Dr. Pastore learned of the presence of Mt. Malady, the first hospital in North America, situated at the 1611 Citie of Henricus. He developed the concept of its reconstruction, promoted local interest in the project, acquired various parcels of . . . — — Map (db m149630) HM
Captain John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay in the early 1600s seeking precious metals and a passage to the Pacific. He traveled the James, Chickahominy and York rivers in 1607, and led two major expeditions on the Chesapeake from Jamestown in . . . — — Map (db m149625) HM
Explore the places John Smith and the English colonists traveled in the early 1600s. Learn about the thriving American Indian communities and the bountiful richness that still exists in the region today.
For more than 3,000 miles, the . . . — — Map (db m149626) HM
In March of 1865 Abraham Lincoln left behind the pressures of Washington and traveled to visit Lt. Gen. Grant at City Point. He spent two weeks at City Point, touring the front and reviewing troops.
On March 27, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, his wife . . . — — Map (db m109395) HM
Ending the war by a direct attack on Richmond was a key component of the Federal war effort in the east. Federal naval forces also blockaded the Confederate coast while the Federal army fought to capture key coastal cities and ports along the . . . — — Map (db m73966) HM
Like its pre-war economy, much of the southern war effort relied on slave labor. When Richmond became the capital for the newly formed Confederacy, both freedmen and slaves were used to maintain railroads, build fortifications, and perform other . . . — — Map (db m109390) HM
This is a composite of two photographs taken of the Appomattox River from this location. The signal tower in the background was near present day R. Garland Dodd Park at Point of Rocks.
This sign was sponsored by Stewart O'Bannon III . . . — — Map (db m109396) HM
Broadway Landing was located three miles up the Appomattox River from City Point. It was the main supply depot for Federal artillery during the siege of Petersburg. Artillery pieces and ammunition were transported by ship or barge and offloaded . . . — — Map (db m109393) HM
When the Bermuda Hundred Campaign began, Confederate forces south of the James River were widely scattered across southern Virginia and eastern North Carolina. Confederate eyes were focused on events to the north where the Battle of the Wilderness . . . — — Map (db m73969) HM
The wooded area in front of you contains rare examples of a radiant heat system called a Crimean Oven. This system was used to heat hospital tents at Point of Rocks during the Civil War. The concept behind Crimean Ovens dates back to the days of the . . . — — Map (db m109398) HM
In March of 1864 Ulysses S. Grant was placed in command of all Federal forces. Grant's plan to end the war envisioned a multi-front invasion across the entire Confederacy to negate the South's ability to shift forces from one front to another. . . . — — Map (db m73965) HM
Lt. Gen. Grant’s strategy was to attack the Confederate armies on multiple fronts simultaneously so that they could not reinforce each other. In the early days of May 1864, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade moved the Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan . . . — — Map (db m73970) HM
From May 1864 until the end of the Civil War in April 1865, this land was the site of a large hospital for Federal troops who fought in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. Historic Point of Rocks is within the historic boundary . . . — — Map (db m73972) HM
Point of Rocks takes its name from a 60-foot high sandstone cliff located here along the Appomattox River. The site was used by Native Americans as a camp and observation point, and was mentioned by Captain John Smith in his notes on Virginia. A . . . — — Map (db m109399) HM
Patients at Point of Rocks Hospital were under the care of two pioneer women in the field of medicine, Clara Barton and Harriet Dame. At a time when most women were not allowed to be near the fighting, these women saw the war close up at field . . . — — Map (db m109378) HM
Battles at Port Walthall Junction
At about 4:00 PM on May 6, 1864 Brig. Gen. Charles Heckman's brigade moved down Ruffin Mill Road toward Port Walthall Junction where 600 soldiers from Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood's South Carolina brigade . . . — — Map (db m73971) HM
Point of Rocks, named for a sandstone cliff on the Appomattox River, marked the southern end of the Union defensive line that stretched across the Bermuda Hundred peninsula. In May 1864, the Union army seized property east of the present-day park . . . — — Map (db m54255) HM
Shortly after the Army of the James landed in Bermuda Hundred, a field hospital was established here at Point of Rocks. The hospital originally consisted of tents set up in the orchard around the Strachan House. The tents were 50 feet long and . . . — — Map (db m109377) HM
This photograph was taken from across the Appomattox River behind you.
The large hospital ward in the photograph once stood in this field in front of you.
This sign was sponsored by Douglas Waters, Carrollton, TX — — Map (db m109392) HM
This photograph was taken from this spot in 1865. The flat area in front of you is where the hut in the photograph once stood. In June of 1864 a pontoon bridge was built across the marshy ground in the photograph. The first attacks on . . . — — Map (db m109374) HM
”On June 26,...just as we were having roll call and the men were about to retire for the night, the boom of a cannon a little way down the river, and the whizzing of a shell as it sped us by, aroused us to the fact that the enemy was . . . — — Map (db m109376) HM
On May 4, 1864, Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler began to load 38,000 men of the Army of the James on transport ships at Newport News and Yorktown, Virginia. Their goal was a neck of land in Chesterfield County known as Bermuda Hundred. Butler was to . . . — — Map (db m73967) HM
In April of 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met with Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and approved his plan for attacking Richmond by moving an army up the James River. Grant decided that while the Army of the Potomac moved against Robert E. Lee and the . . . — — Map (db m73968) HM
"Petersburg at that hour was clearly at the mercy of the Federal Commander who had all but captured it"
Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard on the June 15th attack at Petersburg.
On June 9, 1864, as Grant prepared to shift his army . . . — — Map (db m180819) HM
After taking heavy losses at Cold Harbor, Lt. Gen. Grant made the decision to move his army across the James River and attack Petersburg. The capture of that city and its key rail links would cut off Richmond from the rest of the Confederacy. . . . — — Map (db m109386) HM
This house was constructed in 1841 by Rev. John Alexander Strachan, founder of Enon Baptist Church. Rev. Strachan also preached at several other congregations in the area. Family stories describe him rowing a boat across the Appomattox River to . . . — — Map (db m74662) HM
The United States Submarine Propeller Alligator
The green, 47-foot-long Alligator was the U.S. Navy's first submarine—a technological wonder of the Civil War era.
French engineer Brutus de Villeroi designed the . . . — — Map (db m109375) HM
Thousands of African-American troops served in the Army of the James under the official designation of United States Colored Troops (USCT).
Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler was a strong proponent of the use of African-American troops and had more . . . — — Map (db m180820) HM
Gabriel Archer wrote about a high rock cliff that projected into the channel of the Appomattox River upstream of its confluence with the James. When exploring the river in 1608, Smith found verdant marshes the likes of which can still be seen here . . . — — Map (db m181457) HM
"The Rocks" became a popular place for students to meet down on the Appomattox River. The group seen here is from the "Normal Class" of 1913. The term "normal" referred to teacher training programs. The "collegiate institute" included training in . . . — — Map (db m149617) HM
Lynchburg native Amaza Lee Meredith was one of the nation's few African American female architects during the mid-20th century. Her self-designed residence, Azurest South (1939), is a rare Virginia example of a mature International Style building. . . . — — Map (db m130078) HM
The site of an Appomattox Indian village burned in 1676 in Bacon's Rebellion, the present town of Ettrick stands on land that belonged to "Ettrick Banks" and "Matoax," the boyhood plantation of John Randolph of Roanoke. In 1810 Campbell's Bridge . . . — — Map (db m14622) HM
In honor of those of Ettrick
who served in the Armed Forces
and
in memory of these who made
the Supreme Sacrifice in World War II
C. Leslie Clarke • William E. Laffoon • Robert E. Marable • Charlie L. Nichols • Charles C. . . . — — Map (db m149623) WM
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad's origins reached back to 8 March 1832, when the Portsmouth and Roanoke railroad was chartered to connect Weldon, North Carolina, with Portsmouth, Virginia. It was reorganized in 1846 as the Seaboard and Roanoke . . . — — Map (db m180150) HM
A small village was established by the early 1800's along the Appomattox River with 200 workers who operated the cotton mill. Millworkers' housing from the mid- 19th century onward is one of the outstanding features of the Ettrick Historic District. . . . — — Map (db m149616) HM
Frederick Francoz Simms was born to Frederick H. and America T. Ayer Simms on May 8, 1884 in New Orleans Parish. A graduate of Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly known today as Southern University in Baton . . . — — Map (db m149605) HM
The Southside Railroad, completed in 1854, was one of the most important supply routes in southern Virginia during the American Civil War (1861-1865). With tracks laid east to west across the state, the railroad began began at City Point in . . . — — Map (db m149611) HM
Project Overview: In 1907, the trustees of what is now Virginia State University voted to build a new President's residence at a cost of $3,300. Named for the school's first principal, James Storum, Storum Hall is the University's oldest . . . — — Map (db m149622) HM
Project Overview: Vawter Hall was named for Captain Charles E. Vawter, a life-long educator and Chairman of the board of the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute Board of Trustees from 1902 until his death in 1905. Constructed in 1908, it . . . — — Map (db m149619) HM
Directly across the river, Petersburg began to develop into a major industrial and commercial center. The town sprang up at the Appomattox River's fall line, where rocks and shallows prevented cargo boats from sailing upstream. Planters from the . . . — — Map (db m149613) HM
The Virginia State Normal School, now Virginia State University, purchased a two-acre tract with a mill building from John Stearns for the sum of $35,000 in 1922. The mill was used for silk dying and weaving and was one of many water powered mills . . . — — Map (db m149612) HM
Simms Hall was used to educate tradesmen. This is the only remaining structure from the building. It is believed to be a demonstration of the art of masonry. — — Map (db m149610) HM
Even though mills were thriving along the riverbank, it was not until the 1830s that the village of Ettrick took shape. In 1830, entrepreneur Jabez Smith and partner Edward Stokes purchased the old Campbell mills. By this time, the mill owners had . . . — — Map (db m149609) HM
Virginia State University was founded on March 6, 1882, when the legislature passed a bill to charter the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. The bill was sponsored by Delegate Alfred W. Harris, a Black attorney whose offices were in . . . — — Map (db m149618) HM
Virginia State University was chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1882 as the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. Delegate Alfred W. Harris, an African-American attorney in Petersburg, championed the charter and supported it . . . — — Map (db m26005) HM
Virginia State University was chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1882 as the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. Delegate Alfred W. Harris, an African American attorney in Petersburg, championed the charter and supported it . . . — — Map (db m180147) HM
The Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute was chartered on 6 Mar. 1882. The Readjuster Party was instrumental in supporting a state institution of higher education in Virginia for African Americans with some unusual features to the institute's . . . — — Map (db m26007) HM
A mile north, on the site of an important Appamatuck Indian village, Sir Thomas Dale established Bermuda Hundred in 1613. The hundred was a traditional English jurisdiction of one hundred families. Dale, the deputy governor and marshal of Virginia, . . . — — Map (db m11662) HM
Point of Rocks is located two miles south on the Appomattox River. In 1608, Captain John Smith wrote abut this high rock cliff which projected out to the channel of the river. Known to all as Point of Rocks, it was severely damaged during a battle . . . — — Map (db m11844) HM
Port Walthall, which stood on the banks of the Appomattox River several miles to the south, was a major shipping and passenger embarkation point prior to the Civil War. The railroad tracks leading to the port were melted down to manufacture . . . — — Map (db m11847) HM
Originally named the Providence Manufacturing Company, Matoaca Manufacturing (Mill) had its beginning here late in the 1700s on land then known as Olive Hill Plantation. Initially operated as a grist mill, by 1838 it was producing cotton cloth and . . . — — Map (db m48473) HM
In 1810 Major John Clarke and noted Richmond lawyer, William Wirt, established a weapons factory for the U.S. War Department on the south bank of the James River five miles north of here. Bellona Arsenal, (named for the Roman goddess of war,) was . . . — — Map (db m142322) HM
Gun and gun mold recovered by C. Merle Luck from the James River on August 18, 1962 having been put there during Col. Dahlgren's Raid during the Civil War. — — Map (db m40598) HM
In 1799 the local Baptist Society acquired this land and soon built a meetinghouse. The Bethel congregation worshiped in the meetinghouse and was constituted as a church in 1817. About 1820 the members built a brick church here--the first in . . . — — Map (db m19051) HM
Half a mile north stood Black Heath, later owned by Captain John Heth, officer in Continental Army, whose son, Henry Heth, Major-General C.S.A., was born here in 1825. Coal of high quality was mined here. — — Map (db m19043) HM
In 1829 the Virginia General Assembly chartered the Chesterfield Rail Road Company, which built the first railroad in Virginia. Moncure Robinson (1802-1891), a railroad pioneer, designed the track, which once passed by here. In 1831, the company . . . — — Map (db m142323) HM
Eleazar Clay (1744-1836) led the establishment of the first Baptist church in Chesterfield County, known as Chesterfield (Baptist) Church, Rehoboth Meeting House, or Clay's Church, in 1773. He also supported the Baptist preachers imprisoned for . . . — — Map (db m35993) HM
Just south of here are the earthen remains and stone culvert of the Chesterfield Railroad. Chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1829, the company in 1831 constructed the first railroad in Virginia, one of the earliest in the United States, . . . — — Map (db m35998) HM
The Early Years
Beginning around 1748, Richmond coal was shipped to the major coastal cities of Colonial America.The market was primarily for smithing and home heating since steam engine development for industry and transportation was still . . . — — Map (db m238290) HM
Hallsborough Tavern
has been registered as a
Virginia
Historic
Landmark
pursuant to the authority vested in the
Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission
ct of 1966
Hallsborough Tavern
Built c. 1800
National Register . . . — — Map (db m171692) HM
This headstock, or headframe, is an exact replica of the one erected here in 1836 and stands directly above the 625' Middle Shaft mine. Weighing 17 tons, the replica is constructed with mortise and tenon joints fastened with wooden dowels, . . . — — Map (db m238298) HM
In 1700-1701, Huguenots (French Protestant refugees) settled in this region on land provided to them by the Virginia colony. The Huguenot settlement, known as "Manakin Town" centered at the former site of a Monacan Indian town, located south of the . . . — — Map (db m31544) HM
South of here are the Midlothian Coal Mines, probably the oldest coal mines in America. Coal was first mined here before 1730, and during the Revolution, coal from these mines supplied the cannon foundry at Westham. The first railroad in Virginia . . . — — Map (db m19044) HM
First African Baptist Church of Coalfield, which stood about a mile southeast of here, opened a school for African Americans in 1866. After a fire in 1877, the congregation moved here and renamed itself First Baptist Church in Midlothian. Church . . . — — Map (db m180215) HM
Welcome to the Mid-Lothian Mines Park
The Mid-Lothian Mines Park is in the heart of Midlothian’s coal mining past and is encompassed by the Richmond Coal Basin. Mining in the Midlothian area of the Basin represents the first attempt at . . . — — Map (db m31563) HM
Local Coal Mining in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Outcroppings of coal along the south bank of the James River in what is now Powhatan County were discovered circa 1700. A hunter from the nearby Huguenot settlement, Manakintown, dislodged . . . — — Map (db m31569) HM
Early History of the Grove Shaft
1836-61
The Grove Shaft plunged 625 feet and took workmen three years to dig. The Wooldridges employed 150 men and boys. Twenty-five mules stabled underground pulled coal carts on an underground railroad. . . . — — Map (db m31570) HM
The Mid-Lothian African Church
Near the Grove Shaft, 54 free blacks, slaves and six white males at the Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Company started the Mid-Lothian African Church on February 8, 1846. Assisted by the company the 60 member . . . — — Map (db m31571) HM
Coal Mining Chronology in Chesterfield
1835 Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Company is chartered.
1836 The Company organizes with 3,000 shares valued at $100 each with 1,000 shares being sold to raise $100,000 capital. The Wooldridge family . . . — — Map (db m31572) HM
On this site stood Salisbury, built in the eighteenth century as a hunting lodge. Here Patrick Henry lived during his fourth and fifth term as Governor of Virginia. The Confederate General Edward Johnson lived here in his later years and died here. — — Map (db m46894) HM
Nearby stood Salisbury, built during the middle portion of the 18th century. It was a one-and-a-half-story frame house that had two asymmetrical brick chimneys. Patrick Henry leased Salisbury from Thomas Mann Randolph and lived there while he was . . . — — Map (db m19042) HM
Kautz's Cavalry Raid in Chesterfield
In May 1864, Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler landed the Army of the James in Bermuda Hundred. He made movements toward Petersburg but was turned back by Confederate resistance at Port Walthall Junction . . . — — Map (db m238314) HM
Some 500 feet beyond this point along both sides of Salisbury Road, roadbed remains of the Heath Gravity Railroad are visible. The railroad ran through this area from 1838 until approximately 1850. It was used to transport coal mined from the . . . — — Map (db m46893) HM
The Schofield House was located north of Midlothian Turnpike, State Route 60, in northwestern Chesterfield County and had been owned since its construction in 1914 by members of the Watkins family. This portion of the Watkins family moved to . . . — — Map (db m170049) HM
This was the home of Lt. John Trabue, Revolutionary War soldier and patriot, and of his descendants well into the 20th century. Trabue witnessed the surrender of the British forces at Yorktown in 1781 and later became an original member of the . . . — — Map (db m19014) HM
On the first day of Union Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz's second raid (12-17 May 1864) on Confederate railroads around Richmond, 3,000 cavalrymen rode northwest from Bermuda Hundred and passed Chesterfield Court House at 1:00 P.M. Arriving about . . . — — Map (db m19045) HM
Winfree Memorial Baptist Church, constituted in 1852 as Jerusalem Baptist Church, originally stood to the west on Buckingham Pike. In September 1881, to better serve the coal mining community, the frame structure was rolled here on logs. On 3 Feb. . . . — — Map (db m35994) HM
Pastor William Hickman and about 30 people founded Skinquarter Baptist Church in 1778. The first meetinghouse was located east of the church's cemetery. Hickman moved to Kentucky in 1784 and was an early Baptist leader there. Due to anti-missionary . . . — — Map (db m28921) HM
Formerly Spring Creek Church. Organized, July 25, 1790. Benjamin Watkins, founder and first pastor, 1790-1831. Located four miles northwest, 1790-1855. Then four miles southwest, 1855-1897. Moved to this location, 1897.
Home church of Nannie . . . — — Map (db m31545) HM
Bethlehem Baptist Church, first known as Cox's Meeting House and then Spring Creek Church, was formally organized several miles northwest of here in 1790. Founding pastor Benjamin Watkins served for 41 years. African Americans constituted a . . . — — Map (db m170046) HM
On 26 Feb. 1921, Delta Omega became the first graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. chartered on the East Coast, the fourth graduate chapter in the U.S., and the first Greek-letter organization at Virginia Normal and Industrial . . . — — Map (db m224396) HM
Mattoax was located to the south on the Appomattox River. John Randolph, Sr., built a house there in the 1770s that burned after 1810; it was the boyhood home of his son, John Randolph of Roanoke. Mattoax also was the residence of St. George Tucker, . . . — — Map (db m19637) HM
You are standing in the middle of the Union line that faced the Confederate route of attack up the Richmond Turnpike on May 9, 1864, during Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Here, along Swift Creek, elements of Butler's Army . . . — — Map (db m173113) HM
The Bermuda Hundred Campaign began on May 5, 1864, when Union General Benjamin Butler and the 33,000-man Army of the James landed at Bermuda Hundred nine miles northeast of here. General Butler's westward advance threatened Drewry's Bluff and . . . — — Map (db m14635) HM
Here the Army of the James, moving on Petersburg, May 9, 1864, was checked by the Confederate defenses on the creek and turned northward. — — Map (db m173114) HM
The little white chapel that stood here was built by soldiers of the garrison and held 150 people. Different ministers came from Richmond each week to preach. A small burial ground was located just 50 yards beyond the chapel—a reminder that . . . — — Map (db m37025) HM
After the repulse of the Union Navy on May 15, 1862, Drewry’s Bluff became famous as a tangible symbol of Confederate resistance. Work crews made up of impressed slave labor continued construction of the fort, eventually completing a four-sided, . . . — — Map (db m55349) HM
By 1863 the Drewry’s Bluff post expanded into a military city. Hundreds of Confederate soldiers, sailors, and Marines camped on these grounds. The Confederate States Naval Academy held classes in buildings and aboard the side-wheeled steamer CSS . . . — — Map (db m46891) HM
Built before 1732 by Henry Cary, this was the home of Colonel Archibald Cary, a Revolutionary leader of Virginia. The house was moved, 1929-30, to its present location off Cary Street Road in Richmond's West End. — — Map (db m24997) HM
May 15, 1862 When Federal gunboats round the bend, they enter a shooting gallery. Confederate soldiers and marines along the riverbanks rake the decks with musket fire. These batteries, ninety feet above the water, are perched too high for . . . — — Map (db m14897) HM
From this point the Confederates, on May 16, 1864, moved to attack the Union Army of the James under Butler advancing northward on Richmond. — — Map (db m14893) HM
Around the turn of the 20th century, James Bellwood, an agriculturalist and the owner of this property set aside a few acres to be used as a wooded preserve and imported a pair of elk from Yosemite National Park and Washington State. The elk became . . . — — Map (db m73984) HM
“Drewry’s Bluff, at least for the present, is the headquarters of the Corps, and I may consequently reasonably expect to stay here for some time at least.”
Henry Lea Graves, 1862
From 1862 to 1865, the training of . . . — — Map (db m55347) HM
Archibald Cary established an iron forge on the south bank of Falling Creek in 1750. The Chesterfield forge, as it was known, converted pig iron into bar iron. Initially unprofitable and shut down, the forge would be restarted and become . . . — — Map (db m101039) HM
The history associated with Falling Creek Park spans more than 400 years. Numerous industries existed along the creek from the 17th to the early 20th century.
The earliest industry that existed at this location was the first iron furnace . . . — — Map (db m101036) HM
The presence of the Confederate bastion here at Drewry’s Bluff was one reason that most of the Civil War action around Richmond occurred north of the James River. Strong earthen fortifications and river obstructions, erected in 1862, effectively . . . — — Map (db m15080) HM
John Smith recalled visiting the Arrohateck Indian capital during a May 1607 expedition led by Christopher Newport. The town was located on the northern shore of the James River opposite of here and was noted on John Smith’s 1612 Map of Virginia. . . . — — Map (db m37032) HM
