Colonial Virginia

Colonial Virginia
African American, Businesses, Colonial Virginia, Craftsmen, Education, Games, George Washington, Holidays, Jamestown, Kids Homework Help, Medicine, Recipes, Slavery, Teacher Resources, Virginia History, Virginia history for kids, Virginia Johnson, Williamsburg
03/15/2010 - 10:56am

What was it like to live long ago when Virginia belonged to England? When there were no cars, no computers, no hospitals and no public schools?

Without cars, trains or airplanes, people traveled by boat, horseback or on foot by "shank's mare". The reason so many colonial towns were located next to rivers is that often the roads were terrible seas of mud. It was so much easier to travel on the rivers!

Great Lives Series: Booker T. Washington
LibraryPoint Blog, Reading Room Blog, 20th century, African American, Autobiography and Biography, Education, Great Lives series, Reconstruction era, Slavery, Virginia History, Virginia Johnson, History Blog
02/03/2010 - 9:55am

Born a slave in Franklin County, Virginia, Booker T. (Taliaferro) Washington went on to become a nationally-known leader and educator. He shared his educational philosophy with U.S. presidents and served as the first president of Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University.

Historic Government Island to Become a Park
LibraryPoint Blog, 18th century, 19th century, Aquia Church, Architecture, Buildings, D.C., Quarries, Slavery, Stafford County (Va.), Virginia History, Virginia Johnson, Washington, History Blog
12/18/2009 - 12:42pm

The new 17-acre park, located in northern Stafford County near Aquia Harbor, will become part of the county's own park system when it opens next year. Government Island is historically significant as the source of Aquia sandstone, used in such structures as the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Aquia Church, Gunston Hall, Kenmore, and Christ Church in Alexandria. In 2002, the House passed a resolution recognizing the historical significance of Aquia sandstone quarries on Government Island.

Marlborough Point: In the Stream of History
LibraryPoint Blog, 18th century, American Revolution, Civil War - U.S., Colonial Virginia, fossils, French and Indian War, Genealogy, History Feature Articles, Marlborough Point, Mercer family, Natural World, Powhatan Indians, Regional, Stafford County (Va.), Virginia History, Virginia Johnson, History Blog
12/09/2009 - 11:41am

Follow Marlborough Point Road down to the eastern tip of Stafford County, and you will pass by lots of new housing mushrooming into the forests and fields that were once favored by both the Native Americans and colonial settlers.  This section of the county is home to not just centuries of local history but millennia.

Toll Bridge Across the Rappahannock
18th century, 19th century, Battle of Fredericksburg, Bridges, Businesses, Depressions - United States - 1929-1933, History Feature Articles, King's Highway, Northern Neck, Old Indian Trail, Rappahannock River, Regional, Roy Butler, Seafood, Virginia History
11/03/2009 - 4:19pm

 Fredericksburg bridge toll token with cost given of eight centsSince the body of water known as the Rappahannock River separated two important areas of commerce and trade, it had, of course, to be crossed constantly. The Indians had their canoes and the early settlers had their boats and ferries. The first bridge was built about 1800 and was referred to as Scott's Bridge.

John Francis Mercer of Stafford County: A Neglected Patriot: Captain of the 3rd Virginia; Anti-Federalist at the Constitutional Convention; Governor of Maryland, 1801-03
1800-1809, 1810s, 18th century, American Revolution, Anti-Federalist, Colonial Virginia, Continental Congress, Founding Fathers, History Feature Articles, Jeffrey Garth Edmunds, Marlborough Point, Stafford County (Va.), Virginia History
11/02/2009 - 3:08pm

The Central Rappahannock region produced many of the men who led the fight for independence and fashioned the new American nation. Some are remembered, and afforded their due. Some, like John Francis Mercer, are not remembered -- but should be….

Thomas Jefferson and Slavery
American Revolution, Lunch with History, Slavery, Thomas Jefferson, History Blog
11/02/2009 - 1:50pm

By Sue Willis, CRRL Staff

From the Central Rappahannock Regional Library

Notes on the State of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson.
The only book that Jefferson wrote was undertaken as a matter-of-fact commentary on the resources and institutions of Virginia and developed into one of the more thoughtful books of the time. His cherished goals were the emancipation of slavery in Virginia and the reformation of Virginia's constitution. However, some of the ideas in his Notes are in opposition to these goals, giving creedence to Jefferson's reputation as a conflicted man. It should be noted that the Notes were written in 1781, and Jefferson did try to improve the slaves' lot before his death in 1826.

Colonial Wild Pig
Archaeology, Caroline Street, Colonial Virginia, Food, History, History Feature Articles, Hunting, Roy Butler, Virginia History
10/29/2009 - 12:20pm

This article first appeared in the Fredericksburg Times magazine. It was later rebound with a collection of other articles on archaelogy by Mr. Butler and others as the book, Fredericksburg Underground. It is reprinted here with Mrs. Elizabeth Butler's permission.

The Beginning, Progress, and Conclusion of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, In the Years 1675 and 1676
1670s, Bacon's Rebellion, Colonial Virginia, Dispatches, Jamestown, Pamunkey, Rappahannock River, Stafford County (Va.), Virginia History
10/29/2009 - 12:15pm

By T.M., a planter and representative from Stafford County

But to return from this digression, the Susquehanoughs were newly driven from their habitations, at the head of Chesepiack bay, by the Cineca Indians, down to the head of Potomack, where they sought protection under the Pascataway Indians, who had a fort near the head of that river, and also were our ffriends.

A Fugitive from Persecution
African American, Antebellum Virginia, Dispatches, George Boxley, Punishments, Runaways, Slavery, Spotsylvania County (Va.), Underground Railroad, Virginia History
10/29/2009 - 12:01pm

From A History of Hamilton County, Indiana

At Spottsylvania, Va., prior to the war of 1812, lived a wealthy and influential citizen, George BOXLEY. He was a man of strong character, and, when he believed himself to be right, he was immovable. By honest toil, he had acquired his wealth, and, at the time of which we write, was the proprietor of a saw-mill, grist-mill and "carding-gin" or woolen-mill, all three being operated under one roof, in a building situated on the bank of one of the streams of Spottsylvania County. Like many persons of means in those days, he possessed a number of slaves, but became impressed with the injustice of the institution and liberated them.