Orapax

New Kent County · dedicated 2008 · US Route 60 west of the intersection of State Route 249 at Bottoms Bridge

Powhatan, the paramount chief of many Virginia Algonquian tribes when the English first landed at Jamestown, lived near here at the town of Orapax, having moved from Werowocomoco in 1609 following conflicts with the English. The English boy Henry Spelman lived with Powhatan at Orapax for several months during 1609. By 1614, Powhatan had moved again to Matchcot on the Pamunkey River. In Captain John Smith's 1624 writings, Smith recounted that he had been taken to Orapax after being captured near the Chickahominy River in 1607 by men of several tribes who were under the leadership of Opechancanough, Powhatan’s military leader.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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