Jim:
The information you gave me (concerning canoe travel) is very
valuable as I am trying to calculate distance from a
point near Harrellsville upriver, that would take
three days to accomplish.
This comes from Ralph
Lane's conversation with King Menatonon concerning how
to get to Chesapeake Bay from
Chawanook.
Menatonon said "by canoeing three days up his
river of Chawanook you could descend to the land and
by traveling four days to the northeast, you would come
out on a bay."
(On) the 1733 Moseley Map ~ you'll see trails
and the creeks ~ and you'll see a trail near Somerton
going off the map to the NE.
It is my opinion that
this is the trail "DOROTHIE" was headed for, when she
was taken off course and up Bennetts Creek.
Thanks again.
~Don
~~~~~
Don:
I am really intrigued by your quote of Menatonon and Lane, concerning the Chawanook.
I don't know if this has occurred to you, but in NE NC, we always looked at maps of our state with just a few miles of VA at the top.
The mistake that arises from this view is obvious.
We consider the Chowan as not a Virginia river.
But forget today's names, and trace the "Blackwater" from its source in VA down the "Chowan" to Edenton in NC, and here you probably have the river that Menatonon was talking about.
The Nottaway joins the Blackwater from the west just inside NC.
A few miles further south, Somerton Creek comes in from the east, roughly parallel to the state line.
The Blackwater-Chowan combination always has been capable of carrying big boats ~ and big barges.
The Chowan-Blackwater reaches to within just a few land miles of the James River (and present-day "Jamestown").
Proceeding north on the Chowan-Blackwater, you could go ashore anywhere from Somerton north and be within hiking distance of the Big Bay Water.
The further you went up the Blackwater, the easier it would be to reach the James.
You could pull ashore at South Quay, on the Blackwater southeast of Franklin, and trek in the direction of Holland, or you could stay on the Blackwater until you were due west of Smithfield, and here the walk to the James River or a tributary might not take more than one day.
I doubt seriously that the Indians were as strung up on maps and the VA-NC line as we are today.
To the Indians of the area, it would have been the "Chawanook" just as far as it would take them.
And if the Colonists knew what the Indian chief told Lane, they ~ using small boats and canoes ~ almost certainly would have chosen the Chowan-Blackwater (the "Chawanook") instead of the Atlantic Ocean, or Currituck Sound or the shorter rivers.
"Three days by canoe and four days by land" ~ only one week, away from the stormy shores ~ would have been too much temptation for unhappy people to resist.
Whether they were sidetracked ~ or murdered ~ or assimilated ~ is another story, still there for researchers to uncover.
~Jim
~~~~~~~~~
For the Indians as well as early English settlers, the waterways were the roadways for all distance travel in NE NC and SE VA.
The series of maps below will help the reader get a better idea of the almost endless possibilities in the region for water travel by canoe, kayak and other small watercraft.
