Hi,
The amazing name of Wildwilt's Island appears in various maps until it is subsumed onto the north shore and becomes part of the foreshore of the south bank of the James River. The genesis of Wildwilt's domain is interesting. Various maps of Richmond have names for some of the islands. I've been looking at the patents and the descriptions are precise, but unfortunately "float" in terms of which landforms they are now, assuming that it is currently possible to isolate landform descriptions.
Islands in the James were definitely subject to the varies of flooding and appeared and disappeared as signifiant landforms. Ive managed to isolate about half of my list and after platting them out, MAYBE I will be able to plonk them on a map more or less accurately by reference to advent landowners.
The gap between the mainland and Wildwilt's appears to have been infilled with massive amounts of demolition/destruction debris from the 1865 evaluation fire. That area appears to have been obliterated in the 1980's by construction of the subterranean sewage plant was tot 14th Street.
Notice that there are a lot of ambiguities in my statements. This is because while they are based upon best guess estimates, they are still estimates.
Lyle Browning, RPA
On Aug 22, 2014, at 10:45 AM, "Alyson L. Taylor-White" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello there - in Samuel Mordecai's Richmond in By-Gone Days he described Widewilt Island in the James River at Richmond.
> It was created after a big freeze created what was described as a floating island.
> Widewilt "drove stakes all round his slippery domain, and wattled them so that future freshets might add further deposits; and thus Widesilt's Island became a possession of some value as a fishery and sand mart. The island remained above water longer than its founder did above ground; but a similar accident to that which formed the island recurred, and destroyed the work of its predessor."
> Alyson L. Taylor-White
>
> On Aug 21, 2014, at 9:11 PM, Lyle E. Browning wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> A bunch of us are working on the early history of the James River canal and in doing so, the patents have been found and platted and most of the successor outparcel sales. I just did a search for Henrico from 1750-1870 patents and came up with 25 or so patents for "in the river" patents. Once I've corralled the plats, I will be attempting to place them on modern maps.
>>
>> My question is whether there is a handy list of what islands were named in that area in the past? Mayo's Island, Belle Island with its variants, Williams Island with its variants, but there are undoubtedly others. Any help from anyone with a name, whether placed to a particular island or not, would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>>
>> Lyle Browning
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> Alyson L. Taylor-White
> 804-920-2783
>
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