In a message dated 7/10/03 3:11:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> 3 - Packet Boat.  There is a reference to killing and dressing four
> chickens for the packet boat.  Did it serve meals and have sleeping accomodations
> for passengers?  I assume it went between Lynchburg and Richmond.  How long did
> that trip take?
>
>

Randy, I see there have been several responses to your query, but I can't
resist adding a few more bits that may be of interest.

_Lynch's Ferry_ , a journal published by the Lynchburg Historical Foundation,
has in its Spring/Summer 2002 issue an article by Doug Macleod entitled
"Queen of the James River & Kanawha Canal: The Packet Boat Marshall."  In this
article I find that the trip from Lynchburg to Richmond took about thirty-three
hours by packet.  Macleod has done considerable research on the James River
communities in central Virginia and the article is excellent.

Also in _Lynch's Ferry_ is the article "Packet Boat Days on the Canal" by
James M. Elson (see the Spring/Summer 1997 issue).  Elson notes that the vessel
had a dining cabin with galley and bar in addition to a main cabin.  The main
cabin served as sleeping quarters at night, and had a curtain drawn across the
middle of the cabin to separate the men from women.  Triple deck bunks would
be set up at that time for sleeping arrangements.  I suspect there may have
been slight variations on this layout, but the pattern seems to be to have had
dining and sleeping arrangements on the packets.  Elson quotes extensively as
George W. Bagby's reminiscences of being a twelve-year-old traveling by packet
from Richmond to Lynchburg (ca. 1840).

Holly Wilhelm
near Lynchburg

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html