Champlain in Essex County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)

Layton’s Landing Wharf and Ferry

Photographed by Brandon D Cross, January 23, 2023

1. Layton’s Landing Wharf and Ferry Marker

Inscription. Two miles northeast on the Rappahannock River, at Coleman's Town, George Southern was operating a ferry by 1679. In the early 1700s, the Ley and Layton families ran the ferry, an ordinary, and a wharf. By midcentury, the community had become a hub of commerce featuring a public tobacco warehouse. from which tobacco was inspected and shipped to Great Britain, and a Scottish merchant's store. George Washington used the ferry several times in the 1750s and 60s. An effort to develop a town called Beaufort here ca. 1770 failed when the tobacco trade declined after the Revolutionary War. Layton's Wharf was a stop on the Baltimore to Fredericksburg steamboat route from the 1830’s until 1937.

Erected 2021 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number O-83.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Settlements & Settlers • Waterways & Vessels. A significant historical year for this entry is 1639.

Location. 38° 4.018′ N, 77° 0.604′ W. Marker is in Champlain, Virginia, in Essex County. It is on Tidewater Trail (U.S. 17) 0.3 miles north of Layton’s Landing Road (Virginia

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Route 637), on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Champlain VA 22438, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in the Tidewater,

in the Chesapeake Bay Region,

and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Early Settlement (a few steps from this marker); Saunders’s Wharf (approx. 1.7 miles away); Pissaseck Indians (approx. 3.1 miles away); Leedstown (approx. 3.1 miles away); John Pratt Hungerford (approx. 3.1 miles away); Vauter's Church (approx. 3½ miles away); Portobacco Indians (approx. 4½ miles away); Essex County / Caroline County

Photographed by Brandon D Cross, January 23, 2023

2. Layton’s Landing Wharf and Ferry Marker

(approx. 6.9 miles away).

Other markers no longer nearby. Fonthill (was approx. 3.9 miles away but has been permanently removed); Old Rappahannock Courthouse (was approx. 6½ miles away but has been permanently removed).

Also see . . . Essex Historical Markers Erected. (Submitted on January 23, 2023, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida.)

Credits. This page was last revised on January 24, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 23, 2023, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. This page has been viewed 1,264 times since then and 114 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 23, 2023, by Brandon D Cross of Flagler Beach, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.