fortifications to protect the capital of the Confederacy between 1861-1865
Source: Thirty five miles around Richmond, Va. Compiled by Jed. Hotchkiss, from the Library of Congrss)
One of Powhatan's sons, Parahunt, was the werowance of a small town between the new settlement at Jamestown and the Fall Line, where travel was blocked by rapids. Christopher Newport explored the site in May, 1607, as described by Gabriel Archer:
Richmond was chosen to be the capital of Virginia in 1780. Having the capital in Richmond has encouraged the growth of that city, especially as the politicians have steered state and Federal funding into financing transportation improvements that would benefit the city. However, a major city had already emerged at the falls of the James after population growth had increased in the Piedmont, and before the capital was moved to Richmond during the Revolutionary War.
The Capitol Building was constructed on the highest elevation west of Shockoe Creek, with a great vista of the James River until the state constructed a high-rise office (the Blanton Building) in 1922. Today you can see the Richmond skyline, but barely a glimpse of the natural river, from the steps of the Capitol.
British attacks up the James River had demonstrated that Williamsburg was not defensible, and the rebellious politicians were at risk in Williamsburg. In fact, Richmond was not much safer - and even Charlottesville was insecure.
In 1781 Lord Cornwallis marched from Charleston, SC to Yorktown, Virginia. Until October, 1781, Cornwallis was unstoppable, and in the process the General Assembly abandoned Richmond and fled towards Governor Thomas Jefferson's home county, Albemarle. That June, Cornwallis' cavalry officer, Banastre Tarleton, led the "Green Dragoons" westward up the "Mountain Road" (Route 33 today) to capture the rebel leaders at Charlottesville. Tarleton would have succeeded, except for Jack Jouett. He was a Virginia patriot (or rebel, depending upon your perspective...) at Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County. He decided to warn Jefferson and the others. Jouett rode across the farmfields and through the back lanes of the Piedmont, staying off the main roads and avoiding British cavalry patrols - the Virginia version of the "ride of Paul Revere.' Jefferson was able to leave just ahead of the British, and the General Assembly reconvened briefly in Staunton.
One expressway connecting Richmond with Chesterfield County is called the Powhite Parkway. You can pronounce Powhite as "pow-hite" or "po-white." The name could be another corruption of the name "Powhatan," or a reference to the blue-collar workers in Southside who lived along the Powhite Creek south of the James River.
In the summer of 2001, an advertising campaign by a bank triggered wide discussion regarding the correct pronunciation of the name. The First Market Bank, controlled by the local Ukrops family, tried to establish its Richmond connections by claiming it knew the correct pronunciation was "Pow-ite Parkway." That's what the Richmond Metropolitan Authority and the Virginia Department of Transportation told them, before the bank erected a large billboard.
Perhaps they were correct, but there was a strong reaction to what appeared to be a politically-correct revision of a traditional place name. The best response was by a columnist in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, who suggested revising the pronunciation of all the grocery stores owned by the family from "U-krops" to "Uk-rops."
