On a personal level, I've always thought "Chickahominy River" was an exceptionally optimistic euphemism. It's more accurately the Chickahominy Swamp, and covers a very large area. The bridge in question was once entirely under water for a brief time thanks to the industriousness of a family of beavers. Bottoms Bridge became an extremely quiet wide spot in the road when I-64 was extended East from Richmond. Prior to that route 60 was full of summer traffic to the NC beaches. n Wed, 31 Jul 2002 12:26:04 -0400 "COUNTRY.GARDENS" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Bottoms Bridge > Bottoms Bridge was named after the Bottoms > family who built the first bridge > there in the early 1700s. Lafayette camped near > there on May 4, 1781, and > Cornwallis camped there in pursuit of Lafayette > on May 28. Later, in 1862, > Bottoms Bridge was used by General McClellan's > army to cross the > Chickahominy in their advance on Richmond. It > is in New Kent County. >

I totally agree with Rebecca about the swampiness of the Chickahominy, however, along Rt. 5, leaving Williamsburg, heading toward Richmond, the Chickahominy actually begins to resemble a real river and even warrants its own bridge that is part of Rt. 5. For those of us who grew up in the "real" tide water area, along the lower James and the Hampton Roads and the Bay, it takes quite a bit of "real" water to qualify for a "river". My friends & relatives from Georgia who are accustomed to the Chattahoochee "River" look at the lower James and gasp. The Mighty James is, indeed, an awesome sight. And it is so stirring to gaze upon it and imagine the sturdy little 17th century ships that scooted up and down its shores, bringing our brave and worthy ancestors from England to Jamestown. Deane Mills York County Virginia P.S. Neither is the York exactly a stream bed! ----- Original Message ----- From: " Rebecca Emmett" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 3:33 PM Subject: Re: [VAHENRIC] Fw: Bottoms' Bridge > On a personal level, I've always thought "Chickahominy River" was an > exceptionally optimistic euphemism. It's more accurately the Chickahominy > Swamp, and covers a very large area. The bridge in question was once entirely > under water for a brief time thanks to the industriousness of a family of > beavers. Bottoms Bridge became an extremely quiet wide spot in the road when > I-64 was extended East from Richmond. Prior to that route 60 was full of > summer traffic to the NC beaches. > > > n Wed, 31 Jul 2002 12:26:04 -0400 "COUNTRY.GARDENS" <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > Bottoms Bridge > > Bottoms Bridge was named after the Bottoms > > family who built the first bridge > > there in the early 1700s. Lafayette camped near > > there on May 4, 1781, and > > Cornwallis camped there in pursuit of Lafayette > > on May 28. Later, in 1862, > > Bottoms Bridge was used by General McClellan's > > army to cross the > > Chickahominy in their advance on Richmond. It > > is in New Kent County. > > > > > ==== VAHENRIC Mailing List ==== > Please do not send attachments to the list.Some people have problems > opening attachments. If you want to send an attachment to someone on the list email it privately to them. > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >