Lost Colony

Mason County · U. S. 35 at Beech Hill · location approximate

In 1772, Washington patented 10,990 acres across the Great Kanawha River. In 1775, he had James Cleveland and William Stevens lead colonists there. Land was cleared; orchards planted; houses built. But when war ended, the colony was gone.

1937 text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native and Black people, and tells frontier history from the settler's side.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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Marker data: State Road Commission of West Virginia, West Virginia Historic and Scenic Highway Markers (1937), text by Ross B. Johnston

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