoe [Randolph]

Turkey Island [Randolph]

Westover

Mills

York County
The following early mills have been identified in York County and are listed chronologically. Locations are being determined.
Chisman's Mill - 1675-1711
Heyward's Mill - 1676
Parke's Mill - 1678
Old Mill - 1696
Skimino Mill [Bates' Mill] - 1712
Whaley's Mill ? - 1716?
Custis's Mill - 1716
Oaken Neck Mill - 1717
Lightfoot's Mill - 1723
Rippon Hall Mill - 1730
Flowers Branch Mill - 1737/38
Bray's Mill - 1738
Armistead's Mill - 1739
George Washington's Mill - 1767
Prentis's Mill - 1768
Rippon Hall Mill - 1771 [cont.]
Burwell's Mill - 1781
Paradise's Mill - 1782
Dunmore's Mill - 1784
Allen's Mill - 1788
Digges's Mill - 1788
Beall's Mill - 1789
Brown's Mill - 1791
Howard's Mill - 1792
Reade's Mill - 1794
Rippon Hall Mill - 1801 [cont.]
[Colonial Williamsburg Research Library]

James City County
Ludwell's Mill - 1703 [including Powhatan Mill]
Mitchelson's Mill - 1752
Blair's Mill - 1766
Coke's Mill - 1769
[Colonial Williamsburg Research Library]

James River
Grist Mill - 1770

New Kent County
Allen's Mill - 1736
Brown's Mills - 1737/38
Mills near New Kent County Courthouse - 1768
Providence Forge Mills [later Jerdone's Mills] - 1771

Surrey County
Allen's Mill of Bacon's Castle - 1711

Gloucester County
Washington's Mill - 1767

Cumberland County
Cartersville Mill

Taverns & Inns

Williamsburg
Over 65 taverns & inns were listed in the course of the 18th century. (Many of these were either the same location with different owners, or different locations with the same owners.) Ones that remain include:
Campbell's Tavern - *Mrs. Christianna Campbell (1762-68) Lot 18, Block 10; (1773) below the Capitol
Shield's Tavern - *Shield, James (1750) English Coffee House Lots 25 & 26, Block 9
Raleigh Tavern - *Raleigh Tavern (1742- ) Lot 54, Block 17 The original tavern is believed to have been built some point prior 1735. It was reconstructed in 1930–31 on its original foundation. [Wiki]
*Colonial Williamsburg Library

Hanover Tavern - 1733
A license for a tavern at Hanover Courthouse was issued in 1733. When William Parks, editor of the Virginia Gazette, purchased Hanover Tavern in 1743, it was part of a 550 acre plantation at the courthouse. [See Hanover Tavern website for additional information.]

Michie Tavern - c. 1784
Michie Tavern, located in Albemarle County, Virginia, is a Virginia Historic Landmark that was established in 1784 by Scotsman William Michie. At that time it was located in Earlysville. It continued to be operated by the Michie family until 1910, when it came into the ownership of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1927, the Tavern was purchased by Josephine Henderson, who had it moved seventeen miles from Earlysville to its present location. [See Michie Tavern website for additional information.]

17th & 18th century forts

Fort Algernon [Algernourne] - 1609 [Old Point Comfort]
Captain John Smith and the colonists of the Virginia Company established the settlement of Jamestown of the British Colony of Virginia on the James River in 1607. On their initial exploration, they recognized the strategic importance of the site at Old Point Comfort for purposes of coastal defense. They initially built Fort Algernourne (1609–1612) at the location of the present Fort Monroe. Based on the fort at Jamestown, it is assumed to have been a wooden triangular stockade. This one burned in 1612.
Another fort, known only as "the fort at Old Point Comfort" was constructed here in 1632.

Fort Henry - 1645
Later known as Fort Wood and then Peter's Point.
Fort Henry was built in 1645 by order of the House of Burgesses. It marked the 1646 treaty frontier between the white settlers and the Indians following the Second Anglo-Powhatan War. It was situated at the fall line of the Piedmont, near the Appomattoc Indian tribe.
From 1646 until around 1691, it was the only point in Virginia where Indians could be authorized to cross eastward into white territory, or whites westward into Indian territory. In later years it became known as Fort Wood after its first commander, Abraham Wood (1614-82). He used the fort as a base for several exploratory expeditions of the region. In 1675, command of the fort and adjacent Indian trading post passed to Wood's son-in-law, Peter Jones. The post then became known as "Peter's Point". With trade and related settlement, eventually the city of Petersburg developed here. At some unknown point the original fort fell into ruins.

Fort Christiana - 1714
Fort Christanna was one of the projects of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood, who was governor of the Virginia Colony 1710-1722. The fort was designed to offer protection and schooling to the Siouan and Iroquoian tribes living to the southwest of the colonized area of Virginia.
Located in what became Brunswick County, Virginia, near Gholsonville, the fort was completed in 1714 and enjoyed three successful years of operation as the westernmost outpost of the British Empire at the time, before being finally closed by the House of Burgesses in 1718.

Fort George - 1728
In 1728, Fort George was built on the site of Old Point Comfort. Its masonry walls were destroyed by a hurricane in 1749, but the wood buildings in the fort were used by a reduced force until at least 1775. In 1781, during the Siege of Yorktown, the French West Indian fleet established a battery on the ruins of Fort George. Throughout the Colonial period, fortifications were manned at the location from time to time.

White's Fort - 1732
White's Fort was an 18th-century residence and fortification located near the present-day unincorporated community of Hayfield, Frederick County. Alternatively known as the "White Hall," the first structure contributing to "White's Fort" was built between 1732 and 1735 by Dr. Robert White (1688–1752), a Scottish American physician, military officer, pioneer, and planter. "White's Fort" was later utilized as a fortification by White's son, Major Robert White, for the protection of European American settlers in the vicinity of Great North Mountain during the French and Indian War.

Fort Dinwiddie - 1755-1789
Fort Dinwiddie was a base for the Virginia Militia during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. It was located on the Jackson River, five miles west of Warm Springs, Virginia, in present-day Bath County.
The fort was first built in 1755 around the house of William Warwick during the French and Indian War. It was named for the lieutenant governor of colonial Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie. The fort featured a log-covered passageway that ran from a corner blockhouse to a spring within the fort.
The stockaded structure became one of a chain of forts, 15 to 30 miles apart, established in the mid-1700s to guard the Virginia frontier against the Native Americans of the Ohio River Valley. Colonel George Washington inspected the fort on September 24, 1755.

Fort Loudoun - 1756
Fort Loudoun was a fortification of the French and Indian War, located in what is now Winchester, Virginia. The fort was built between 1756 and 1758 under the supervision of George Washington, then a colonel in the militia of the British Province of Virginia. It was named for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, who commanded the British forces in North America for a time during the war. Washington and his militia regiment were headquartered at the fort for two years. The fort was a roughly square bastioned earthworks.
The property at 419 North Loudoun encompasses the historic heart of the fort, including a well dating to the fort's construction, and a portion of its northwest bastion. This area has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This property is now owned by the non-profit French and Indian War Foundation.

Fort Chiswell - 1758
Fort Chiswell is an historic archaeological site located in Wythe County, Virginia. It is the site of a frontier fort built in 1758 as an outpost during the French and Indian War. The fort was situated at the junction of the Great Trading Path and the Richmond Road, near the New River. The fort fell into disrepair in the 18th century as both the county seat and courthouse were moved from Fort Chiswell to the county seat of Wytheville, 12 miles to the west. The remaining foundations of the Fort and its surrounding buildings were completely covered over during the construction of I-77 in Wythe County during the 1970s.

Fort Seybert - mid 1700s
Fort Seybert was an 18th-century frontier fort in the Allegheny Mountains in what is now Pendleton County, West Virginia, United States. In a 1758 surprise raid occasioned by the French and Indian War (1754–63), most of the 30 white settlers sheltering there were massacred by Shawnee and Delaware warriors and the fort was burned. A similar number of settlers at nearby Fort Upper Tract had met the same fate on the previous day. Fort Seybert, of which almost no trace remains today, was situated about 8 miles northeast of the present town of Franklin.

James Fort
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" in May of 1607 and was considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610. 'James Fort' in Virginia was converted into James Towne in 1619.

19th century forts

Fort Monroe - 1834
A much more substantial facility of stone became known as Fort Monroe (and adjacent Fort Wool on an artificial island across the channel) were completed in 1834. The principal facility was named in honor of U.S. President James Monroe. Surrounded by a moat, the seven-sided star fort is the largest stone fort ever built in the United States.

Fort Wool - 1834