First Settlement

First Settlement is a Virginia historical marker in Pulaski County, dedicated 1929.

Rte. 11, 1.9 miles south of Radford

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About five miles southwest is Dunkard Bottom, where Dr. Walker found a settlement in 1750. The fort there was built about 1756 and was the first fort in Virginia west of New River. The first store and first mill were also there. Error: Note that the first sentence of the marker is incorrect, and should read: About five miles southwest is Dunkard Bottom, where Dr. Walker founded a settlement in 1750.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1746 · A Map of the British Empire in America. (Sheet 10). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1794 · Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1807 · Map Of Virginia (lower center sheet) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1814 · Kentucky (Mathew Carey, 1814) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1891 · Dublin, Virginia (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

A Map of the British Empire in America. (Sheet 10), 1746, covering the location of First Settlement, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — A Map of the British Empire in America. (Sheet 10), 1746, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

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First Settlement

Historical maps covering this location

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