Maynard, you may recall that last December you posted a notice to the list about Flowerdew Hundred, the large spread of land that once belonged to Joshua Poythress. You visited there in November when the site was largely closed to visitors. For visiting times see http://www.flowerdew.org/ Yesterday, I made a day trip to the James River area of the ancestors, passing Turkey Island (not really an island), Shirley Plantation of the Lees, Berkeley Plantation, home of the Harrisons, Westover, home of the Byrds (on land once owned by Theoderick Bland) and then in a 15 minute drive over the James River to Flowerdew Hundred. I expected to be there a half an hour, but was quite amazed after several hours. On approaching the small museum on the property a young lady popped out and immediately said the house on the property was new but we could visit the museum and take a bus tour of the archeological sights. The museum was interesting, but the bus tour, which included two knowledgeable experts from the foundation, my husband and me, took us on the five or six miles on rough roads along the river past planted fields, a swamp, and included many water birds, and four wild turkeys! The turkeys--which flew up into the trees--were apparently a treat for our guides, too. It was definitely a case of serendipity. Being there somewhat late in the day, heavy humidity, the staff was apparently enjoyed having some interested visitors at the end of a quiet day. Without a house to see, the site suffers in comparison to the lovely plantations minutes away. The Flowerdew Hundred visitors often include school children interested in the wildlife and the reproduction of a windmill (2 times the original size), birders, or serious history buffs. My husband spilled the beans immediately that I was interested in the Poythress family, and they asked me some questions, too. Apparently they also have many visitors from families who have ancestors once living there including Gov. Yeardly (whose wife was Temperance Flowerdew, source of the name), but not too many of the Poythress branch. The museum has a very lovely small picture of Susanna Peachy Poythress 1785-1815 [(P-1) BAA AA][Daughter of Joshua III) and her husband's portrait in oil. He is John V. Willcox. The place apparently passed to a descendant named Brown. It is not owned by any of this family now. They didn't seem to know anything about Peter Poythress of Flower de Hundred, which is the same place as far as I can tell. Perhaps Peter rented land, for at one time there were many people living along the river. If any one can clarify this issue, please. A map in the museum had the name of the area also called Fleur de Hondred, apparently a French version. The museum has many artifacts from the 400 years since settlement. (And a whale tooth from prehistoric times, Indian artifacts). The 100 acres are still run as a working farm, growing mostly soybeans, but they have apparently started a small patch of an early variety of tobacco, which must have already been harvested. It is hard to convey in a nutshell four hundred years of history. But the staff showed us the same cypress that General Lee saw during the Civil War, and which appears in photographs of the time. This is at the spot of the Pontoon crossing (in Maynard's note). What interested me most was this drive along the James River, which was apparently a widely traveled road in Colonial times. There were found at one dig site remains of a tavern road house there, not that any structure remains. In the 1700s there was a Ferry crossing the James, which is at least a mile wide there, perhaps more. Many of the old trails are still in existence, and the property still probably looks much as it did throughout its history. It seems that most of the plantations built on Flowerdew (including the Selden) were built away from the River. On the north side of the river, most of the plantations have river views. The staff says that so much archeological material has been collected at the sight by various university groups that they had to halt further digging until the material in hand could be analyzed. Apparently if you join the foundation, you are invited to use their research library on the site. See Maynard's email in the archives for more information. http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/textindices/P/POYTHRESS +2000+90185116+F One further note of interest to any Bland descendants, there is a new residential development on Jordan's point (a few miles away) and apparently they dug up Richard Bland and moved him! This is the Richard Bland that married Anne Poythress. I think she must have been moved too. But this is something I have not really investigated. Diana