On 23 November 1811 William Carsley sold an acre of land here to trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The first Methodist church built in Surry County was constructed here soon thereafter. During the 19th century it was replaced by a second . . . — — Map (db m74773) HM
Jerusalem Baptist Church was organized as Mt. Joy Baptist Church in 1867 at the nearby home of Mondoza Bailey, community leader and carpenter. Amelia “Mother” Howard assisted in the organization of this and six other churches. Sent by the United . . . — — Map (db m74774) HM
The Quiyoughcohannock Indian village nearby was first visited by English settlers in May, 1607. The first land patent at Claremont was 200 acres granted to George Harrison in 1621. Arthur Allen, who built the house now known as Bacon's Castle, first . . . — — Map (db m35940) HM
Surry County African-American Heritage Society
Claremont School
In November of 1913 a deed was sold to the School Board District Number Four for property on the eastside of Spring Grove Road, Claremont, Virginia. A school was built on . . . — — Map (db m35943) HM
May 5, 1607
The English settlers visited here
the principal village of the
Quioughcohanach Indians
This marker is erected by
The Colonel William Allen Chapter
N.S.D.A.R.
1930 — — Map (db m35941) HM
This monument marks the site of the Lebanon Church where the founders of the Christian Church had declared for religious liberty and accepted the Bible as their only creed. On August 4, 1794, adopted the name Christian to the exclusion of . . . — — Map (db m301699) HM
Late in the 18th century, arguments over governance threatened to split the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Rev. James O'Kelly, leader of a group that disputed the authority of bishops, withdrew from the church's General Conference in 1792. After . . . — — Map (db m301700) HM
The Surry Lumber Company, chartered in 1885, was among the largest producers of yellow pine lumber on the East Coast. Here at Mussel Fork Plantation, the company constructed sawmills, box mills, dry kilns, employee housing, and a commissary. The . . . — — Map (db m103871) HM
The Surry Lumber Company began constructing the main line of its narrow-gauge Surry, Sussex
& Southampton Railway in 1886. Eventually extending 28 miles, the line began at Scotland Wharf on the James River, continued to the sawmill complex here at . . . — — Map (db m103872) HM
Nearby to the southeast once stood Cypress Church. It was established by order of the Southwark Parish vestry on 5 April 1743. The rectangular brick building, about 60 by 27 feet in size, was completed by Feb. 1745. After the disestablishment of the . . . — — Map (db m98239) HM
Approximately six miles to the north, near Hog Island Creek, is the site of Lawne’s Creek Church. Authorized in 1629 as a “chapel of ease” for the settlers in the area by the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, the church was . . . — — Map (db m2755) HM
Beginning about 1689, a village known as Cabin Point stood here. It was a tobacco shipping port in the 18th century. Colonial troops were stationed here during the American Revolution in 1780 and 1781. By 16 Jan. 1781 Maj. Gen. Friedrich Wilhelm von . . . — — Map (db m35939) HM
At “Old Lebanon Church” here, the Christian Church was established under the leadership of James O’Kelly, August, 1794. O’Kelly had withdrawn from the Methodist Church, 1792. — — Map (db m2697) HM
Ten miles Northeast is Swann’s Point on James River. In 1635 William Swann patented land there. The English Commissioners investigating Bacon’s Rebellion met at Swann’s point in 1677. William Swann’s Tomb, dated 1680 is there. — — Map (db m2690) HM
On 12 Oct. 1892, Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood, born enslaved in 1863 in Rich Square, North Carolina, founded the Temperance Industrial & Collegiate Institute nearby with fewer than ten students. Sprawled over sixty-five acres on the James River in . . . — — Map (db m74776) HM
Located five miles to the north is Wakefield. Benjamin Harrison patented this land about 1637. His descendents became major landowners and were influential in Virginia and United States politics. Governor Benjamin Harrison was a signer of the . . . — — Map (db m2691) HM
This barn is traditionally thought to have been constructed in 1701 by Major Arthur Allen Il. It is also the oldest surviving outbuilding at Bacon's Castle and one of the oldest in Virginia. An inventory of Major Allen's belongings taken at the time . . . — — Map (db m263215) HM
In the Beginning
Tribal oral tradition states that Indians have lived in the region since the beginning. Recorded in 1609, one telling states that at the creation of the world there were originally five gods; the four winds and the . . . — — Map (db m263769) HM
Between 2016 and 2018, archaeol ogists of the James River Institute for Archaeology, Inc. (JRIA) conducted archaeological investigations at a nearby property on behalf of Dominion Energy Virginia. One of the archaeological sites (designated . . . — — Map (db m206264) HM
In 1619, Captain William Powell obtained 550 acres of what would become Chippokes Plantation. That same year, the first Africans to inhabit Virginia were taken by Ship to Point Comfort, site of modern day Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. Initially, . . . — — Map (db m263721) HM
"To each his own" they say and this is true of the mansion before you. Each of the primary owners have left their mark.
The Jones-Stewart Mansion was built between 1852 and 1854 by Albert Carroll Jones. The Stewarts made extensive renovations . . . — — Map (db m263392) HM
Albert Carroll Jones
1815 - 1882
First Owner to Live at Chippokes
Successful Planter,
Brandy Distiller
Built Plantation Mansion
1852 - 1854 — — Map (db m263448) HM
Chippokes Plantation is one of the oldest working farms in the United States, established in 1619. It has been worked by slaves, share croppers, tenant farmers, and is currently leased to local farmers. Most of the barns at Chippokes date back to . . . — — Map (db m263482) HM
This house, just to the north, was built by Arthur Allen in 1655. In Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676, the house was seized by a party of rebels and fortified. On December 29, 1676, it was captured by sailors from a ship in James River who were engaged in . . . — — Map (db m2698) HM
In memory of
Capt. Jacob Faulcon, C.S.A.
of this village
who was shot and instantly killed by a party of Federal raiders at a point one hundred and fifty yards S.E. of this building Nov. 11, 1864 — — Map (db m36053) HM
Prior to unloading at Jamestown, the English sailed the James in search of a suitable location. In his account, George Perch recalls crossing to the southern shore on May 5, 1607 at the invitation of a chief he misidentifies as the "Werowance of . . . — — Map (db m263766) HM
Captain William Powell
1585 - 1623
Founder of Chippokes 1619
Lieutenant Governor
of Jamestowne
Virginia’s First
House of Burgesses — — Map (db m263450) HM
In memory of
Chanco
The Indian who lived with
Richard Pace at Pace’s Paines
in this county and who on the
night before the massacre of
March 22, 1622 informed Pace of
Opechancanough’s plot and thus
saved the Jamestown Colony . . . — — Map (db m36052) HM
Chippokes Plantation, directly across the James River from the first English settlement in the new world, has been continually farmed since 1619. It is named for the Algonquin Chief Choupoke, who befriended the colonists and whose people probably . . . — — Map (db m263376) HM
This Plantation, four miles to the northeast, was established in 1619 by Captain William Powell of Jamestown. Structures and artifacts on the property reflect plantation life from the early 17th century to the present. Donated to the Commonwealth by . . . — — Map (db m2686) HM
Around 3,000 years ago, people in Eastern Virginia shifted to a more settled way of life; coalescing in towns and hamlets along major rivers. By CE (common era) 900, groups of towns holding thousands of people were united around complex economic, . . . — — Map (db m263754) HM
When the English arrived on the shores of what is now Eastern Virginia in 1607, they settled in an area already occupied by tens of thousands of people. Tribes still live today on the James and along other Virginia rivers.
You can learn about . . . — — Map (db m263749) HM
English settlement along Gray’s Creek began by 1609 when Capt. John Smith ordered a defensive fortification built on the tidal creek opposite Jamestown. Though the English did not finish construction the fort (known as Smith’s Fort) and soon . . . — — Map (db m2696) HM
This memorial stands as a tribute to the African-descended men, women, and children who were enslaved at Chippokes Plantation between 1689 and 1863.
They were blacksmiths, field hands, nursemaids, cooks, gardeners, distillers, carpenters, . . . — — Map (db m263436) HM
Nearby stands the glebe house of the formerly Anglican Southwark Parish that was built soon after 1724. A glebe was a parcel of land owned by a colonial church and farmed to pay the minister’s expenses. This glebe house was used as a parish rectory . . . — — Map (db m2692) HM
Originally called Tappahannock Creek by the English, Crouch’s Creek flowed through a number of early English settlements. By 1625 George Sandys had holdings in Surry County, known as Treasurer’s Plantation, east of the creek. Sandys was a poet, a . . . — — Map (db m2687) HM
On this point, in James River nine miles Northeast, the settlers kept their hogs in 1608. When abandoning Jamestown in June, 1610. They stopped at the island for a night. The next morning, proceeding down the river, they met a messenger from . . . — — Map (db m2682) HM
Near this site on February 26, 1925, the ferry Captain John Smith began the first automobile ferry service crossing the James River. Captain Albert F. Jester was the inaugurator and owner/operator until it was sold to the Commonwealth of . . . — — Map (db m76778) HM
Nearby to the north, Richard Pace and his family received a land patent in Dec. 1620 establishing Pace’s Paines plantation. In response to English expansion into Indian lands, such as occurred at Pace's Paines and elsewhere, Chief Opechancanough . . . — — Map (db m2695) HM
The Stewarts built the Packard Garage around 1920-1930. Although Victor Stewart lived at Chippokes, he worked in Petersburg and like many of us today commuted daily. Mr. Stewart's preferred vehicle was the Packard. One of these, his 1941 Packard 160 . . . — — Map (db m263491) HM
Evelyn Stewart was an avid gardener, and the Paradise Garden was her everlasting contribution to the Chippokes story.
After constructing the mansion in 1854, Albert Carroll Jones established a small garden in the backyard. Evelyn Stewart . . . — — Map (db m263437) HM
Four miles north is Pleasant Point on James River. William Edwards patented land there in 1657, the house is ancient. Edwards was clerk of the General Court and a member of The House of Burgesses. — — Map (db m2685) HM
The Poole’s Funeral Home was established November 1890 by the late M.B. Poole. With his horse drawn hearse, he served the community with great dignity and professional service. He was joined in his business by his son Olandis and youngest . . . — — Map (db m35992) HM
The Quiyoughcohannocks were one of the first Virginia Indian groups the English encountered in 1607 after landing at Jamerstown. Situated primarily in present-day Surry County, the Quiyoughcohannocks had four villages in the region likely east of . . . — — Map (db m2684) HM
Smith’s Fort
On this site in early 1609 a new fort was built by the first settlers of the Jamestown Colony under the leadership of Captain John Smith for protection from Indian attacks and the Spanish.
This property has been placed on the . . . — — Map (db m264442) HM
John Smith earned the title "captain" serving with the Hapsburg cavalry along the contested border between the Austrian and Turkish empires, Given his experience, Smith no doubt recognized that Jamestown was vulnerable to attack, particularly after . . . — — Map (db m263845) HM
Welcome to Smith’s Fort Plantation
The story-and-a-half brick manor house that stands at the head of the trail was built sometime between 1751 and 1765. It was laid in Flemish bond brickwork and was home to Jacob Faulcon and his family. A . . . — — Map (db m263970) HM
Captain John Smith began Smith’s Fort in 1609, two years after the first permanent English colony in the New World was established at Jamestown. The remains of the fort, a two-foot-high earthwork, constitute the oldest extant structure of English . . . — — Map (db m2688) HM
Southwark Parish was established in 1647. To the northeast stood the second Southwark church built by 1673 and abandoned shortly after the American Revolution. To the east, near Bacon’s Castle, Southwark Parish vestry completed the Lower Southwark . . . — — Map (db m2694) HM
The 19th Century was a time of rapid progress driven by the hiss and clank of the steam engine.
Heat is power, and when used to generate steam, it can create something even more useful: mechanical energy. A steam engine heats water into steam . . . — — Map (db m263385) HM
Welcome to the … Surry Side!
Beginning in 1607, Jamestown settlers affectionately called the opposite shore of the James River the "Surrey Side" to honor their homeland.
The Jamestown colony was perceived as a miniature . . . — — Map (db m301722) HM
(Center)
“At the going down
of the sun and in
the morning we will
remember them.”
Erected A.D. 1947
(Left)
1917 - 1918
To the members of
the Armed Forces of World War I
from
Surry County . . . — — Map (db m36056) WM
Dedicated
November 18, 1995
to commemorate the 50th anniversary
of the end of World War II
which brought peace to the world
and to
honor the
Men and Women
of Surry County
who dutifully and honorably
served in the
Armed Forces . . . — — Map (db m192303) WM
The River House is a prime example of a Virginia frame construction popular in the tidewater area during the 17th-19th centuries. A central interior passage, with equally-sized rooms on both sides helps with cooling during the long summers. Each . . . — — Map (db m263377) HM
This building is the last remaining slave quarter at Bacon’s Castle. First built in 1829 under the direction of the Cocke family, this slave quarter was significantly smaller than what you currently see, having a single entry door and a porch. In . . . — — Map (db m263205) HM
The smokehouse, built in the 1820s, has remained relatively unaltered. This structure would have been used to preserve meats for the residents of Bacon's Castle. In 1833, an inventory taken upon the death of resident Richard H. Cocke lists 7,914 . . . — — Map (db m263211) HM
Indians cultivated fertile lands along the James River for centuries before the colonists arrived in 1607. They grew squash, corn, and beans to supplement their diet of native plants, fish, shellfish, and game. When the soils at a house site became . . . — — Map (db m98214) HM
