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Planning & Information Systems
Richmond Regional
PDC Richmond, VA 23235 Phone: 804.323.2033 Fax: 804.323.2025
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
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Fort Pocahontas/Kennon's Landing/Sherwood Forest President John Tyler's Home
V-34 FORT POCAHONTAS: "South of here, on a bluff overlooking the James River, stands the half-mile-long Fort Pocahontas, built in the spring of 1864 by Union soldiers during the Civil War. The fort protected Union vessels on the river and guarded the landing at Wilson's Wharf. Commanded by Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild and manned by the 1st and 10th Regiments of U.S. Colored Troops and two guns of Battery M. 3d N. Y. Light Artillery, the 1,500-man garrison beat back assaults by 2,500 cavalrymen under the Confederate Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee on 24 May 1864. It was the only Civil War battle in Virginia in which nearly all the Union troops were black."
V-35 KENNON'S LANDING: "Located 1 1/2 miles south on the James River is Kennon's Landing. Richard Kennon married Anne Hunt about 1735 and lived there until his death in 1761. Anne Hunt's father was Captain William Hunt whose father William Hunt, a supporter of Nathaniel Bacon, is buried directly across the bay at Bachelor Point. The colonial government of Virginia opened a tobacco warehouse and inspection station at the landing in 1742. Hogsheads of tobacco were weighed, inspected for quality, and stored for shipment there. During the Revolutionary War, on 4 Jan. 1781, American-turned-British Gen. Benedict Arnold landed some of his troops at Kennon's and others at Westover, then marched to Richmond."
V-36 SHERWOOD FOREST PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER'S HOME: "John Tyler purchased this plantation one mile west in his native Charles City in 1842 while serving as tenth president of the United States, and made it his home from 1845 until his death in 1862. Tyler lengthened the wooden 18th century house to over 300 feet long, thereby creating the longest frame house in America. Before becoming president, Tyler had served Virginia as congressman, governor, U.S. senator and vice-president. He served as president of the Washington Peace Conference in Feb. 1861; both sides occupied his Sherwood Forest property during the Civil War. Sherwood Forest, a National Historic Landmark, remains the home of Tyler's descendants." |
