Varina, Virginia

Information about Varina, Virginia

Varina (Va-ry-nah) is a former town and current magisterial district in the easternmost portion of Henrico County, Virginia, USA.

Varina was named for Varina Farms, a plantation on the James River about 35 miles upstream from the first settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, and across the river from Sir Thomas Dale's 1611 settlement at Henricus.

Varina Farms plantation

In 1612, English colonist John Rolfe introduced the cultivation of a special strain of tobacco for export to England, which was much better-liked by the Europeans than a harsher form which grew naturally in Virginia. A plantation estate at Varina Farms was the home of John Rolfe and Pocahontas for two years following their marriage in 1614 and was the birthplace of their son, Thomas Rolfe in 1615. Varina Farms was named for a mild variety of the tobacco from Spain which was similar to the non-native strain Rolfe used in developing the cash crop that salvaged the struggling colony and formed the basis of early Virginia prosperity.

County seat and town

The area which included the future Varina was part of Henrico Cittie (sic), an incorporation formed in 1619 by the Virginia Company of London. Henricus was clearly the central development of Henrico Cittie. However, although Henricus was wiped out and not rebuilt after the Indian Massacre of 1622, a tiny village grew up on Rolfe's Plantation which was called both "Varina" and "Henrico Parish". When the original eight shires of Virginia (later renamed counties) were formed in 1634, Varina became the county seat of Henrico.

Varina was established as an unincorporated town in 1680. It featured a courthouse, a church for Henrico Parish, and commercial buildings, such as a tavern. The Henrico Glebe house at Varina was the location where Reverend Dr. James Blair is believed to have drawn up the plans for new school which became the College of William and Mary in 1693 after his mission to England at the request of the House of Burgesses. The royal charter for the new school resurrected one of the dreams of the colonists which had been lost at Henricus in 1622.

Varina remained the county seat of Henrico County until 1752, when the seat was relocated to the growing city of Richmond, located at the head of navigation on the north side of the James River. A few years earlier, in 1741, the Henrico Parish church had also been relocated to the present location of St. John's Episcopal Church in the Church Hill section of Richmond.

19th century, American Civil War

After the emergence of Richmond as a major community and port in the mid-18th century, and as land transportation became better, the location of Varina, which was not on any major roadway, became more isolated, gradually slipping into primarily farming use.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Varina was known as "Aiken's Landing", and came into frequent use for the exchange of Union and Confederate prisoners.

Modern times

In modern times, Varina Farm (as it is now called) is still actively cultivated as a working farm, and is privately owned. However, the site of the former town of Varina can be seen from Interstate 295 to the east just north of the Varina-Enon Bridge.

Trivia

There is a common misconception that Varina was named in honor of Varina (née Howell) Davis (1826-1905), who was the wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. That could not be possible because Varina Howell was born more than 200 years after Rolfe established Varina Farms in 1614. However, Mrs. Davis was admired in the Richmond area. It is likely that after the American Civil War, the further and wider use of the name "Varina" locally may be partially attributed to her reputation as the First Lady of the Lost Cause.

External links

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• • [ e] The Greater Richmond Region
Regional Divisions	Richmond, Virginia Richmond Neighborhoods
Surrounding Counties	Chesterfield Hanover Henrico Goochland
Other Counties	Amelia Caroline Charles City Cumberland Dinwiddie King and Queen King William Louisa New Kent Powhatan Prince George Sussex

town is a community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. Usually, a "town" is thought of as larger than a village but smaller than a "city".
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Minor civil division (MCD) is a term used by the United States Census Bureau to designate the primary governmental and/or administrative divisions of a county, such as a civil township, precinct, or magisterial district. MCDs exist in 28 states and the District of Columbia.
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Henrico County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of the 2006 population estimate, the county's population has risen to 285,000, an increase of 8.5 percent over the 2000 census.
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plantation is usually a large farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country, on which cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar cane, or trees and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers.
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The James River in the U.S. state of Virginia is 660 km (410 miles) long including its Jackson River source and drains a watershed comprising 27,019 km² (10,432 square miles). The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.
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This article may be too long.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page and help summarize or split the content into subarticles of an article series. Located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony, was founded on May 14, 1607.
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The Colony of Virginia (also known frequently as the Virginia Colony and occasionally as the Dominion and Colony of Virginia) was the English colony in North America that existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American
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Sir Thomas Dale (d. August 19, 1619) was a British naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in Virginia, which established order and in
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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
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885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

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The "Citie of Henricus" , also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town, was a city founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around Jamestown Settlement, Virginia. It was named for Prince Henry, the eldest son of King James I.
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John Rolfe (c. 1585 – 1622) was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan
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Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana.

Tobacco has been growing on the American Continent since about 6000 BC and began being used by native cultures at about 3000 BC.
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In economics, an export is any good or commodity, transported from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade.
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Pocahontas (c. 1595 – bur. March 21 1617^[1]) was a Native American woman who married an Englishman, John Rolfe, and became a celebrity in London in the last year of her life.
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16th century - 17th century - 18th century
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Thomas Rolfe (January 30, 1615 - c. 1675) was the only child of Pocahontas by her English husband John Rolfe.

Rolfe was born at Smith's Plantation in Jamestown, Virginia. After growing up in England, he returned to Virginia in 1635.
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Motto
"Plus Ultra" (Latin)
"Further Beyond"
Anthem
"Marcha Real" ¹
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In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for money. The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family.
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Henrico City (or cittie as it was then called) was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor, the Virginia Company. The plantations and developments were divided into four "incorporations" or "citties", as they were called.
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The London Company (also called the Charter of the Virginia Company of London) was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
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Indian massacre of 1622 (also known as the Jamestown Massacre) occurred in the Virginia Colony on Good Friday, March 22, 1622. About 347 people ^[1], or almost one-third of the English population of Jamestown, were killed by a coordinated series of surprise attacks
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The eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. These shires were based on a form of local government used in England at the time, and were redesignated as counties a few years later.
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Not to be confused with a country.

A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count.
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17th century - 18th century
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A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there.
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unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality. To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, i.e., a city or town with its own government.
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