Just east of here is the last home site and grave of Mathias Harman, Sr. (1736–1832), early explorer, hunter and Revolutionary War veteran. Harman helped establish the first permanent English settlement in eastern Kentucky in 1755. In 1789 he . . . — — Map (db m89746) HM
Bluefield College was chartered in May 1920 as “an institution of learning for the instruction of boys and young men in the various branches of science, literature, philosophy, and the liberal and useful arts.” With strong support from . . . — — Map (db m1824) HM
The place was first known as “Pin Hook.” In 1883 the New River branch of the N. & W. Railroad was completed here and the first coal shipped from the Pocahontas mines. The town of Graham was incorporated in 1884 and named for Thomas . . . — — Map (db m105045) HM
About 300 African Americans, including some who had been born enslaved, were interred here in the "colored section” of Maple Hill Cemetery between the 1890s and the mid-20th century. African Americans had been a significant presence in Tazewell . . . — — Map (db m188246) HM
Tazewell County Va. Area 531 Square Miles. Formed in 1799 from Russell and Wythe, and named for Henry Tazewell, United States Senator, 1794-1799. Beautiful Burk's Garden is in this county.
West Virginia. West Virginia . . . — — Map (db m110080) HM
Erected to the memory of Captain James Moore, a soldier of the Revolution, having commanded a company at Cowpens, Guilford Court House, and Kings Mountain; killed by Indians July 14th, 1786.
To Martha Poague Moore and Jane Moore, . . . — — Map (db m104971) HM
Black Wolf and a group of Shawnee Indians
attacked militia captain James Moore’s nearby
home on 14 July 1786 during a campaign to deter
white settlement of the Ohio Valley region
after the American Revolution. They killed
Moore, children . . . — — Map (db m104966) HM
Known for its fertility and great
natural beauty, the bowl shaped
Burke’s Garden is the highest valley
in Virginia. James Burke discovered
it during the 1740s while hunting and
settled here about 1754. After four
years Burke and his family . . . — — Map (db m44656) HM
Burke’s Garden is named for James Burke who
surveyed the region with James Patton by
1750. According to tradition, Burke buried
some potato peelings in the region’s fertile
soil during a survey expedition. Sometime
later another group camped . . . — — Map (db m44663) HM
On September 30, 1864, Union Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge arrived in Cedar Bluff en route from eastern Kentucky to Saltville, Virginia. Burbridge led an army of 5200 men to raid the small town and capture the important saltworks located there. . . . — — Map (db m191831) HM
Before the railroad, it was the country roads and old turnpikes that brought people to Cedar Bluff. Thanks to hand labor and the strength of oxen, the Norfolk and Western Railway came to Cedar Bluff in 1889. Local residents made extra money by . . . — — Map (db m191837) HM
Here at dawn on 20 July 1863 the Confederate cavalry of Maj. Andrew J. May surprised a
Union raiding party led by Lt. Col. Freeman E.
Franklin. Aroused from its bivouac in Brown’s
Meadow, where it was preparing to burn the
Falls Mill, the Union . . . — — Map (db m90596) HM
During Dunmore’s war (1774) and the
Revolutionary War
(1775–1783) conflicts
between Indians and colonists often intensified
as European powers encouraged Indians from
the Ohio region to attack frontier settlers.
Tensions also sometimes . . . — — Map (db m90654) HM
The Shawver Mill community grew up here around the gristmill that George Shawver built before 1860. William Leffel and Adam Britts soon built sawmills, and the community developed like many in Virginia during the 19th century. By 1911 it sustained a . . . — — Map (db m44808) HM
On the hillside to the west stood Maiden Springs Fort, also known as Reese Bowen’s fort. It was garrisoned in Dunmore’s War, 1774. Reese Bowen, the founder, fought at Point Pleasant, 1774, and was killed at King’s Mountain, 1780. — — Map (db m104951) HM
The first Court for Tazewell County was held June 1800 at the residence of Henry Harman, Jr. The house site is located two tenths of a mile to the northeast. Harman’s grave is to the north. In the same burying ground is the marked grave of his . . . — — Map (db m44646) HM
During the French and Indian War (1754-1763)
and the American Revolution (1775-1783),
European powers encouraged their Indian
allies to attack frontier settlers. Such conflicts
took place as settlers moved into lands that
once were Indian . . . — — Map (db m89775) HM
On the hillside to the south stood Big Crab Orchard Fort, also known as Witten’s Fort. Thomas Witten obtained land here in 1771 and built the fort as a neighborhood place of refuge. It was garrisoned in Dunmore’s War, 1774. — — Map (db m44614) HM
The Reverend John Kobler preached the first sermon by a Methodist in Tazewell County here in 1793 and received eleven members into the church. The church building, constructed on a parcel of land donated by Thomas Peery, was the first church of any . . . — — Map (db m44644) HM
Five miles southwest is Abb’s Valley, discovered by Absalom Looney. James Moore and Robert Poage were the first settlers, about 1770. In July, 1786, Shawnee Indians raided the valley, killing or carrying into captivity the Moore family. Mary (Polly) . . . — — Map (db m1859) HM
This region was visited by the explorer, Dr. Thomas Walker, in 1750. Following a report by Captain I. A. Welch in 1873, the first coal mine was opened here in 1882. Shipment of coal followed in 1883, when the Norfolk and Western Railroad reached . . . — — Map (db m1846) HM
Pocahontas Cemetery was created after the 13
Mar. 1884 explosion in the Pocahontas East Mine
that claimed the lives of at least 14 miners.
Not until a month later were bodies recovered
from the mine and buried together in what
became the town’s . . . — — Map (db m90592) HM
The Southwest Virginia Improvement Company
opened Pocahontas Mine No. 1, the first to
exploit the rich seams of the Pocahontas Coalfield,
in 1882. An extension of the Norfolk and Western
Railway soon followed, bringing industrial development to . . . — — Map (db m104975) HM
The Southwest Virginia Improvement Company
first developed a town at Pocahontas in 1881-82
to house its workers and support its mining
efforts. The commercial district lay along Centre
and St. Clair Streets. The 1884 Company Store,
the first . . . — — Map (db m104979) HM
This fertile region was known as Richlands from an early period. In 1782 and later Richlands was a militia station for frontier defense. The town was laid off in 1890, with the coming of the Norfolk and Western Railroad, and was incorporated in . . . — — Map (db m104946) HM
Eight miles east is Burke’s Garden, discovered by James Burke in 1749. Major Lewis’s expedition against the Indians, 1756, camped there, and Burke’s fort was there in 1774. In 1781 Indians raided into Burke’s Garden, carrying off the wife and . . . — — Map (db m44669) HM
To the north stood Rocky Dell, the home of Samuel Tynes. In July 1863, during the Civil War, Union Col. John T. Toland led a mounted expedition from West Virginia to destroy the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad at Wythesville. The Federals camped . . . — — Map (db m108583) HM
The town was laid off as the county seat, in 1800, when Tazewell County was formed, on land given by William Peery and Samuel Ferguson. First known as Jeffersonville, the name was changed to Tazewell, for Senator Henry Tazewell. Averell was here in . . . — — Map (db m90624) HM
On the hillside to the north stood Wynne’s Fort. A settlement was made here as early as 1752. Some years later William Wynne obtained land here and built a neighborhood fort. After 1776 the state government built a fort and garrisoned it. — — Map (db m90625) HM
