FLUVANNA FOUNDING FATHER

Walker Timberlake was one of the founders of Palmyra. He was a Fluvanna county official, a businessman, an officer in the State Militia, and a Methodist minister. Most important of all he was instrumental in founding the town of Palmyra. His father, John Timberlake, was originally from Port Royal, Caroline County, Virginia. He acquired land in Fluvanna in 1779. Eventually he acquired a thousand acres. He and his wife established their home, Rising Sun, on the Post Road near modern day Wilmington. Their son Walker was born in 1781.

Walker, Along with others, petitioned to have Palmyra made the county seat of Fluvanna. In 1828 He also donated four acres of his land to establish the town and he chose the name from the Biblical town of Tadmor also called Palmyra.

In 1813 the name Palmyra was used for the first time in the county when Walker and his brother John, Jr. erected a dam at Palmyra Mills.

The towns of Palmyra and Wilmington competed to be named the county seat. In 1828 Palmyra won that privilege. A rumor at that time persisted that a Palmyra politician toured the county with a buggy full of liquor for the men and shoes for the women. This supposedly tipped the votes as there were 92 for Palmyra and 45 for Wilmington.

Walker helped establish the Methodist church you now see in Palmyra. He had been converted to the Methodist church at a camp meeting in 1811. The first church was built in 1830. Later the current church was built after the first one was taken down. The second one was built in 1888 on land donated by his daughter Mary. He was the moving force behind most of the Methodist churches in Fluvanna.

In 1828, along with his friend John Hartwell Cocke, he oversaw the construction of the jail called The Old Stone Jail. Mr. Cocke drew up the plans for the jail and Timberlake supervised the building of it. In 1830, Mr. Cocke and he took up the construction of the new court house. Once again he drew up the plans and Timberlake supervised the building.

He had many business interests that helped Palmyra become a thriving town. Among them was a mill along the banks of the Rivanna. (Remnants of his mill can be seen down below the new Rivanna river bridge). He invested in the Rivanna Navigation Company which constructed dams along the river so he could ship his products down to Richmond. He also owned a tavern in Palmyra and even though the Methodist church didn’t mind this became a sore point with his friend John Hartwell Cocke. They didn’t see eye to eye on the subject of liquor. Mr. Cocke was in the temperance movement and didn’t approve of ‘demon rum’.

An exciting time occurred in 1824 when the revolutionary war hero Lafayette visited Fluvanna. Along with John Hartwell Cocke, Timberlake greeted him at Columbia and conducted him to Wilmington where Lafayette was feted at Cole’s tavern.

In 1806 Walker married Sarah Maria Strange, the youngest daughter of John Alloway Strange and they had ten children together. In 1808 he served as a lieutenant in the militia and his brother Horace was a captain.

He helped in the founding of Randolph-Macon College. In 1830 he became a member of the original Board of Trustees.

He died shortly before Christmas in 1863 while our country was engaged in a bitter Civil War. Fortunately he didn’t live to see the effects this war would have on his beloved Fluvanna. His estates suffered greatly with the collapse of the Confederacy.

His grandson, Frank Shepherd, left his studies at the University of Virginia to serve the cause but he was accidentally shot and killed by a member of his own unit. His nephew, John Bowie Strange, was killed at the battle of Boonsboro, Maryland. He had been a well known teacher and headmaster. He had also been the first cadet sentinel at Virginia Military Institute in 1839. The horrors of war touched his family as well as Fluvanna.

However, now old Flu is surviving nicely. There are many new residents and things are hopping. There is a new courthouse and soon there will be new schools and a new library. Yes old Flu is doing nicely and most important there are people who are trying to save our past as well as plan for our future. Walker Timberlake would be pleased.