NO.    4       INDIAN    SITES    ON    THE    RAPPAHANNOCK BUSHNELL  5/ 
occupancy.  Some  vessels  had  been  decorated  with  a  roulette,  and 
other  shards  are  similar  to  the  three  illustrated  on  the  right,  second 
row,  in  plate  13.  As  a  whole  the  pottery  from  this  area  differs  from 
that  discovered  at  Pissaseck,  but  resembles  much  of  the  ware  found 
at  Nandtanghtacund  and  at  sites  fartlicr  up  the  Rappahannock  beyond 
the  falls. 
Taliaferro  Mount 
Again  referring  to  the  aerial  photograph  of  the  region,  plate  16, 
Taliaferro  Mount  is  on  the  right  bank,  heavily  timbered,  immediately 
above  the  white  arrow  which  is  pointing  downstream.  The  mount  rises 
abruptly  from  the  water  and  is  rather  steep  on  the  north,  but  slopes 
gradualh'  to  the  south  and  west.  This  commanding  spot  was  evidently 
occupied  by  the  house  of  Robert  Taliaferro,  the  same  to  which  Lederer 
referred  when  he  wrote :" 
On  the  twentieth  of  August  1670,  Col.  Catlet  of  Virginia  and  my  self,  with 
nine  English  horse,  and  five  Indians  on  foot,  departed  from  the  house  of  one 
Robert  Talifer,  and  that  night  reached  the  falls  of  Rappahanock  river  in  Indian 
Mantapciick. 
A  few  years  later  Beverley  mentioned  "  "  ToUvcrs  Mount,  upon 
Rappahannock  River  ",  as  one  of  the  elevations  from  which  he  had 
"  view'd  the  Country  all  around  over  the  Tops  of  the  highest  Trees, 
for  many  Leagues  together."  It  was  evidently  a  place  of  renown  and 
had  been  frequented  by  the  Indians  long  before  the  coming  of  the 
colonists. 
John  Fontaine,  who  accompanied  Governor  Spotswood  on  his 
journey  to  the  mountains  during  the  summer  of  1716,  left  Williams- 
burg November  9,  171 5,  for  the  German  settlements  on  the  Rappa- 
hannock above  the  falls.'^  Three  days  later  they  reached  the  home  of 
Robert  Beverley,  "  this  Beverley  is  the  same  that  made  the  History 
of  Virginia."  There  they  remained  until  the  19th,  and  that  day.  so 
the  journal  continued  :  "  About  three  we  came  to  a  place  upon  Rappa- 
hannock River,  called  Taliaferro's  Mount,  from  whence  we  had  a 
feeble  view  of  the  Appalachian  ]\Tountains,  and  a  fine  view  of  the 
river,  which  is  navigable  for  large  ships  and  has  several  fine  islands 
"Lederer,  John,  The  discoveries  of  .  .  .  Begun  in  March  1669,  and  ended  in 
September   1670.    London,   1672.    Reprint   1902. 
"■  Beverley,  Robert,  The  iiistory  and  present  state  of  Virginia,  book  2,  pp. 
11-12,  London,  1705. 
"'Journal  of  John  Fontaine.  In  Memoirs  of  a  Huguenot  family,  by  Ann  Maury. 
New  York,  1853. 
