Courtesy of Ruth Doumlele

Powhatan’s Historic Districts

Powhatan’s charm to newcomers lies in its rural/suburban ambiance, its attractive tax rate, its proximity to shopping and entertainment, and the sense of history it exudes. Unlike some other areas that have been stripped of their connection to the past, Powhatan retains areas where reminders of its customs, industry, and religion of a former time may be visualized, if not seen.

The Powhatan Board of Supervisors in 1991 authorized a survey, done by Traceries, Inc., of historic resources in the county, identifying properties and places of historic importance, suggesting further study and proposing ways of protecting them.

Among those places noted were Powhatan’s historic districts, “properties meeting local government criteria for historic architectural, archeological, or cultural interest,” The report recommended several that should be considered, among them Ballsville, Jefferson, Manakin Town, Michaux, Tobaccoville, and Moseley, in addition to two already designated by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and National Register of Historic Places, Fine Creek Mills and Powhatan Courthouse.

The National Register recognition of historically significant districts encourages community effort to preserve the cultural, architectural, and landscape features of an area. It does not restrict owners’ use of property nor does it restrict subdivision or sale.

Powhatan County Article 22 – Historic District, zoning ordinance protects “historic landmarks within Powhatan County by adopting overlay zones delineating historic districts adjacent to specified landmarks, buildings, or structures.” This article provides protection by

restricting, razing, or demolition within the district until the Powhatan Board of Supervisors has reviewed and approved the razing or demolition.

The Districts

In 1996, the C-Span network trailer arrived in Jefferson, as part of a tour to towns named for President Jefferson. Actually, it was named for his father, Peter Jefferson, who owned land in the county. Dr. Robert Buttermark, president of the Powhatan County Historical Society, and Peggy Palmore, its historian, were interviewed on a morning program, live, where they discussed Jefferson’s history.

The town of Jefferson, on a bend of the James River at Solomon’s Creek, was founded in 1794 when the General Assembly authorized Samuel Hyde Saunders to divide thirty acres of his estate into lots, in blocks with streets, to be sold at auction. Here a ferry linked to the canal in Goochland. The James River and Kanawha Canal, built around 1788, had been George Washington’s dream, to extend transportation on the James River west, beyond the falls at Richmond. The canal boats and bateaux carried farmers’ produce, such as cotton and tobacco, to market and the port of Richmond.

Jefferson soon became a trading post with a harness and saddle maker, tailor, shoemaker, and private residences. One of its features was the Jefferson Tavern, a frame building with an English basement, six-inch beaded clapboard and a brick chimney. Inside were beaded chair rails and baseboards. The county required licenses for taverns and “places of private entertainment,” and established charge rates. For example, dinner with a toddy was to cost fifty cents.

By 1880, Jefferson no longer flourished. A bridge had been built across the James River to Goochland and the Richmond-Allegheny Railroad, instead of the river boats, transported goods. The ferry ceased operations. By 1876, two people had become owners of the property in Jefferson, a Mrs. Michaux, who owned 14 lots and J. C. Jordan owned ten lots. After the automobile came into usage and the main roads were improved, Jefferson was “ off the map,” with one dirt road.

Tobaccoville is on Route 13, Old Buckingham Road, near the Powhatan/Cumberland line. A bridge here on the Clement Town Road provided a crossing over the Appomattox River and access to the Clement Mills. Records indicate that the Confederate Army crossed here in April 1865.

Later, this was a tobacco market, operated by Richard Whitlock, whom some referred to as the “King of Tobacco.” A 1956 newspaper account noted that wagons, bringing tobacco in, would come from Christmas to March. They were often lined up for two hundred yards, with rich, dark tobacco. Tobacco barns ran all the way from the road junction to the factory.

Mr. Whitlock bought about 250,000 pounds of tobacco annually, according to the newspaper account. The tobacco leaves were steamed, ordered, re-dried, steamed again, packed in hogsheads, and sent by wagons to Rock Castle in Goochland County and put on a train to go to England. The workers sang while they worked, songs such as “What Can Wash Away My Sins – Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”

Tobaccoville had its own post office, general store, and blacksmith shop.

Between 1880-1890, the narrow gauge railroad from Farmville to Bermuda Hundred transported the tobacco. The railroads stopped running after World War I, and the rails were sent to Europe; the factory operation shut down.

The Farmville and Powhatan Railroad, which had been chartered by the General Assembly, ran through Powhatan to a junction with the Southern Railroad, near the Chesterfield County line. With the need for a post office, railroad yard, shop, siding area, and a water tower to supply water for the engines, the railroad owners purchased land from William Moseley, and the area was called Moseley Junction, later shortened to Moseley. The Farmville and Powhatan (sometimes referred to as the “Faith and Poverty”) narrow tracks were not compatible with the Southern regular gauge tracks, so passengers changed trains here to continue on to Richmond.

The Southern Railroad, later the Norfolk Southern, survived while the tracks of the Farmville and Powhatan, later the Tidewater and Western (nicknamed the Tired and Weary) were taken up and sent to Europe. The Tidewater and Western abutments, which ran over the Southern tracks, and the stone foundation of the old water tower may still be seen in Moseley.

Old Ballsville was established toward the end of the eighteenth century, close to the Powhatan/Cumberland line. It was named for Isham Ball, a relative of George Washington’s mother, and he may have operated the Ballsville Tavern. A tavern differed from an ordinary in that it sold alcohol in quantities less than a gallon and it could be drunk on the premises. An ordinary offered food, drink, and bedding.

The village of new Ballsville, just east of Tobaccoville, was a stopover for people driving cattle and hogs and flocks of turkeys to Richmond. Nearby Deep Creek provided a mode of water travel, since the roads were so bad. Later the train came through, providing different transportation. Mt. Moriah Church, Mrs. Netherland’s Antique Shop, and residences whose architecture still reflects the period, were in the area, as were some of the most important businesses in the county during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Benjamin Wilson Coleman of Ballsville went west, became chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court and had an illustrious career.

The Michaux-Pineville-Maidens area is believed to have been the site of a Monacan Indian village. Indian artifacts have been found in abundance. The French Huguenots later settled there and established a thriving community. The refugee Abraham Michaux built Michaux Grant around 1735, and Alexander Jackson Davis, the architect of the courthouse, designed an addition around 1880.

Pineville had its own post office and voting precinct. Michaux’s Ferry took passengers across the James River to Goochland, first to the canal boats and later to the train depot, operating for nearly two hundred years, until the Michaux-Maidens Bridge was completed in 1914.

Michaux family members; a member of the Continental Congress; a soldier of the American Revolution; and a Civil War soldier killed in April 1865 lie in Michaux Grant Cemetery. The Michaux-St. James Foundation, formed in 1999, works to further the sense of community by caring for the cemetery; maintaining St. James Chapel, an area gathering place; and restoring the adjacent parsonage.

Next: Clayville, Manakin Town, Fine Creek Mills, and Powhatan Courthouse Village