Contributed report

On Sunday, June 22,  the Powhatan County Historical Society held its annual picnic at Mosby Tavern, the home of Dr. and Mrs. Donald Sanders. Approximately 60 people witnessed the unveiling of an historic marker which commemorates the site of Powhatan’s first Courthouse in 1777.

The marker, which is the second one erected by the society, (the first was unveiled at Muddy Creek School last year) is located at the intersection of Route 60 and Old Tavern Road.

The text of the sign details the history of the tavern, which records show was operated by Benjamin Mosby as early as 1741 in what was then Goochland County.

The tavern would serve as the Cumberland County courthouse before the formation of Powhatan County in 1777, and would actually serve both counties for a time.

The site, referred to by George Washington as “Cumberland Old Courthouse,” was a major staging area for Continental Army troops. The Cumberland Resolutions, “one of the earliest calls for independence issued in the colonies,” were also composed there.

“After Yorktown,” the marker reads, “troops of the Virginia Continental Line, ill-equipped, ill-fed, unpaid and nearly mutinous, marched from here to the Southern Campaign of 1782..While there they participated with valor and success in the final engagements of our war for independence.”

The site, a Virginia Historic Landmark, is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places