Causeways

Causeways. . “There is great want of a bridge for horse and man over the swamp at the head of the Southern Branch of Elizabeth River…” Norfolk County Deed Book 5, part 2, Orders. page 4, 1686, In the mid-1600s, as the early settlers began to acquire land in the southern part of Norfolk County, a land route was needed to connect the area to people living on the north side of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River and its wide marsh. In 1686, the Norfolk County Court ordered “that Mr. Tho. Butt bee head Surveyor…and make the said bridge…and a clear road to and from it.” With neighbors from nearby plantations he constructed a half mile system of narrow “causeys” and four bridges. The longest bridge crossed the Southern Branch and became known as the Great Bridge. The “causeys,” or causeways, as distinguished from the bridges, were raised paths or roads crossing the marsh., The bridges and causeways provided the only passage for landward travelers going to Norfolk via Kemp’s Landing. The passage led to the development of the “Great Road” that made possible the transportation of goods, supplies and livestock from North Carolina to markets in Virginia., Governor Dunmore regarded the crossing as a “very essential pass into this part of the country.” The passage was so important to both the American Patriots and the British that both sides were willing to fight a battle to the death to control it., (sidebar) , Walk out on the exhibit and imagine how confined the British grenadiers must have felt as they started across the narrow causeway, limited to marching shoulder to shoulder in columns of only six men abreast in the face of enemy fire.