Carysbrook | |
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  Carysbrook Location in Virginia  Carysbrook Carysbrook (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 37°48′45″N78°14′33″W / 37.81250°N 78.24250°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State | Virginia |
| County | Fluvanna County |
| Elevation | 96 m (315 ft) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1492723 |
Carysbrook is an unincorporated community in Fluvanna County, in the U.S. state of Virginia.
Carysbrook is located about two miles northwest of Dixie and three miles southeast of Palmyra on U.S. Route 15 (James Madison Highway).
The name Carysbrook came from the colonial era plantation named for the Cary family. The Cary Plantation sprawled over thousands of acres along the banks of the Rivanna River, encompassing fertile bottomland where tobacco and other crops were grown. Wilson Miles Cary moved his family to his Fluvanna plantation, Carysbrook, in 1777 because the British were too close to his Williamsburg home. This newcomer, with ties of kinship to the Jefferson family, set himself up as a leader of the new county of Fluvanna. The Cary family's numerous slaves cultivated the land and tended to the rambling plantation home.
The Virginia Air Line Railway ran through Carysbrook. A small group of buildings and businesses associated with the railroad grew up around where the railroad crossed U.S. 15. A U.S. Post Office was established at Carysbrook. The train traveled from Strathmore Yard on the James River, to Cohasset, Carysbrook, Palmyra, Troy and on to Gordonsville or Charlottesville. There was a stone quarry near Carysbrook that quarried the granite for the railroad's bridges. The railroad bridge over the Rivanna River remains standing today to the north of Carysbrook, but is privately owned. The railroad was completed and began operating in October 1908. This branch route was built to handle cargo that would have otherwise been too tall or wide to fit through the tunnels that crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro. Coal destined for Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia was sent down the James River Line to the southern junction of the route at Strathmore Yard, near Bremo Bluff. The shipments then proceeded up the Virginia Air Line to the northern junction at Lindsay, and continued on to Gordonsville.
The railway also became an important line of communication that connected the small communities along the route with larger cities, such as Washington, D.C. C&O began to operate the company directly in July 1909, and acquired it outright in July 1912. In 1927, dedicated passenger rail service was reduced to one train per day in each direction, and replaced by mixed (passenger and freight) trains in June 1932. Mixed trains stopped running in 1954. The growing adoption of automobiles, trucks and airplanes had been taking business away from railroads since the 1930s.
On October 26, 1971, the Fluvanna Board of Supervisors unsuccessfully sued the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad to keep the railway in operation; it was abandoned in November 1975. At one point there were a few small businesses surrounding the railroad tracks in Carysbrook to include a station, grocery store and post office. A few manufacturing plants opened in Carysbrook in the 1960s and 1970s but have since ceased operations.
The original Fluvanna County High School was built at Carysbrook and completed in 1934. The high school moved next to Fluvanna Junior High School (former Abrams High School) in 1976. Today the former F.C.H.S. campus and playing fields are used by the county parks & rec and other community organizations. Carysbrook Elementary School (formerly Fluvanna Middle School) is located on U.S. Route 15 across the old railroad tracks from the old F.C.H.S. football/baseball stadium.
Fluvanna County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,249. Its county seat is Palmyra, while the most populous community is the census designated place of Lake Monticello.
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Charlotte. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 46,553. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the City of Charlottesville with Albemarle County for statistical purposes, bringing its population to approximately 150,000. Charlottesville is the heart of the Charlottesville metropolitan area, which includes Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, and Nelson counties.
Columbia, formerly known as Point of Fork, is an unincorporated community and census designated place in Fluvanna County, Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the James and Rivanna rivers. Following a referendum, Columbia was dissolved as an incorporated town – until that time the smallest in Virginia – on July 1, 2016. As of the 2010 census, the town's population was 83, up from 49 at the 2000 census.
Lake Monticello, a private gated community, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fluvanna County, Virginia, United States. The population was 10,126 at the 2020 census. The community is centered on a lake of the same name, which is formed by a dam on a short tributary of the nearby Rivanna River. Lake Monticello is part of the Charlottesville Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lake Monticello was developed in the 1960s as a summer vacation home community but quickly evolved into a bedroom community of Charlottesville, and to a smaller extent of Richmond. It also has a sizable retirement age population.
The Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) was a railroad in Virginia, United States. Chartered in 1848, it eventually extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. The road played a crucial role in the American Civil War, saw the first of many mergers in 1867, and eventually became an important part of the modern-day Norfolk Southern rail system.
The Virginia Central Railroad was an early railroad in the U.S. state of Virginia that operated between 1850 and 1868 from Richmond westward for 206 miles (332 km) to Covington. Chartered in 1836 as the Louisa Railroad by the Virginia General Assembly, the railroad began near the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad's line and expanded westward to Orange County, reaching Gordonsville by 1840. In 1849, the Blue Ridge Railroad was chartered to construct a line over the Blue Ridge Mountains for the Louisa Railroad which reached the base of the Blue Ridge in 1852. After a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Louisa Railroad was allowed to expand eastward from a point near Doswell to Richmond.
Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dillwyn, Virginia in the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) station, itself a historic landmark in the community. The railroad was featured in the January 2012 issue of Trains Magazine. It is referenced in the How It’s Made episode “Railway Bridge Ties”, showing it crossing a curved bridge.
Bremo Bluff is an unincorporated community located on the northern bank of the James River in Fluvanna County, Virginia, United States. The locale was established by the Cocke family in 1636. During the American Civil War, the family of General Robert E. Lee sought refuge in the community. It is home to Bremo Power Station, which, at one point, generated 3 percent of the total electricity delivered by utility company Dominion Energy.
Virginia Air Line Railroad (VAL) was a short-line railroad that operated from 1908 to 1975 in Central Virginia. It was built by the Virginia Air Line Railway Company to connect the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad's (C&O) Piedmont Subdivision at Lindsay, Virginia, to the Rivanna Subdivision of C&O's James River Line at Strathmore Yard, near Bremo Bluff, Virginia.
The Richmond and Alleghany Railroad was built along the James River along the route of the James River and Kanawha Canal from Richmond on the Fall Line at the head of navigation to a point west of Lynchburg near Buchanan, Virginia, and combined with the Buchanan and Clifton Forge Railway Company to reach Clifton Forge, Virginia.
The Rivanna River is a 42.1-mile-long (67.8 km) tributary of the James River in central Virginia in the United States. The Rivanna's tributaries originate in the Blue Ridge Mountains; via the James River, it is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay.
U.S. Route 15 (US 15) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Walterboro, South Carolina, to Painted Post, New York. In Virginia, the U.S. Highway runs 230.37 miles (370.74 km) from the North Carolina state line near Clarksville north to the Maryland state line at the Potomac River near Lucketts. US 15 is a major north–south highway through the Piedmont of Virginia, connecting Clarksville and Farmville in Southside with Culpeper, Warrenton, and Leesburg in Northern Virginia.
State Route 53 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Thomas Jefferson Parkway, the state highway runs 18.32 miles (29.48 km) from SR 20 near Charlottesville east to U.S. Route 15 in Palmyra. SR 53 connects the county seats of Albemarle and Fluvanna counties. The state highway also provides access to the community of Lake Monticello and Monticello, the estate of Thomas Jefferson. The route of SR 53 became a state highway in 1930; the highway receives its present designation in 1947.
Palmyra is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Fluvanna County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 104. Palmyra lies on the eastern bank of the Rivanna River along U.S. Route 15. The ZIP code for Palmyra and surrounding rural land is 22963.
Fluvanna County High School is a public school about two miles west of Palmyra, Virginia on Virginia State Route 53. It opened in 1934 as one of the first county consolidated high schools in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. The school is noted for its unique nickname, the Flying Flucos.
U.S. Route 250 is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from Sandusky, Ohio to Richmond, Virginia. In Virginia, the highway runs 166.74 miles (268.34 km) from the West Virginia state line near Hightown east to its eastern terminus at US 360 in Richmond. US 250 is the main east–west highway of Highland County, which is known as Virginia's Little Switzerland; the highway follows the path of the 19th century Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike. From Staunton east to Richmond, the highway serves as the local complement to Interstate 64 (I-64), roughly following the 18th century Three Notch'd Road through Waynesboro and Charlottesville on its way through the Shenandoah Valley, its crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap, and the Piedmont. In the Richmond metropolitan area, US 250 is known as Broad Street, a major thoroughfare through the city's West End and downtown areas.
Troy is an unincorporated community in Fluvanna County, Virginia, United States. It lies just west of U.S. Route 15, between Zion Crossroads to the north and the county seat of Palmyra to the south. Troy's existence was defined by the Virginia Air Line Railway, which operated from 1908 to 1975. In 1998, the Virginia Department of Corrections opened the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in the area.
Cohasset is an unincorporated community in Fluvanna County, in the U.S. state of Virginia located about two miles west of Fork Union on State Route 6.
The Fast Flying Virginian (FFV) was a named passenger train of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.
The Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway (C&A) was a short electric street railroad operating within the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, during the early 20th century. The line was preceded by several streetcar lines operating both horse-drawn and electric powered cars dating back to 1887. After facing financial difficulties, the predecessor lines were reorganized into the C&A in 1903. The C&A's electric streetcars operated off of an overhead line system that was powered by the railroad's own power plant. The C&A also offered electric power generated by its plant to the city of Charlottesville. During the mid-1910s, the line received numerous upgrades, including the construction of a new power plant on the Rivanna River, a new company headquarters building, expansion of track, and the purchase of new streetcars.
Municipalities and communities of Fluvanna County, Virginia, United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |