A Road Trip from Richmond to Williamsburg- 1911

A 1911 account of a road trip down the trip Peninsula by a reporter from the Times-Dispatch. I have included, in red, my own comments about the itinerary.

SUCCESSFUL RUN MADE FROM RICHMOND TO OLD POINT BY TIMES-DISPATCH SCOUT CAR
Correct and Accurate Reading of Road Made for Benefit of Those Desiring to Make Trip-Road in Splendid Condition and People Anxious to Welcome Visitors.

0.0 - Foster Motor Car Company. Down Broad to Jefferson; turn right to
0.4 - Jefferson Hotel. Down Franklin to . . .

1.1 - Capitol Square. Turn right down Ninth; then left down Bank; then right down Tenth; then right up Main to . . .

1.2 - Times-Dispatch. Up Main to Ninth to Capitol then right to . . .

1.6 - Memorial Hospital. Turn to left into Marshall Street; then turn to right one block to Broad Street to . . .

3.0 - Chimborazo Park.
3.3 - Keep straight ahead, skirting Chimborazo Park to right, to
3.5 - Left down steep hill to railroad crossing.
3.6 - Railroad crossing.
4.4 - To Government Road (good condition).

8.4 - Church on right; turn to left. (I believe this is the original Corinth United Methodist Church which is now less than a  half mile to the east.)

9.6 - Pass store and road on left pass by National Cemetery. (Seven Pines National Cemetery.)

10.7 - Good road to
12.6 - Ford; to (Ford over Boar Swamp)
13.2 - Sharp turn to left (about nine degrees)

15.3 - Long Chickahominy Bridge, sandy road. (Bridge at Bottom's Bridge; NOT in its current location.)

15.6 - Short Chickahominy Bridge.(Bridge over Higgins Swamp.)
15.7 - Corduroy road.
15.8 - More corduroy.

15.9 - New road (good).(This would be Clint Lane, then  on what is now Quaker which at that time continued straight through to Rose Cottage Rd and at that road . . .)

18.7 - Take fork to right. Follow, telegraph wires.( . . . going down Quinton Road and then bearing left onto New Kent Highway.)

21.1 - Pass store on left. (Patterson's Store at Crump's Crossroads.)
23.8 - Turn to left and keep straight ahead.(Going north on Emmaus Church Road.)
21.2 - Richardson's store. Turn right, down slight hill. (The Baltimore Store at Talleysville.)
25.4 - Church on left, down hill. (Rising Mt. Zion.)
25.5 - Ford foot of hill- hard bottom. (Pelham Creek.)
26.3 - Store on right.
29.5 - Church on right. (Corinth Baptist; road until 1930's passed north of church.)
29.9 - New Kent Courthouse.
30.7 - Take right fork.

32.4 - Slatersville cross roods. (It gets tricky here. Instead of proceeding down what is now New Kent Highway they seem to go straight through on Stage Road.)

35.1 - Spring at bottom of hill. ( Upper reach of Beaverdam Creek?)
38.6 - Ford; hard bottom. (Warreneye Creek?)
40.0 - Barhamsville.
40.1 - Store on left; turn to right. (Pott's store?)

45.1 - Brick school house on left. (Hickory Neck Academy, the school, was closed in 1908. The year after this trip it would be deeded to the trustees of Hickory Neck Protestant Episcopal Church thus returning it to it's original use.)

45.7 - Cross bridge over railroad.
45.9 - Toano; well of good water at entrance to town turn left through town.
47.1 - Pass brick school house on left. (Toano High School opened 1908.)
50.5 - Pass store on right; well on left.
50.6 - cross railroad tracks; turn sharp left and then right.(Lightfoot.)
52.1 - Pass store on right.
52.1 - Pass fork on right.
52.3 - Pass fork on right.
52.4 - Pass fork on left.
53.6 - Cross railroad.(Across from Yankee Candle.)
54.4 - Pass road on right.
56.0 - William and Mary College on right approaching Williamsburg.
56.1 - Pass fork on right.(Jamestown Road.)
56.4 - Bruton Church on left.

56.5 -Ruins of Williamburg Courthouse on left.(the Old Courthouse of Williamsburg/James City, the one across from the powder magazine, had been destroyed by fire just 3 months before in April 1911. The building was restored to original appearance, except for some new columns, work finishing up January 1912.)

-Times Dispatch, 13 July 1911

The Foster Motor Car Company went into bankruptcy in 1913.