Ingles Ferry (sometimes referred to as English Ferry) is the site of a historic

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

crossing on the New River in western Virginia, near the city of Radford in

Pulaski County, Virginia Pulaski County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,800. Its county seat is Pulaski. Pulaski County is part of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg metropolitan a ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. A tavern was opened there in 1772 and the ferry served soldiers and civilians until 1948. A bridge was built at the site in 1842 but was burned during the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. The tavern and replicas of the 18th-century home of the Ingles family can be seen nearby.

History

The ford was in use by Native Americans when Europeans arrived in the area, and initially was known as Eagle Bottom.Jim Page and Sherry Joines Wyatt
"The Nigh and Best Way": The Early Development of Roads in Montgomery County"
''The Smithfield Review,'' Volume 21, 2017.

William Ingles William Ingles (1729 – September, 1782), also spelled Inglis, Ingliss, Engels, or English, was a colonist and soldier in colonial Virginia. He participated in the Sandy Creek Expedition and was a signatory of the Fincastle Resolutions. He was ...

and his wife

Mary Draper Ingles Mary Draper Ingles (1732 – February 1815), also known in records as Mary Inglis or Mary English, was an American pioneer and early settler of western Virginia. In the summer of 1755, she and her two young sons were among several captives taken ...

began developing a farm on the eastern side of the New River a few years after Mary's capture by

Shawnee Indians The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

and her subsequent escape in 1755.Ingels History
/ref> As early as 1760, William was making money ferrying troops across the New River during the

Anglo-Cherokee War The Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761; in the Cherokee language: the ''"war with those in the red coats"'' or ''"War with the English"''), was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherok ...

, and, realizing the value of the ferry, purchased the land from Dr. Thomas Walker. The November 1762 official authorization of Ingles Ferry set fees at 3

pence A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

for man or horse. In 1766, Ingles applied for a license to operate an ordinary (tavern) there.Smith, Conway Howard. ''Colonial Days in the Land that Became Pulaski County.'' Pulaski County Library Board, 1975.
/ref> During the first few years of its existence, Indians frequently attacked the farm and ferry, and Ingles constructed a small stockaded

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

, which he named Fort Hope, to protect his family and neighbors.Junius R. Fishburne, "Nomination form, Ingles Bottom Archaeological Sites," Virginia Department of Historic Resources, June 15, 1976
/ref>

Tavern

With the help of his brother-in-law John Draper, William completed construction of the Ingles Ferry Hill Tavern and blacksmith shop on the Pulaski County side of the river in 1772.Ingles Ferry
Virginia Department of Historic Resources, June 2, 2022. The tavern was a popular meeting place for travelers, with

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

and

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American military officer and surveyor from Virginia who became the highest-ranking Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot military officer on the American frontier, nort ...

among its patrons. In April 1797,

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

Duke of Orléans Duke of Orléans () was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives (usually a younger brother or son), or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King Philip VI for his yo ...

and future

King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

, crossed the river on the ferry, but did not stop at the tavern.

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...

(of

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

) crossed on the ferry at least five times between 1801 and 1820.Elmer Johnson, "Radford Then and Now: A Pictorial History," American Bicentennial Commission of Radford, Virginia, 1975
/ref> William Ingles was in charge of improving and maintaining the road leading to and from Ingles Ferry, known at the time as Ingles Ferry Road or English Ferry Road."Montgomery County Reconnaissance Level Survey"
Vol. 1, July 1986, Historic Sites Survey: Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks. It later became a main thoroughfare and was part of the

Great Wagon Road The Great Wagon Road, also known as the Philadelphia Wagon Road, is a historic trail in the eastern United States that was first traveled by indigenous tribes, and later explorers, settlers, soldiers, and travelers. It extended from British Penn ...

and the

Wilderness Road The Wilderness Road was one of two principal routes used by colonial and early national era settlers to reach Kentucky from the East. Although this road goes through the Cumberland Gap into southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee, the other ...

. On 8 May 1779, Lord Henry Hamilton, a British

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

, was being escorted under guard to Williamsburg and spent the night at the home of William and Mary Ingles. In his journal, Hamilton described the Ingles' home: :8th. In the Evening crossed over in a ferry the new river or great Canhawa, and were kindly and hospitably received at the house of Colonel Ingles-- here we rested for an entire day...The Scenery about this house was romantic to a degree, the river very beautyfull, the hills well wooded, the low grounds well improved & well stocked, I thought...Mrs. Ingles had in her early years been carryed off with another young Woman by the Savages...however terror and distress had left so deep an impression on her mind that she appear'd absorbed in a deep melancholy. By 1780, William Ingles owned 907 acres, 67 cattle, and ten slaves who ran his ferry and worked in his mills or in domestic capacities. Following his death in 1782, his son

Thomas Ingles Thomas Ingles (1751–1809, sometimes spelled Thomas Inglis or Thomas English) was a Virginia pioneer, frontiersman and soldier. He was the son of William Ingles and Mary Draper Ingles. He, his mother and his younger brother were captured by Shawn ...

took over the operation of Ingles Ferry, in partnership with his brother John and his cousin Crockett. Mary Draper Ingles died at Ingles Ferry in 1815.

Toll road

After 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 ...

, thousands of immigrants poured through the

New River Valley Virginia's New River Valley region, colloquially named, is a four-county area along the New River in Southwest Virginia in the United States, including such major features as Claytor Lake, part of the Jefferson National Forest, the city of Ra ...

on their way to the newly opened territories in Kentucky and Tennessee. At times, as many as 30 or 40 wagons and teams would spend the night at the ferry. In 1805 William's son John Ingles and Andrew Lewis Jr. sponsored a bill before the

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, ...

authorizing the Allegheny Turnpike (now known as the

Valley Pike Valley Pike or Valley Turnpike is the traditional name given for the Indian trail and roadway which is now approximated by U.S. Route 11 in Virginia, U.S. Route 11 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Long before the arrival of English colonist ...

), so that tolls could be collected to support the maintenance of the road and the ferry, "because the cost of maintaining the previous public road in good condition had proved too great a burden." The turnpike, which opened in 1809, was 25 feet wide and more than seven miles in length. A gate and

toll house A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road, canal, or toll bridge. History Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and ...

were built near Shawsville. Thomas Ingles, grandson of William and Mary Draper Ingles, acquired the ferry in 1832. By 1834, an estimated 20,000 people were using the ferry annually, including slaves being transported westward. Geographer George William Featherstonhaugh observed a caravan of 300 slaves crossing the river at Ingles Ferry in 1834. In the 1830s, Thomas refurbished and enlarged the tavern, which is still standing, and built a ferry house. He and several others incorporated The Lafayette and Ingles Ferry Turnpike Company in 1839. The state of Virginia

macadamized Macadam is a type of road construction pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam , in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the original mate ...

(paved) the road in 1840.

The Ingles Bridge and later years

In 1842, Thomas Ingles built a

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

across the New River at a cost of $17,000, but he continued to offer a ferry service until 1847. The bridge was completed in February, 1843 and was 28 feet wide, 20 feet above the water, and 600 feet long. By 1848, the bridge tolls added up to nearly $1,900 a year, but Ingles stated that "a large portion of the county people are permitted to cross free of charge." During subsequent years, tolls could exceed $1,000 per month. Revenue dropped after the construction in 1855 of the

Virginia and Tennessee Railroad The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad was an historic gauge railroad in the Southern United States, much of which is incorporated into the modern Norfolk Southern Railway. It played a strategic role in supplying the Confederacy during the American ...

bridge, about two miles downstream from Ingles Ferry. On 9 May 1864, following the

Battle of Cloyd's Mountain The Battle of Cloyd's Mountain occurred in Pulaski County, Virginia, on May 9, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fight has also been called the Battle of Cloyd's Farm. A Union Army division led by Brigadier General George Crook defeate ...

, the fleeing Confederate artillery crossed the New River on Ingles Bridge. The bridge was subsequently burned by Union forces,Hale, John P.
''Trans-Allegheny Pioneers (West Virginia and Ohio): Historical Sketches of the First White Settlers West of the Alleghenies, 1748 and After''
(1886), Heritage Books, reprint, 2009. but the

abutments An abutment is the Bridge#Structure types, substructure at the ends of a bridge Span (architecture), span or dam supporting its Bridge#Structure types, superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and l ...

on the west bank can still be seen. Ingles Ferry was the site of one of the final battles of the Civil War when, on 12 April 1865 (3 days after the Confederate surrender at

Appomattox, Virginia Appomattox ( ) is a town in Appomattox County, Virginia, Appomattox County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,733 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Appomattox County, Virginia, Appomattox County. ...

), a detachment of Union troops attempting to rejoin General George Stoneman skirmished with Confederate infantry. The troops had not yet received news of the surrender. In 1865, the Ingles Ferry was again put into operation and continued until 1939 when the last flat-bottom ferry boat sank with a load of coal. The ferry was briefly reactivated from 1944-1948. The 1840 ferry house remained in use until it was destroyed by fire in 1967. Virginia and Tennessee Railroad map Dublin

Virginia and Tennessee Railroad map Dublin

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

sketch by Lewis Miller dated 26 August 1859 depicts the covered Ingles Bridge and the Ingles farm next to the tavern, as seen from Lovely Mount.

Archaeology

Ingleside 1789 home of John Ingles in Radford Virginia

The Ingles Bottom Archeological Sites feature excavations investigating historic and prehistoric occupation of the area, including the Ingles family home, farm, stables, and a family cemetery. John Ingles' 1789 home, known as Ingleside, is also nearby. Excavations initiated in 1974 covered 1400 square feet and found over 30,000 artifacts from the late 18th century. The dig uncovered a

tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...

as well as the foundation of the one-room cabin where Mary Draper Ingles lived during her final years, which measured 14.5 feet by 16 feet, and was still standing in 1910. Archaeologists also found evidence of a Native American village dating to 1250-1500 CE, as well as

projectile points In archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have been kept in the ...

, bone tools and shellfish remains dating from ca. 3000-1500 BCE.

Legacy

In November 1969, the property was listed on the

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 ...

and the

Virginia Landmarks Register The Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) is a list of historic properties in the Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atla ...

. an
''Accompanying two photos''
/ref> The property’s three owners, all direct descendants of Mary Draper Ingles, have donated a permanent conservation

easement An easement is a Nonpossessory interest in land, nonpossessory right to use or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B" ...

of the 313-acre tract to the

Virginia Outdoors Foundation The Virginia Outdoors Foundation is a quasi-state agency formed by the Virginia General Assembly in 1966 "to promote the preservation of open space lands and to encourage private gifts of money, securities, land or other property to preserve the nat ...

and the

Virginia Department of Historic Resources 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 ...

. The tavern as well as portions of the original

can be seen at the site. Replicas of the 18th-century home of the Ingles family can be seen on the eastern side of the river, and this area was also placed under permanent easement by the owner, another direct descendent of Mary Draper Ingles. A historical marker was placed in 2022 at the intersection of West Main Street and Wilderness Road. A second historical marker at the intersection of Rock Road and Tyler Avenue, erected in 1998 by the

, describes Ingles Ferry Road.Bernard Fisher, "Ingles Ferry Road Historical Marker," April 4, 2011
/ref>

External links

2007 Historic Lecture Series: Ingles Tavern & Wilderness Trail
Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation

Bibliography

* Fitzpatrick, Francis Burke
History of Ingles Ferry - 1937
Washington, District of Columbia: Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, 1990. Notes: Microfilm of original typescript (1937, carbon or mimeograph, 65 leaves). Contains history of Ingles Ferry and settlement and biographical sketches of Colonel

and

. * John Preston McConnell Library
James Zoll Ingles Ferry Store Ledgers
inding Aid Radford, Va: McConnell Library Archives and Special Collections, 2011. Summary: This contains two ledgers and a few supporting documents from a store owned by James Zoll that was at or near the site of Ingles Ferry near Radford, and operated ca. 1850-1870s. * Killen, Linda
Ingles Ferry Ledgers: 1840s to 1880s
irginia? . Killen 1999. Notes: Includes index. Description: 96 pages; 28 cm. Responsibility: transcribed by Linda Killen.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Pulaski County, Virginia 1772 establishments in the Colony of Virginia Ferries Colony of Virginia Pulaski County, Virginia Montgomery County, Virginia Pre-statehood history of Virginia Transportation in Virginia Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia

History

Tavern

Toll road

The Ingles Bridge and later years

Archaeology

Legacy

See also

External links

Bibliography

References