Hallowed Heritage: The Life of VirginiaTorpey, Dorothy Margaret
History
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia
Torpey, Dorothy Margaret
Virginia -- Civilization
In 1722, Williamsburg, the capital of Colonial Virginia (1699-1780),
became the first incorporated municipality in Virginia. It became
the leading political, economic, educational and social center of
the colony, especially during legislative sessions. Eight years
after Williamsburg had been incorporated, William Parks arrived
there as a public printer. He set up the first permanent printing
press in Virginia and approximately six years later, Virginia's
first colonial newspaper, the "Virginia Gazette," was printed.
Colonel Robert Carter, President of the Council, succeeded Governor
Drysdale in July 1726. Carter was a very wealthy man whose land
holdings--300,000 acres total--were second in Virginia only to the
Fairfaxes. Because of his enormous wealth and arrogant manner, he
was nicknamed "King" Carter.
In 1728, William Byrd II was the leader of a survey group
which followed the Virginia-North Carolina borderline from the
Atlantic Ocean two hundred and forty miles westward. This action
provided Virginians with knowledge of the type of terrain and its
potentiality along this important borderline.
It was in the period 1730-1760 that a majority of the beautiful
brick and stone plantation mansions were constructed. The wealthy
families preferred the country-side. Some of the mansions built at
this time included Westover (William Byrd family), Stratford Hall
(Thomas Lee family), Ampthill (Archibald Cary family), Carter's
Grove (Robert Carter Burwell family) and Mount Airy (John Tayloe
family).
Sir William Gooch was acting chief executive of Virginia for
twenty-two years, 1727-1749. His greatest project during this period
was the development of settlements in the Shenandoah Valley. At the
beginning of the Eighteenth Century, some Scotch-Irish, Germans
and French Huguenots settled in Virginia. The Scotch-Irish had
migrated first to Pennsylvania and to New Jersey. Upon hearing about
the beautiful valley seen by Governor Spotswood, they decided to
settle there. Their main settlement was located in the area now
included in the Winchester and Staunton areas and in the counties of
Augusta and Rockbridge. It became so densely populated with people
originally from Northern Ireland that it was called the "Irish
Tract." Later, additional Scots direct from Scotland migrated here
in large numbers. Germans had already migrated in large numbers to
Germanna, the mining town. The French Huguenot immigrants settled
mainly along both sides of the James River at Manakintown. Thus,
the Shenandoah Valley and the area beyond the Blue Ridge and the
Allegheny Mountains were colonized primarily by the Scotch-Irish,
German, and French Huguenots.
Two years later, the Quakers organized a church at Hopewell which is
the oldest church in northern Virginia. Six years later, the oldest
Lutheran church in the South was built in Madison County by some of
the Germans from Germanna. Its financial support originally came
from friends in Germany, and it was called Hebron Church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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