Voyage up the James River.—City Point.—Petersburg.—Blandford Church.—Founding of Petersburg.
right entered the broad mouth of the James River. A strong breeze, warm as the breath of May, came from the southwest and dispersed the moving clouds. I have seldom experienced a more delightful voyage than on that genial Christmas day upon the ancient Powhatan, whose shores are so thickly clustered with historical associations. Jamestown, the Chickahominy, Charles City, Westover, and Berkley, were all passed before noon; and at one o'clock we landed at City Point, at the junction of the James and Appomattox Rivers, about forty miles below Richmond. *
Here the British army, under Phillips and Arnold, debarked on the twenty-fourth of April, 1781, and proceeded to Petersburg.
An intelligent mulatto, enjoying his holiday freedom, took a seat with me for Petersburg. He was a guide on the way, and gave me considerable information respecting localities around that town, where his master resided. We passed through Blandford, an old town separated from Petersburg ** only by a deep ravine and a small stream, and at a little after three o'clock I was dining at the Bollingbrook. At four, accompanied by a young man acquainted with the way, I went up to the old Blandford Church, one of the most picturesque and attractive ruins in Virginia. It stands in the midst of a burial-ground upon an eminence overlooking the ancient village of Blandford and its younger sister at the falls of the Appomattox, with an extensive and diversified landscape for scores of miles around. The edifice is cruciform, and was built of imported bricks about one hundred and fifty years ago. Some of the noblest and wealthiest of Virginia's aristocracy worshiped within its walls; for Blandford was the focus of fashion and refinement, while Petersburg was rudely struggling for its present pre-eminence. But the glory of the town and its church departed; Blandford is now only a suburban hamlet of Petersburg, and the old temple, dismantled of its interior decorations, is left to the occupancy of the bats and the owls.
* City Point is in Prince George county. It is a post village and a port of entry. A rail-way connects it with Petersburg.
** Fort Henry, erected for a defense of the people south of the James River, was built on the site of Petersburg in, 1646. Colonel Bolling, a gentleman of taste and fortune, settled there early in the last century. Colonel Byrd, of Westover, mentions him as living in fine style there in 1728. Peter Jones was the first settler, having established a trading-house there soon after the erection of Fort Henry. The locality was first called Peter's Point, and afterward Petersburg. Jones was a friend of Colonel Byrd, and accompanied that gentleman to the Roanoke in 1733. He says in his journal, "When we got home we laid the foundation of two large cities; one at Shacco's, to be called Richmond; and the other at the point of Appomattox, to be called Petersburg. The latter and Blandford were established towns in 1748. Blandford was then the most flourishing settlement of the two.
*** This view is from the outside of the old inclosure, looking south.