Embedded Files
Did you know that the first commercial coal mines in the U.S. were established in the Richmond Coal Basin? The first commercial coal mine opened west of Richmond near Manakin in 1748, decades before railroads connected Appalachia to eastern markets. New mines opened along the Tuckahoe Creek which spurred the need for the Tuckahoe Creek Navigation Company to build a navigation system in 1828 so coal bateaux could carry coal from Broad Branch down to Tuckahoe Island. Later the Tuckahoe & James River Railroad was built in the area. To this day there are embankments, coal pits, mines, slopes, and even a relic structure that still exist.
Did you know that one of the most interesting and controversial raids of the Civil War came across Tuckahoe Creek? In 1846 Union Army colonel Ulric Dahlgren led an unsuccessful raid on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia and was killed. Papers found on Dahlgren's corpse shortly after his death contained orders for an assassination plot against Confederate President Jefferson Davis which became known as the Dahlgren Affair. On their way to Richmond, Dahlgren lead his men through Goochland County burning mills and canal bateaux before crossing the Tuckahoe Creek at Woodward's Bridge where his troops ran the mining trucks down the incline and set fire to the tipple.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse