The Amherst County Bateau / The Thornhill Wagon

The Amherst County Bateau, also, The Thornhill Wagon. . , The Amherst County Bateau , Anthony Rucker of Amherst County invented the James River bateau, which was patented in 1821. Thomas Jefferson described one of Rucker's boats as 50 feet long by 6 feet wide with a 13.5-inch draft. a bateau could carry 10 tons or 11 hogsheads of tobacco. With long tillers of sweeps located at each end, a bateau could be steered while being poled downriver or upriver., By 1831, 500 bateaux were estimated to be in operation on the James River. The bateau's success led to improved navigation and the growth of commerce, especially from 1771 to 1840., In 1984, several sunken bateaux were found during excavations in Richmond. Interest in these bateaux led to the James River Batteau Festival, in which bateau replicas leave Lynchburg for Richmond in June of each year., The Thornhill Wagon , This Thornhill Wagon was purchased from William Ward Hills store in Amherst in the early 1900s., By 1900, Benjamin P. Thornhill had a wagon manufacturing plant in Lynchburg, called the Thornhill Wagon Company. The Thornhill name assured a quality product, and the wagons were sent by rail all over the United States., By 1907, William Ward Hill, who had been a traveling salesman for Mr. Thornhill, had retail outlets for the wagons near the Community Market in Lynchburg and on Main Streets in Amherst. Mr. Hill died in 1931, and the business was purchased by William W. Turner, Sr. The Turner family still conducts is operation in Amherst as Hill Hardware Corporation., Doris C. Johnson and her son, Mark Johnson, donated the Thornhill Wagon to the Amherst County Museum in 1996.