Draper's Valley

John Draper's wife, Bettie Robertson Draper, was captured by the Shawnee at Draper's Meadow (Blacksburg) in 1755. Mrs. Draper was carried into the Ohio country along with her sister-in-law Mary Draper Ingles and five others. Six years later John Draper found his wife living in the family of an Indian chief. After paying for her return, the Drapers went home to the New River Valley. About 1765 they moved into a log cabin in the area still known as Draper's Valley--just to the south and west.