298 



VIRGINIA. 



ihe James River, at City Point. It is a handsome and thriving town, and has a large trade m 

 tobacco and flour. Above the town there are falls, which are applied to manufacturing pur- 

 poses, but below, the river is navigable for vessels of 100 tons. Population, 10,000. Fred- 

 ericksburg is on the south side of Rappahannock river, 1 10 miles above the Chesapeake. The 

 river is navigable for vessels of 130 tons, and the town is surrounded by a fertile country. R 

 is neatly and regularly built, and pleasantly situated. The trade of the place is considerable, 

 Population, 4,000. 



Lynchburg^ on the south side of James River, 100 miles west of Richmond, stands on the 

 slope of a hill, and is surrounded by a broken and mountainous country, abounding in fertile 

 valleys. The town has a great trade in tobacco, and the neighborhood is populous, and well 

 cultivated. Population, 4,000. Williamsburg is situated between York and James's rivers. 

 It was once the capital of the State, and contains the College of William and Mary, a State- 

 house, a court-house, and a State lunatic hospital. The plan of the town is regular, and the 

 principal street is a mile long. The houses are chiefly of wood. York^ or Yorktoivn, on the 

 south side of York River, has an excellent harbor and some trade. It is memorable for the 

 surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army, in 1781. These towns are in a languish- 

 ing condition. 



Mount Vernon, on the western shore of the Potomac. 15 miles from Washington, is worthy 

 of the traveler's attention, as the residence of W^ashington, and the spot which contains his 

 tomb. The mansion still remains, and is a wooden building no way remarkable for its appear- 

 ance. There are handsome lawns and gardens around it, and the tomb is a simple excavation 

 in the earth, walled with brick, and overgrown with cedars. It is often urged as a national 

 reproach, that the remains of this great man do not repose in a sepulchre of suitable magnifi- 

 cence. In Westmoreland County, some distance below, is shown the spot of his birth, and a 

 stone has been raised to mark the place. 



Jamestown deserves notice, as the site of the earliest English settlement in the original 

 United States ; but while places of recent origin have grown into a magnitude, rivaling the 

 great cities of Europe, Jamestown has fallen into decay, and is now completely desolate. 

 The ruins of a church steeple mantled with ivy, and surrounded by tombstones, overgrown 

 ■«vith shrubbery and wild flowers, are all that remain to mark the spot. The situation is emi- 

 nently beautiful. On every side is 

 a charn)ing and variegated succes- 

 sion of woodlands, meadows, pas- 

 tures, and cultivated fields ; in 

 front, is the broad expanse of 

 James River. The hills opposite 

 are picturesque, some entirely cov- 

 ered with wood ; others part'"Jly 

 cultivated, and exhibiting patches 

 of waving corn, and dark fore.sf, 

 while here and there are scatfp'fd 

 over the landscape, manv elegant 

 mansions of the wealthy planters. 

 The whole view is strikingly rich 

 and variegated. Charlottesville, 

 near the foot of the Blue Ridge, 

 contains the University of Virgin- 

 ia. Population, 2,000. 

 the Dan, is a place of some trade. Popu- 



Univfrsity of Virginia. 



Danville, in the southern part of the State, on 

 lation, 2,000. In the Great V^alley, Winchester, in the northern part, is the principal town ; 

 its business is extensive, being the mart for a considerable part of the valley. Population, 

 4,000. The flourishing town of Harper''s Ferry contains a United States Arsenal of construc- 

 tion. Population, 2, .500 Staunton, further north, is a thriving village, with 2,000 inhabit- 

 ants ; here is the Western State Lunatic Asylum. 



The city of Wheeling, second in population only to the capital, stands on the Ohio, at the 

 head of steamboat navigation during the season of low water, and at the western terminus of the 

 Cumberland Road, or the eastern division of the great National Road from Cumberland to 

 Alton. The city being built at the foot of the rivor-hills, which here approach very near its 



