Travel back in time and explore West Point through the years
Pre-1600s
The first settlement on the site of what is now called West Point was the Indian village of Cinquoteck used by the Powhatan Confederation.This village was ruled by the Indian Chief Opechancanough and was used as a staging ground for the 1622 uprising at Jamestown by the Powhatan Indians.
1600s
On March 6, 1653, John West (Governor of Virginia from 1635 to 1638) was granted 3000 acres of land including the Indian village of Cinquoteck. In April, 1691, an act required that a town be built at the site of West Point to serve as tobacco ports where taxes could be collected. The town was established in 1701 and named Delaware Town in honor of Thomas West, Lord Delaware, the older brother of Governor John West.
1700s
1776 – Carter Braxton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, moves to the area of West Point and later purchases the West Point Plantation land from the West Family.
1781 – During the Revolutionary War, the French under Lafayette, occupied and fortified West Point during the last two weeks of August 1781 while Cornwallis was in Yorktown.
1800s
1810- John Taylor brought the West Plantation from the Braxton estate and deeds the land to his son William Penn Taylor
1859 – A rail line was placed up the Pamunkey River from the White House New Kent to above the town of West point, including an iron drawbridge across the Pamunkey River.
1862 – During the Civil War, West Point was used as a Union camp after being captured in the peninsula Campaign.
1870 – July 11 – West Point was incorporated as a Town and became a center for recreation, with popular hotels and destinations.
1887 – The arrival of the 200-room Terminal Hotel heralded the town’s transformation to a resort destination from the shipping and cotton port of the South. Vacationers could then choose between regular train excursions or luxury steamship cruises to Baltimore.
