The "Citie of Henricus"—also known as Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico—was a settlement in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...

. Named for Henry, Prince of Wales (1594–1612), the eldest son of King James I, Henricus is located on a former curl of the

James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...

about 12 miles southeast of the modern city of

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

or 15 miles from the fall line of the James River. Today, the settlement is interpreted via Henricus Historical Park, a living history museum. It is surrounded by the Dutch Gap Conservation Area, an 810 acre mixture of woodlands and wetlands operated by Chesterfield County, Virginia. Captain Dale (who had previously served as a mercenary with Dutch forces) ordered a channel dug which attempted to shorten the river meander, hence the name Dutch Gap. As discussed below, the channel was re-dug during the American Civil War, which created Farrar's Island, which after further dredging became the main course of the James River around 1870. The park and conservation area are on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.

History

The second successful English colonial settlement in the New World, Henricus was opposite to the Native American village of Arrohateck. At the time, the First Anglo-Powhatan War was raging, and the Indian tribes of Virginia offered continuous resistance to colonial settlement, largely orchestrated by native leader Nemattanew — or as the colonists knew him, "Jack-of-the-Feather". Before the development of Richmond, Henricus was one of the westernmost outlying developments from the Colony of Virginia's fortified capital downriver at Jamestown. In 1612–1613, a facility known as "Mt. Malady" was built nearby; it was the first hospital in the English colonies of North America. This settlement was near where

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...

grew up among the Appomattoc tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy. Reverend Alexander Whitaker converted her to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

during her captivity at Henricus under Sir Thomas Dale, deputy governor of the colony. She met colonist

John Rolfe John Rolfe ( – March 1622) was an English explorer, farmer and merchant. He is best known for being the husband of Pocahontas and the first settler in the colony of Virginia to successfully cultivate a tobacco crop for export. He played a ...

during this time and they married on April 5, 1614. Rolfe's longtime friend, Richard Buck, presided at their wedding. They lived together across the river at the Varina Farms Plantation. Their

mixed-race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...

son, Thomas Rolfe (named for Sir Thomas Dale, deputy governor of the colony of Virginia), was born on the plantation. His descendants were among many of the First Families of Virginia (FFV).

Proposed college at Henricus

The

Virginia Company The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the objective of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day ...

tried to found the first institution of higher education in

British America British America collectively refers to various British colonization of the Americas, colonies of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and its predecessors states in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1 ...

. In 1618, they obtained a royal charter from King

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...

for a proposed University of Henrico. In 1619, the historic First

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

met at Jamestown and passed their 5th Petition: "Send men to erect the Colledge", referred to it as "A worke of Conversion", and set aside land for it adjacent to and above Henricus. In 1619, Henricus was also incorporated into the City of Henrico. The fort was abandoned by governor's orders during the Indian massacre of 1622, and largely destroyed by the

Powhatan Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powh ...

afterwards. By 1623, more settlers occupied the college land than before the massacre. The next year James I dissolved the Virginia Company, seizing its assets and transforming the proprietary colony into a royal one. The Crown controlled it from then on.

End of colonial era

Henricus became part of the Shire of Henrico (created 1634) and was renamed Henrico County in 1637. Virginia Company stockholder William Farrar acquired the property in 1637 and his descendants sold it to Thomas Randolph in 1737. Meanwhile, in 1693, the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

was established in Williamsburg under a new charter granted by the joint English monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II. A plaque on the Wren Building, the college's first structure, ascribes the institution's origin to "the college proposed at Henrico".

Modern era

The area later saw action during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, it played a minor role in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and in 1865 the Battle of Trent's Reach, one of the last major naval engagement of the conflict, was fought offshore. In the interim, Union General Benjamin Butler ordered troops to excavate the narrow neck of Farrar's Island on which Henricus was located to create the Dutch Gap Canal in an attempt to bypass Confederate defensive batteries along the James River. The channel was widened in 1870, and became the main channel of the James River, and the old river channel silted up, forming what is now the Dutch Gap Conservation Area. In 1922, Chesterfield County annexed the former location of Henricus south of the Dutch Gap Canal from Henrico County. The area became used for sand and gravel mining, and sunken ships are still visible in the lagoon. Dominion Power still operates Chesterfield Power Station, with controversial coal ash lagoons adjoining the Dutch Gap Conservation area.https://www.southernenvironment.org/news/public-park-toxic-coal-ash-side-by-side-at-dominions-chesterfield-plant/ Over time, the exact location of the former town of Henricus became uncertain. After archeological excavations, the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1972 listed the archeological site in Chesterfield County as ''Henrico''. Though archaeological evidence of the actual settlement has not been found (due to the creation of Dutch Gap and other disturbances including the nearby quarries), a reconstruction based on historical evidence of the settlement was created nearby as a living history museum, Henricus Historical Park.

References

External links