(Photo by Calvin Shepherd - Use By Permission)
Alderson West Virginia - A History
© Property of Min7th Productions 2012
Early Exploration
Main Index
The
first
know
exploration
of
this
immediate
area
was
the
time
Governor
Berkeley
was
Governor
of
the
Colony
of
Virginia.
He
was
curious
about
the
land
across
the
mountains.
He
commissioned
Major
Abraham
Wood
whom
the
Colonial
Assembly
authorized
to
explore
and
to
profit
by
trade
for
fourteen
years
after
1653.
His
commission
must
have
expired
and
have
been
renewed.
Wood
raised
an
exploration
party
with
Thomas
Batts
in
charge,
and
Robert
Fallam,
Thomas
Wood,
Jack
Neasam,
an
indentured
servant,
and
Perecute
as
guide.
-
"A
great
man
of
the
Appomattox
Indians."
Fallam
kept
a
record.
On
September
1,
1671,
the
five
men
started
west
from
about
where
Petersburg,
Virginia,
is
now
located.
A
few
days
later
Wood
got
sick
and
had
to
stop.
This
party
crossed
the
mountains.
They
had
no
names
for
any
place
and
their
exact
route
has
been
reconstructed.
Evidently
they
crossed
Peters
Mountain
and
continued
west
through
or
near
where
Pickaway
is
now.
They
described
the
various
mountains
and
streams
and
followed
one
to
a
river
which
they
crossed
and
then
climbed
a
mountain.
All
present
knowledge
of
the
country
and
of
the
Indian
trails
would
determine
that
they
came
down
Wolf
Creek,
crossed
the
Greenbrier
near
Griffith's
Creek,
and
climbed
by
way
of
an
Indian
trail
up
Keeney's
Knob.
On
September
13
and
14,
1671,
they
were
in
or
very
near
the
present
location
of
the
Alderson
community.
From
the
top
of
Keeney's
they
gazed
east
and
west
at
the
row
upon
row
of
mountain
ranges.
They
then
went
down
New
River
as
far
as
the
Falls
of
Kanawha.
There
they
had
a
little ceremony and claimed the whole region for King Charles II. From the record, these were the first white men to see what is now Alderson.
The
English
having
settled
on
the
Virginia
shores
were
slow
to
explore
west
of
the
mountains
after
Batts'
journey.
They
were
even
slower
to
settle.
They
wanted
the
fur
trade
and
quickly
resented
the
success
of
the
French.
Stories
of
good
land
on
the
"Western
Waters"
excited
the
greed
of
Eastern
Virginians
and
led
to
the
earliest
settlement
of
this
wilderness.
In
1749
the
Greenbrier
Land
Company
was
organized
and
granted
100,000
acres
of
the
best
land
in
the
present
counties
of
Pocahontas,
Greenbrier,
and
Monroe.
This
land
was
not
in
a
single
tract
but
consisted
of
the
finest
lands,
widely
scattered,
which
the
company
could
claim.
This
was
the
rankest
kind
of
political
deal
given
to
"prominent
men."
The
president
of
the
Greenbrier
Land
Company
was
John
Robinson,
Treasurer
of
Virginia
and
Speaker
of
the
House
of
Burgess,
with
eleven
other
political
favorites
and
Tidewater
planter
as
owners.
Most
were
out
to
make
a
quick
fortune
and
do
little
in
return.
John
Lewis,
one
of
the
members,
and
his
sons
Thomas
and
Andrew,
both
surveyors,
were
the
active
working
participants.
This
grant
was
based
on
previous
exploration.
By
1755
they
had
surveyed
about
one-half of the great give-away and had sold some.
The
other
land
syndicates,
the
Loyal
Land
Company
with
an
800,000
acres
grant
from
the
Greenbrier
to
North
Carolina,
and
the
Ohio
Land
Company,
began
surveys
and
explorations.
In
1755
Dr.
Thomas
Walker,
manager
of
the
Loyal
Land
Company,
was
exploring.
Dr.
Walker
and
his
party
definitely
went
through
the
present
location
of
Alderson.
Dr.
Walker
left
Staunton,
Virginia,
March
16,
1750,
and
returned
July
13,
1750.
By
measuring
the
distances
traveled
daily
as
give
in
his
journal,
he
passed
for
the
mouth
of
the
Greenbrier
up
the
river
through
the
site
of
Alderson,
July
2,
1750,
on
his
way
home.
He
wrote
in
his
diary
July
6,
1750,
"There
are
some
inhabitants
on
the
branches
of
the
Greenbrier
but
we
missed
their
plantations."
As
an
indication
of
the
enormous
numbers
of
wild
game,
Dr.
Walker
recorded
that
his
party
killed
13
buffalo,
8
elk,
53
bear,
20
deer,
4
geese, 150 turkeys and other wild game. He said, "We might have killed three times as much meat if we had wanted it."
History of Monroe County, Morton, and numerous other references
Lewis, Virgil A., First Biennial Report of the Dept. of Archives and History, 1906, Tribune Printing Co., Charleston.
Walker, Dr. Thomas, Journal of an Exploration in the Spring of the Year, 1750, Boston, Little Brown & Co. 1888, page 66.
The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV Used by permission - November 18, 2008
The History of Alderson, West Virginia
From The Journal Of The Greenbrier Historical Society On Alderson, West Virginia
Written by Kenneth D. Swope - Compiled and Transcribed by Barry Worrell
