Pocahontas Island, Virginia
Encyclopedia
Pocahontas Island, Virginia is a peninsula located on the north side of the Appomattox River
within the limits of what is now Petersburg, Virginia
. There is evidence of prehistoric Native American settlement dating from 6500 BCE. The area is more recently notable as the first predominately free black settlement in the state and, by mid-19th century, one of the largest in the nation. In 1860 half of Petersburg's population was black, and one-third of those people were free (3,224 people), constituting the largest free black population of the time.
In 1975 residents secured renewed residential zoning to protect their neighborhoods from industrial development. The Pocahontas Island Historic District
is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP).
community dated to 6500 BC has been found on the island. This is at the beginning of the Middle Archaic Period (6500 BC to 3000 BC) or end of Early Archaic Period (8000 BC to 6500 BC)
When English colonists first arrived in Virginia in 1607, the island was within the territory of the Appomattoc
tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy. English colonial settlement started on the peninsula in the 18th century. Some of the first enslaved
Africans were brought here in 1732 to work in John Bolling
's tobacco
warehouses. Surveyors platted the land in 1749, and settlers named the village Wittontown. When formally organized as a town in 1752, it was renamed Pocahontas
after the Native American
daughter of Powhatan
, important to colonial history.
In 1757 Petersburg built a bridge to link the peninsula to the city. In the early years a board of trustees managed the "island" and its development. Incorporated within the city limits in 1784, the Pocahontas Island neighborhood was often neglected afterward by city government, more concerned with development in white areas.
Nonetheless, the neighborhood became the center of a large free black residential community, the oldest in the nation and a beacon to free blacks in the state. They developed a commercial center in this area as well. One of the first black congregations was known here as the Sandy River Baptist Church, which later moved into the center of Petersburg and built the Gillfield Baptist Church
. The growth of industrial jobs attracted free blacks to Petersburg; it was also a place where artisans and craftsmen could make a living. Other men worked as boatmen and fishermen on the river.
Numerous antebellum houses exist. Two surviving houses were linked to the Underground Railroad
before the American Civil War
: the Jarratt House, 808-810 Logan Street, and 215 Witten Street, informally called the Underground Railroad House. By 1860, the city's population was half black - of those, one-third were free. It was the largest free black population by 1860.
Archaeological evidence has been found relating to this period of majority black residency, as well as of industrial activity. For instance, researchers found remains of a depot of the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, a building 30 feet by 300 feet. It was important for use in transport of Confederate troops during the American Civil War
.
Employment cycles after the war continued to affect less educated blacks more severely. It took decades for the city to rebuild after the American Civil War
. Increasing industrialization provided continued opportunities for blacks, even though the white-dominated Virginia legislature imposed racial segregation
and disfranchisement
in the late 19th century. Blacks created their own opportunities.
In the 20th century, the more ambitious and younger people tended to leave the island (and many southern states) for other opportunities. The Great Migration
to northern industrial cities, starting about World War I, is the time Islanders refer to as "when they lost the 'cream of the crop', with the majority of the remaining population being elderly retirees who sustain themselves on small fixed incomes." The neighborhood shared economic troubles with the city, which lost jobs to other areas and increasingly to Richmond. The capital became the region's and state's financial center.
In 1971 the Petersburg city government rezoned some of the island for light industrial use. This caused the homes of 250 residents to be threatened with condemnation
, making it impossible for owners to get financing for renovations. In 1975 residents won a battle to restore residential zoning. Allied groups began to survey and document the many historic properties. The Pocahontas Island Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places
because of its abundance of archaeological sites from prehistory through historic times, and of numerous antebellum buildings marking its history as a free black community.
A 1993 tornado
severely damaged some houses. By the late 20th century, the population had declined to fewer than 100 on the island from a high of 1700 earlier.
and the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP).
Appomattox River
The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long, in central and eastern Virginia in the United States, named for the Appomattocs Indian tribe who lived along its lower banks in the 17th century...
within the limits of what is now Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
. There is evidence of prehistoric Native American settlement dating from 6500 BCE. The area is more recently notable as the first predominately free black settlement in the state and, by mid-19th century, one of the largest in the nation. In 1860 half of Petersburg's population was black, and one-third of those people were free (3,224 people), constituting the largest free black population of the time.
In 1975 residents secured renewed residential zoning to protect their neighborhoods from industrial development. The Pocahontas Island Historic District
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(NRHP).
History
Archaeological evidence of a prehistoric Native AmericanIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
community dated to 6500 BC has been found on the island. This is at the beginning of the Middle Archaic Period (6500 BC to 3000 BC) or end of Early Archaic Period (8000 BC to 6500 BC)
When English colonists first arrived in Virginia in 1607, the island was within the territory of the Appomattoc
Appomattoc
The Appomattoc were a historic tribe of Virginia Indians speaking an Algonquian language, and residing along the lower Appomattox River, in the area of what is now Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Chesterfield and Dinwiddie Counties in present-day southeast Virginia.The Appomattoc were affiliated...
tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy. English colonial settlement started on the peninsula in the 18th century. Some of the first enslaved
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
Africans were brought here in 1732 to work in John Bolling
John Bolling
Major John Fairfax Bolling was a colonist, farmer, and politician in the Virginia Colony. He was the son of Colonel Robert Bolling and Jane Bolling...
's tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
warehouses. Surveyors platted the land in 1749, and settlers named the village Wittontown. When formally organized as a town in 1752, it was renamed Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
after the Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
daughter of Powhatan
Powhatan
The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
, important to colonial history.
In 1757 Petersburg built a bridge to link the peninsula to the city. In the early years a board of trustees managed the "island" and its development. Incorporated within the city limits in 1784, the Pocahontas Island neighborhood was often neglected afterward by city government, more concerned with development in white areas.
Nonetheless, the neighborhood became the center of a large free black residential community, the oldest in the nation and a beacon to free blacks in the state. They developed a commercial center in this area as well. One of the first black congregations was known here as the Sandy River Baptist Church, which later moved into the center of Petersburg and built the Gillfield Baptist Church
Gillfield Baptist Church (Petersburg, Virginia)
Gillfield Baptist Church is the second-oldest black congregation in Petersburg, Virginia, and one of the oldest in the nation. It has the oldest handwritten record book of any black church. It was organized in 1797 as a separate, integrated congregation. In 1818 it built its first church at its...
. The growth of industrial jobs attracted free blacks to Petersburg; it was also a place where artisans and craftsmen could make a living. Other men worked as boatmen and fishermen on the river.
Numerous antebellum houses exist. Two surviving houses were linked to the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
: the Jarratt House, 808-810 Logan Street, and 215 Witten Street, informally called the Underground Railroad House. By 1860, the city's population was half black - of those, one-third were free. It was the largest free black population by 1860.
Archaeological evidence has been found relating to this period of majority black residency, as well as of industrial activity. For instance, researchers found remains of a depot of the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, a building 30 feet by 300 feet. It was important for use in transport of Confederate troops during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Employment cycles after the war continued to affect less educated blacks more severely. It took decades for the city to rebuild after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Increasing industrialization provided continued opportunities for blacks, even though the white-dominated Virginia legislature imposed racial segregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
and disfranchisement
Disfranchisement
Disfranchisement is the revocation of the right of suffrage of a person or group of people, or rendering a person's vote less effective, or ineffective...
in the late 19th century. Blacks created their own opportunities.
In the 20th century, the more ambitious and younger people tended to leave the island (and many southern states) for other opportunities. The Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
to northern industrial cities, starting about World War I, is the time Islanders refer to as "when they lost the 'cream of the crop', with the majority of the remaining population being elderly retirees who sustain themselves on small fixed incomes." The neighborhood shared economic troubles with the city, which lost jobs to other areas and increasingly to Richmond. The capital became the region's and state's financial center.
In 1971 the Petersburg city government rezoned some of the island for light industrial use. This caused the homes of 250 residents to be threatened with condemnation
Condemnation
Condemnation or condemned may refer to:*a strongly worded rebuke* Damnation, the antithesis of salvationIn other contexts, it may also refer to:-Historical:...
, making it impossible for owners to get financing for renovations. In 1975 residents won a battle to restore residential zoning. Allied groups began to survey and document the many historic properties. The Pocahontas Island Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
because of its abundance of archaeological sites from prehistory through historic times, and of numerous antebellum buildings marking its history as a free black community.
A 1993 tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
severely damaged some houses. By the late 20th century, the population had declined to fewer than 100 on the island from a high of 1700 earlier.
Recognition
Because of its significant resources, ranging from prehistoric to historic, the Pocahontas Island Historic District is listed on both the Virginia Landmarks RegisterVirginia Landmarks Register
The Virginia Landmarks Register is a list of historic properties in the state of Virginia. The state's official list of important historic sites, it was created in 1966. The Register serves the same purpose as the National Register of Historic Places...
and the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(NRHP).
External links
- Pocahontas Island and Museum, Flickr