How was Virginia’s nine-sheet map, drafted from manuscript surveys, transformed into this elegant engraving? It was a time-consuming process that involved oversight and coordination of…
The two cartographers responsible for the first official state map of Virginia were very different individuals. One was an older itinerant scholar who undertook many…
In the years following the War of 1812, Virginians enacted legislation to develop the Commonwealth’s “internal improvements”: its canals, turnpikes, and roads. Virginians were very…
This is an entry in our “Random Reference” series, which features interesting discoveries made and reference questions answered by our Archives & Library Reference Services…
In the late 1800s, land speculators became interested in selling islands along the Atlantic Coast to be used as summer resorts. “Parramore’s Island,” a barrier…
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in slightly altered form in the Summer 2001 issue of “Virginia Cavalcade.” Between 1928 and 1930, the federal government…
The Library of Virginia’s collections include maps of developments that were never constructed, many of which were conceived prior to the Panic of 1893. In…
French’s Tavern, located in Powhatan County, was a prominent 19th century inn and ordinary that served travelers on the Old Buckingham Road, an important thoroughfare linking…
New ideas are sometimes birthed out of tragedies. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill passed by both houses of Congress authorizing an ambitious…