Markers of History

Colonial Parkway mark­ers
York River

Location: Colonial National Historic Pkwy, Yorktown, VA 23691

Visited: July 4, 12:00 noon

Transcription of marker: Known to the Indians as the Pamunkey, the colonists named it first Charles and then York, both in honor of the Duke of York. While only 26 miles in length, the tidal waters of the York River flow over the deep­est nat­ural chan­nel of any Chesapeake Bay tributary.

My impres­sions: There is a lot of over­lap in the con­tent of this marker and the “Z marker” for York County we found ear­lier in the day, in the his­tory of the York River. This marker, though, extends the his­tory back before Europeans arrived and includes the sci­ence tid­bits about the length and depth of the river. (And my apolo­gies for the qual­ity of the photo; the text is blur­rier than I would have liked.)

State Historical Marker
Virginia K-311
James River

Location: Just S of the James River Bridge on the E side of US 17/US 258/Carrollton Blvd, Carrollton, VA 23314

Visited: July 4, 2009, 10:15am

Transcription of marker: The James River flows about 340 miles from the junc­tion of the Jackson and Cowpasture rivers in Botetourt County to Hampton Roads at the Chesapeake Bay. In 1607 the first per­ma­nent English set­tle­ment in the New World was estab­lished on its banks at Jamestown. The colonists used the river as a path for explo­ration. With mod­ern cities and ship­yards as well as ancient plan­ta­tions lin­ing its banks, the James River remains one of Virginia’s most impor­tant nat­ural resources.

Department of Historic Resources, 1991

My impres­sions: On pre­vi­ous trips (which were all south­bound), we had seen the marker about the time we flew past it on the other side of the road, so this time, my wife was alert to find it (or, at least, a place to pull off the road before we reached the bridge, head­ing north). She cor­rectly guessed which signs were point­ing to a place to park, and was slow­ing down even before I spot­ted the marker.

There is some­thing about the James River. My wife has men­tioned to me a few times how, on her vis­its to my home­town, she found the Ottawa River sim­i­lar to the James. And now, I think I can see the sim­i­lar­i­ties. Both are fairly wide rivers (though the James, espe­cially at this point, is wider) and it can be miles between cross­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. And, look­ing at this marker, the Ottawa held an impor­tant role in Canada’s explo­ration at a sim­i­lar era (in fact, Samuel de Champlain is reputed to have lost his astro­labe near Cobden, ON in 1613).

Notes for future snar­fers: This is one marker you have to be pre­pared for, because you are mov­ing too quickly to stop in time once you’ve seen it (and it’s a long drive if you miss it, head­ing north and have to cross the whole bridge again). You’ll want to watch for signs for the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries area, called Ragged Island and use its park­ing lot. The marker is just S of the park­ing lot entrance.

Markeroni sta­tus: Logged.

Path of History
The Elizabeth River

Location: Elizabeth River, at the High St ferry land­ing, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 3:20pm

Transcription of marker: The Elizabeth River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay, runs between the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk. The river was named “Elizabeth” in honor of Princess Elizabeth Stuart, the eldest daugh­ter of King James I of England.

The river was first called “Chesapeake,” after the tribe of Native Americans who lived on its banks. They were an Algonquin-speaking peo­ple who depended on the land and water for exis­tence. When John Smith explored the east­ern area in 1608, he saw their “golden plots” and other indi­ca­tions of Native American habitation.

My impres­sions: I can get all caught up in the dif­fer­ences between Canadian and American his­tory that I can some­times for­get about the sim­i­lar­i­ties. And as I come to the end of the pho­tos from this trip to Portsmouth (a city with a name that would be at home in England), along a river named for Elizabeth (ditto), and pre­pare to cross back to a city named Norfolk (ditto), this (espe­cially cou­pled with the pho­tos you’ll see in today’s bonus third post) reminded me that we share a lot of his­tory from before our paths diverged.

Markeroni sta­tus: When Path of History data entry is com­plete, I’ll be log­ging this visit on Markeroni.