Warwick was an unincorporated town and port in Chesterfield County, Virginia, located on the navigable portion of the James River about 5 miles south of downtown Richmond, Virginia (and east of the Fall Line). Due to a sandbar in the river, although the falls did not begin until the river reached Richmond and Manchester, Warwick was as far upriver as many ships of the day could safely navigate. Regarding navigation on the James River, in his Notes on the State of Virginia, written in 1781–82, then-Governor Thomas Jefferson stated "Vessels of 250 tons may go to Warwick"
Chesterfield County is a county located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court House.
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Greater Richmond Region. Richmond was incorporated in 1742 and has been an independent city since 1871.
The Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line, or Fall Zone, is a 900-mile (1,400 km) escarpment where the Piedmont and Atlantic coastal plain meet in the eastern United States. Much of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line passes through areas where no evidence of faulting is present.
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In 1619, Falling Creek Ironworks was established in the Virginia Colony near the future site of Warwick. The first in what became the United States, the facilities were destroyed and most of the colonists there killed during the Indian Massacre of 1622 on Good Friday, March 22, 1622.
Falling Creek Ironworks was the first iron production facility in North America. It was established by the Virginia Company of London in Henrico Cittie (sic) on Falling Creek near its confluence with the James River. It was short-lived due to an attack by Native Americans in 1622.
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at Calvary, the divine mercy and the redemption of all people. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. It is also known as Holy Friday and Great Friday.
Warwick, just west of where a local tributary, Falling Creek, has its confluence with the river, was in existence from 1730 to 1781. It was an important port and manufacturing center. During the American Revolutionary War, Warwick's craftsmen turned out clothing and shoes, and its mills ground flour and meal for the Continental troops stationed at Chesterfield Courthouse. It was also an important center for manufacturing of naval equipment for Virginia's Continental Navy fleet. [1] On April 30, 1781, General Benedict Arnold's British troops burned the town, destroying ships, warehouses, mills, tannery storehouses, and ropewalks. The town of Warwick no longer exists, but its place in history is noted on a Virginia Historical Marker nearby.
Falling Creek is a tributary of the James River located near Richmond, Virginia. Approximately 23 miles (37 km) in length, it varies in width between 10 feet (3.0 m) at its source to several hundred feet in the Falling Creek Reservoir. Falling Creek rises in the Salisbury section of northwestern Chesterfield County, flows through Southside Richmond and empties into the James River roughly one mile south of the Richmond city limits. A dam located in the Meadowbrook section of the county at Hopkins Road forms the Falling Creek Reservoir, formerly used as northern Chesterfield's drinking water supply.
The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was an 18th-century war between Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies which declared independence as the United States of America.
Chesterfield Court House is an unincorporated community that is the county seat of Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. It was a census-designated place (CDP) at the 2000 census, at which time its population was 3,558. It was not delineated as a CDP for the 2010 census. The Chesterfield County Courthouse and Courthouse Square are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The area is also home of the Chesterfield County Government Complex.
In modern times, the Port of Richmond's facility known locally as Richmond Deepwater Terminal includes part of the former site of Warwick.
