Existing comment:
Early Shockoe
"We laid the foundation of two large cities, one at Shacco's, to be called Richmond." William Byrd II, 1733
"In those days the river was the road to town. Tobacco was boated down to Westham, seven miles above the falls, and then brought by land carriage to Shokoes." John F.D. Smythe, 1769
Shockoe is Richmond's oldest neighborhood. In the late 17th century, tobacco, furs, rum, and enslaved Africans were traded within blocks of here. In 1742, the town was no more than a fifth of a mile square, with 250 merchants, laborers, fishermen, and boatsmen. |