Tag: Port Royal VA

Wikipedia says: Port Royal is an incorporated town in Caroline County, Virginia, United States.

Port Royal was established in the mid-17th century in the Colony of Virginia primarily as a port at the head of the navigable reach of the Rappahannock River for export of tobacco, Virginia’s cash crop. The town was also set along an early stage road, which brought passengers and freight for embarkation upon the river there.

17th century origins

Port Royal is one of the area’s oldest towns. It was first established in 1652 as a port at the head of sea-going navigation on the Rappahannock River during an era when waterways were the fastest and easiest method of transportation of people and property in the British colony of Virginia. It was an important point for export of tobacco, Virginia’s cash crop.

Local tradition holds that Port Royal was named after the Roy family. Dorothy Roy and her husband John owned a warehouse chartered by the crown, a ferry service across the Rappahannock River to King George County, and a tavern. In the 21st century, the chimneys of the Roy house are preserved landmarks in the town.

Port Royal was incorporated as a town in 1744. The “town green”, upon which stands today the Town Hall and the firehouse, was forever reserved “for public and civic use”.

19th century

Shipping of property from the port began to decline after completion of railroads which began in Virginia in the 1830s. The last scheduled passenger ship service ended in 1932, supplanted by highways. However, Port Royal was served by the new highways which became U.S. Route 17 and U.S. Route 301, with their crossroads at Port Royal.

Probably Port Royal’s most notable claim to fame is that John Wilkes Booth was killed about two miles outside town by Sgt. Boston Corbett, part of a contingent of federal troops, at the now obsolete Garrett farmstead on April 26, 1865, after Booth assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865 at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. Booth escaped through southern Maryland and across the Potomac River (twice – as the tidal forces carried them back to Maryland on the first try) as well as the Rappahannock River before being cornered in a tobacco barn on the Garrett farm at sunrise. Shot through the neck and instantly paralyzed, Booth died on the porch of the Garrett house (carried there after falling in the barn). One of his accomplices in the murder who was with him and captured at the Garrett farm, David Herold, was tried, convicted and hanged on July 7, 1865, along with other conspirators.