Below is a conversation – paraphrased – I had the other day with a client.

Them – "What’s the story of the New River Valley?"

Me – "Waddya mean?"

Them – "How’d it come to be?"

Me – "Ugh …." Deer in headlights look.

Okay, start over, I’m ready now.

Them – "What’s the story of the New River Valley?"

Me – "Waddya mean?"

Them – "How’d it come to be?"

Me – "Oh, great question, let me tell you about it.

In 1671 there was an exploration of the area by Abraham Wood, whose cartographer named what is now called the New River, "Wood’s River".  There were other explorations into the area into the 1750 timeframe, but Abraham Wood was the first known exploration.  Of course, the area was inhabited far earlier than that by Monacans in Amherst County and the Ani Stohini in Carroll and Wythe counties, among others.  There’s evidence even further back that the area played host to both Iroquoian and Siouan peoples, ca. 900-1600 AD – these folks were ancestors of the contemporary – and more famous – Cherokees and Monacans.  It’s widely believed that the original settlement by Anglos and European settlers occurred around 1748, when John, Thomas and William Ingles, along with George Draper (interesting reading here about his daughter, Mary), settled the area near Blacksburg and Drapers Meadow.

At that time, the New River Valley was the far west.  No one ventured much past Central VA, but with the close of the French and Indian War in 1763 that began to change.  More and more folks started to settle in the Blue Ridge Mountains, eventually forming small communities up and down the New River, including Blacksburg Pulaski, Pearisburg and Radford.  In fact, it’s been argued that with the addition of the Great Wagon Road, the New River Valley was one of the keys to expansion even further west.

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Special thanks to Sam Cook, Associate Professor at Virginia Tech in Interdisciplinary Studies, and a specialist in Appalachian and American Indian Studies, for his help with this post.