English Settlement on Gray's Creek

K-319

English settlement along Gray's Creek began by 1609 when Capt. John Smith ordered a defensive fortification built on the tidal creek opposite Jamestown. Though the English did not finish constructing the fort (known as Smith's Fort) and soon abandoned it, an earthwork remains on a high bluff overlooking Gray's Creek. It is believed that Thomas Rolfe, the only child of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, inherited his father's patent along this creek. The stream was named Smith's Fort Creek and then Rolfe's Creek. By 1648 it became known as Gray's Creek for Thomas Gray, who had patented land at the mouth of the creek.

Department of Historic Resources, 2004 Department of Historic Resources, 2004

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

John B. Boddie, Colonial Surry (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1966), 46-47, 54, 56, 66-72; A.W. Bohannan, Old Surry: Thumb-Nail Sketches of Places of Historic Interest in Surry County, Virginia (1927; Petersburg, Va., Plummer Print. Co., 2002), 22-25, 77-78; William W. Hening, The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619…13Vols. (Richmond: 1809-1823); James D. Kornwolf, Guide to Buildings of Surry and the American Revolution (Surry, Va.: The Surry County, Virginia Bicentennial Committee, 1976), 50-51, 108-120, 182-193; Calder Loth, ed., The Virginia Landmarks Register, 4th. ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 519; Virginia M. Meyer and John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person VIRGINIA, 1607-1624/5 (Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press, Inc., 1987), 339, 509-512; Nell Marion Nugent, ed., Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants: 1623-1666 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1963), 31, 105, 113, 121; William P. Palmer, ed., Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts ... Preserved in the Capitol at Richmond, 11 vols. (1875-1893; reprint, New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1968); E. Randolph Turner, III and Antony F. Opperman, Searching for Virginia Company Period Sites: An Assessment of Surviving Archaeological Manifestations of Powhatan-English Interactions, A.D. 1607-1624 (Forthcoming), 3-13, 3-25 –3-26; Smith’s Plantation, K-233 Historical Marker, Department of Historic Resources Files, Richmond, Virginia.