As I have researched my colonial ancestors in Virginia (all of whom, it seems, either died there or moved on South or West), I have read many court records. This is where I have come across information about ferries--who operated them, under whose authority (generally the court's), and the prices set for ferrying humans, animals, etc. The best way, I find, to find out whether court records exist for the particular county in which you are interested is to search the Family History Library Catalog on <A HREF="www.familysearch.org">www.familysearch.org</A> The link to the catalog (the link I prefer) is on the lower right of the screen. Do a place search--say, Halifax Co., VA [leave out the word county and lower case is OK] and go down the list of topics for that county. Under court records, you could find out whether any still exist and whether they have been filmed. So many records of Virginia have been destroyed that we are very lucky when they do exist. You can borrow the films, for a limited time, through your nearby LDS family history center. Some of these court records have been transcribed and published. That is handy, because then the book is indexed, where it is seldom one finds the filmed handwritten court records are indexed. But you cannot always borrow the book, but most of the time you can borrow the film from Salt Lake City, for a small fee. I find court records are fascinating, and sometimes they tell us things we would rather not know--especially if we are harboring delusions of grandeur. There are indentures of servants, fines, jury trials, bastardy bonds, etc. Oh, yes, and ordinaries (taverns) were also licensed and controlled by the courts. Those are interesting accounts. And everybody sued everybody, especially for debt, but occasionally for battery, and so on. I find people, especially newbies, are consumed with wanting to find gravestones, when those are generally a new-fangled artifact. I prefer to spend my time reading filmed court records and deeds--but to each his own!!! E.W.Wallace