An interesting point, certainly further research is required here. “In 1740, the Virginia General Assembly gave the power to William Meriwether and three other "Justices of Hanover" to build a bridge 12 ft. wide from Newcastle over the Pamunkey to King William County—the first bridge to span a tidal river in the thirteen American colonies.” Given the number of references of these two towns in the Virginia Gazette they were both of some note. I’m surprised so little has been written about town that was once two votes short of becoming Virginia's capital, that no longer exists. I'm espically interested in the fact that James Geddy II, silversmith, of Williamsburg, consigned his silver wares to Benneth White at his tavern there at Newcastle and gave notice of such in the gazette, on August 1, 1766, offering, “Any work to be repaired, or new made, by applying and giving directions to Mr. White, may be had at eight or ten days notice.” And being a distance of nearly fifty miles between,
Ron Seagrave
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Nicholls
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 11:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Newcastle, Hanover County, VA
And, if they did build a bridge over the Pamunkey at Newcastle in the 1740's, that would have presumably cut off vessels from making it to Hanovertown about two decades before the latter was chartered by the assembly? Is it possible that Hanovertown was never a port for ocean going vessels? Mick Nicholls
On Jul 28, 2011, at 8:52 AM, Bruce Terrell wrote:
> Sea-going vessels were able to sail to Hanovertown in the 18th c and to
> Newcastle up until the 1830s. There is an interesting article with sketch
> maps in "The Port Towns of the Pamunkey" by Malcom H. Harris. William and
> Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, 2nd Ser., Vol. 23, No. 4. (Oct.,
> 1943), pp. 493-516. I obtained it through JSTOR.
>
> I went up there by john-boat about 8 years ago and it is heavily silted-in.
> Hard to imagine a schooner making it up (much less turning around).
>
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