Richmond was the most prominent of
the towns that emerged at the fall
line of the James River
during Virginia's colonial
period. As early as 1608, the English settlers eyed a community near the
seven-mile-long series of rapids that divided the head of navigation at the river's
downstream end and the calm stretch of water upriver from it. The area provided a
series of strategic advantages: as a port, as a location for mills, and as a
. . .
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