EARLY FLUVANNA

“The past is a foreign country;

They do things differently there”

Lesley Poles Hartley

I am sure that many of you wonder where the name Fluvanna came from. It means Ann’s river as the Westward fork of the James – known as the Fluvanna River -was named for Queen Anne as well as the Rivanna River. These rivers created a boundary which resulted in the name Fluvanna for the new county.

In the early 1700’s towns such as Richmond and Fredericksburg were springing up on the fall lines of rivers such as the James and the Rappahannock. The lands to the west were largely unsettled and did not experience any influx of settlers until around 1725.

It wasn’t until 1777 that Thomas Jefferson presented a petition to the Legislature to create a new county from the currently existing Albemarle County. After the Act of 1777 created the county the Legislature directed Wilson Miles Cary and other leading citizens to hold their first court at the home of Thomas Napier between the Rivanna River and Racoon Creek. In time that site became the county seat. This would also become the site of the county Courthouse. In those days it was the seat of government and justice and the center of all county activity. The court buildings reflected the economy of the times and often were the pride of the countryside. It was a gathering place for the citizens, and a center of commerce. There was always a tavern nearby and a church vying with the Court House for first place in the lives of the people while the jail complemented the activities of all three.

It is interesting that Wilson Miles Cary had just moved his family to his Fluvanna plantation, Carysbrook, because the British were too close to his Williamsburg home. This newcomer with ties of kinship to the Jefferson family set himself up as the leader of the new county. This didn’t set well with Thomas Napier who was also from a Tidewater family. He was a Dissenter to the Church of England and a founder of Lyles Baptist Church. Cary was loyal to the Established Church of England and took a dim view of such heretics. Naturally these two argued much over the founding of Fluvanna. (It is interesting to note that Baptists were largely persecuted in Colonial Virginia and this inspired Jefferson and Madison to urge for freedom of religion and separation of church and state in the new government.)

The first Fluvanna court sessions were held in the homes of early prominent citizens. In 1778 the construction of a temporary courthouse was begun and it was completed in 1780. Also at that time it was deemed necessary to build a jail or as it was called then a gaol. Plans were drawn up to this end but alas it was never completed. Early miscreants were probably locked up in barns and other sturdy buildings. The first record of criminals being locked up appeared in 1780. Two men were not only locked up but were later hanged. Later the county paid for a gallows to be built but these two were probably taken to the nearest tree. In 1779 there was a whipping post for in that year a woman was sentenced to twenty-five lashes for failing to pay ten pounds that she owed. A few years later a stock and pillory were built. Also a temporary jail was built in 1779.

In 1781, the British Queen’s Rangers under John Graves Simcoe came to the Court House and there arrested Fluvanna’s leading rebel, Thomas Napier. They may have searched the lowly buildings for records but would have found none since they were at the Rising Sun home of John Timberlake. Simcoe and his troops spent little time in Fluvanna as their main objective was capturing the arsenal at Point of Fork.

As for Fluvanna it would take the new century of the 1800’s and the efforts of men like John Hartwell Cocke and Walker Timberlake to complete the construction of the new Courthouse and the Stone Jail.

I hope this article gives some insight into the founding of Fluvanna County which also coincided with the founding of a new nation. I also hope it gives some insight into life in Colonial Virginia and particularly Fluvanna. To learn more about early Fluvanna I suggest you visit Palmyra and see the Old Courthouse and the Old Stone Jail.

                                               
(Most of this article was taken from Fluvanna County Historical Society Bulletin Number 78)

                                                                Bill Jones - Fluvanna County Historical Society.