Ingles Ferry

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Ingles Ferry

| nrhp_type =

| designated_other1 = Virginia Landmarks Register

| designated_other1_date = May 13, 1969{{cite web|title=Virginia Landmarks Register|url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_counties_cities.htm|publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources|accessdate=5 June 2013}}

| designated_other1_number = 077-0013

| designated_other1_num_position = bottom

| image = Ingles Ferry Post Card 1908.jpg

| caption = Ingles Ferry in 1908

| location = Radford, Virginia, USA

| coordinates = {{coord|37|6|3|N|80|35|30|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Virginia#USA

| built = 1772 (tavern)

| architecture =

| added = November 25, 1969

| area = {{convert|2|acre}}

| refnum = 69000275{{NRISref|2009a}}

}}

Ingles Ferry (sometimes referred to as English Ferry) is the site of a historic ferry crossing on the New River in western Virginia, near the city of Radford in Pulaski County, Virginia, United States. A tavern was opened there in 1772 and the ferry served soldiers and civilians until 1948. A bridge was built at the site in 1842 but was burned during the civil war. The tavern and replicas of the 18th-century home of the Ingles family can be seen nearby.

History

The ford was in use by Native Americans when Europeans arrived in the area, and initially was known as Eagle Bottom.Jim Page and Sherry Joines Wyatt, [https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/89453/SR_v21_page.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y "The Nigh and Best Way": The Early Development of Roads in Montgomery County"], The Smithfield Review, Volume 21, 2017.{{rp|75}} William Ingles and his wife Mary Draper Ingles began developing a farm on the eastern side of the New River a few years after Mary's capture by Shawnee Indians and her subsequent escape in 1755.[http://www.ingelshistory.com/ingels-ingles--english.html Ingels History] As early as 1760, William was making money ferrying troops across the New River during the Anglo-Cherokee War,{{rp|74}} and, realizing the value of the ferry, purchased the land from Dr. Thomas Walker.{{rp|109}} The November 1762 official authorization of Ingles Ferry set fees at 3 pence for man or horse.{{rp|74–75}} In 1766, Ingles applied for a license to operate an ordinary (tavern) there.[https://books.google.com/books?id=3zYSAAAAYAAJ Smith, Conway Howard. Colonial Days in the Land that Became Pulaski County. Pulaski County Library Board, 1975.]{{rp|99–101}} During the first few years of its existence, Indians frequently attacked the farm and ferry,[https://books.google.com/books?id=P14ttFn7D9oC&dq=ingles+ferry+virginia&pg=PA84 History of the Great Kanawha Valley (West Virginia): With Family History and Biographical Sketches: a Statement of Its Natural Resources, Industrial Growth and Commercial Advantages. Westminster, Md: Heritage Books, 2007]{{rp|84–93}}{{rp|7–8}} and Ingles constructed a small stockaded blockhouse, which he named Fort Hope, to protect his family and neighbors.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/126-0004_Nomination_REDACTED.pdf Junius R. Fishburne, "Nomination form, Ingles Bottom Archaeological Sites," Virginia Department of Historic Resources, June 15, 1976]{{rp|3}}

= Tavern =

File:Ingles Ferry Tavern 01.jpg File:Collections - State Historical Society of Wisconsin (1917) (14762954742).jpg

With the help of his brother-in-law John Draper, William completed construction of the Ingles Ferry Hill Tavern and blacksmith shop on the Pulaski County side of the river in 1772.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/077-0013/ Ingles Ferry], Virginia Department of Historic Resources, June 2, 2022.{{rp|99–101}} The tavern was a popular meeting place for travelers, with Daniel Boone,[https://www.theclio.com/entry/35728 Evan Benjamin and Daniel Holbrook. "Ingles Farm." Clio: Your Guide to History. May 4, 2017. Accessed September 11, 2023.] Andrew Jackson and George Rogers Clark among its patrons. In April 1797, Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and future King of France, crossed the river on the ferry, but did not stop at the tavern.[https://archive.org/details/diaryofmytravels0000loui Louis Philippe. Diary of My Travels in America: Louis Philippe, King of France, 1830-1848. New York: Delacorte Press, 1977.]{{rp|51}} William Clark (of Lewis and Clark) crossed on the ferry at least five times between 1801 and 1820.{{rp|76}}[https://www.radfordva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/416 Elmer Johnson, "Radford Then and Now: A Pictorial History," American Bicentennial Commission of Radford, Virginia, 1975]{{rp|13}}

William Ingles was in charge of improving and maintaining the road leading to and from Ingles Ferry, known at the time as Ingles Ferry Road or English Ferry Road.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/MY-057_Montgomery_Co_Recon_Survey_1986_CRMI_report_Vol_I.pdf "Montgomery County Reconnaissance Level Survey"], Vol. 1, July 1986, Historic Sites Survey: Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks.{{rp|36}} It later became a main thoroughfare and was part of the Great Wagon Road and the Wilderness Road.[http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/07-r32.pdf Ann Brush Miller, Betty E. Spillman and Shirley P. Thomas, "Historic Roads of Virginia: Fincastle County Road Orders, 1773-1776," New River Historical Society, 2007]

On 8 May 1779, Lord Henry Hamilton, a British prisoner of war, was being escorted under guard to Williamsburg and spent the night at the home of William and Mary Ingles. In his journal, Hamilton described the Ingles' home:

:8th. In the Evening crossed over in a ferry the new river or great Canhawa, and were kindly and hospitably received at the house of Colonel Ingles-- here we rested for an entire day...The Scenery about this house was romantic to a degree, the river very beautyfull, the hills well wooded, the low grounds well improved & well stocked, I thought...Mrs. Ingles had in her early years been carryed off with another young Woman by the Savages...however terror and distress had left so deep an impression on her mind that she appear'd absorbed in a deep melancholy.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080621150230/http://www.in.gov/history/4727.htm "Henry Hamilton's Journal: A Prisoner of War, March 8 to June 16, 1779"], Indiana Historical Bureau website.

By 1780, William Ingles owned 907 acres, 67 cattle,Richard Osborn, [http://libjournal.uncg.edu/jbc/article/view/27 "William Preston and the Revolutionary Settlement"], Journal of Backcountry Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, July, 2010. and ten slaves who ran his ferry and worked in his mills or in domestic capacities.{{rp|69}}[https://www.newrivernotes.com/montgomery-county-personal-property-tax-list-1782/ 1782 Montgomery County, Virginia Personal Property Tax List] Following his death in 1782, his son Thomas Ingles took over the operation of Ingles Ferry, in partnership with his brother John and his cousin Crockett.{{rp|75}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=eu4RAQAAIAAJ Kegley, Frederick Bittle., Kegley, Mary B. Early Adventurers on the Western Waters: The New River of Virginia in pioneer days, 1745-1800. Green Publishers, 1980.]{{rp|51}} Mary Draper Ingles died at Ingles Ferry in 1815.[https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/88235/SR_v19_mays.pdf?sequence Ryan S. Mays, "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756)," Part II, The Smithfield Review, Volume 19, 2015]

File:A new map of Virginia with Maryland, Delaware & v. LOC 2008621667.jpg

= Toll road =

After the American Revolutionary War, thousands of immigrants poured through the New River Valley on their way to the newly opened territories in Kentucky and Tennessee.[https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64500684_text Hugh Miller, "Prehistoric and Historic Resources of Montgomery County, Virginia," Virginia Department of Natural Resources, 2 Sept 1989]{{rp|6}} At times, as many as 30 or 40 wagons and teams would spend the night at the ferry.{{rp|13}} In 1805 William's son John Ingles and Andrew Lewis Jr. sponsored a bill before the Virginia General Assembly authorizing the Allegheny Turnpike (now known as the Valley Pike), so that tolls could be collected to support the maintenance of the road and the ferry, "because the cost of maintaining the previous public road in good condition had proved too great a burden." The turnpike, which opened in 1809, was 25 feet wide and more than seven miles in length. A gate and toll house were built near Shawsville.{{rp|79}}

Thomas Ingles, grandson of William and Mary Draper Ingles, acquired the ferry in 1832. By 1834, an estimated 20,000 people were using the ferry annually, including slaves being transported westward. Geographer George William Featherstonhaugh observed a caravan of 300 slaves crossing the river at Ingles Ferry in 1834.{{rp|75}} In the 1830s, Thomas refurbished and enlarged the tavern, which is still standing, and built a ferry house.{{rp|95–100}} He and several others incorporated The Lafayette and Ingles Ferry Turnpike Company in 1839.{{rp|115}} The state of Virginia macadamized (paved) the road in 1840.{{rp|114}}

= The Ingles Bridge and later years =

File:Bridge abutment at Ingles Ferry.jpgIn 1842, Thomas Ingles built a covered bridge across the New River at a cost of $17,000, but he continued to offer a ferry service until 1847.{{rp|76, 116}} The bridge was completed in February, 1843{{rp|4}} and was 28 feet wide, 20 feet above the water, and 600 feet long.{{rp|16}} By 1848, the bridge tolls added up to nearly $1,900 a year, but Ingles stated that "a large portion of the county people are permitted to cross free of charge."{{rp|117}} During subsequent years, tolls could exceed $1,000 per month.{{rp|16}} Revenue dropped after the construction in 1855 of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad bridge, about two miles downstream from Ingles Ferry.{{rp|114}}

On 9 May 1864, following the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain, the fleeing Confederate artillery crossed the New River on Ingles Bridge.[https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/PU-026_Pulaski_Town_Recon_Survey_1990_WORSHAM_report.pdf Pulaski County Reconnaissance Level Survey, National Park Service, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, September 1985]{{rp|52}} The bridge was subsequently burned by Union forces,Hale, John P., [https://books.google.com/books?id=wSpGQcJPLp4C Trans-Allegheny Pioneers (West Virginia and Ohio): Historical Sketches of the First White Settlers West of the Alleghenies, 1748 and After] (1886), Heritage Books, reprint, 2009.{{rp|114}} but the abutments on the west bank can still be seen.{{rp|117}} Ingles Ferry was the site of one of the final battles of the Civil War when, on 12 April 1865 (3 days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Virginia), a detachment of Union troops attempting to rejoin General George Stoneman skirmished with Confederate infantry. The troops had not yet received news of the surrender.{{rp|19}} In 1865, the Ingles Ferry was again put into operation and continued until 1939 when the last flat-bottom ferry boat sank with a load of coal.{{rp|76}} The ferry was briefly reactivated from 1944-1948.{{rp|56}} The 1840 ferry house remained in use until it was destroyed by fire in 1967.

File:Virginia and Tennessee Railroad map Dublin.png

A watercolor sketch by Lewis Miller dated 26 August 1859 depicts the covered Ingles Bridge and the Ingles farm next to the tavern, as seen from Lovely Mount.{{rp|74}}

Archaeology

File:Ingleside 1789 home of John Ingles in Radford Virginia.jpgThe Ingles Bottom Archeological Sites feature excavations investigating historic and prehistoric occupation of the area, including the Ingles family home, farm,[https://www.visitradford.com/170/Ingles-Farm "Ingles Farm," Radford Tourism] stables, and a family cemetery.[http://www.ingelshistory.com/2012---ingles-ferry-virginia.html "Ingels History: Ingles Ferry, Virginia] John Ingles' 1789 home, known as Ingleside, is also nearby.[https://books.google.com/books?id=NJa_64aH1iMC Calder Loth, The Virginia Landmarks Register, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 1999]{{rp|414}} Excavations initiated in 1974 covered 1400 square feet and found over 30,000 artifacts from the late 18th century. The dig uncovered a tannery as well as the foundation of the one-room cabin where Mary Draper Ingles lived during her final years, which measured 14.5 feet by 16 feet, and was still standing in 1910. Archaeologists also found evidence of a Native American village dating to 1250-1500 CE, as well as projectile points, bone tools and shellfish remains dating from ca. 3000-1500 BCE.{{rp|4}}

Legacy

File:Historical Marker at Ingles Ferry.jpgIn November 1969, the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.{{rp|4}}[http://www.virginiaoutdoorsfoundation.org/news/VOF_pub-082709_release.php Virginia Outdoors Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115144115/http://www.virginiaoutdoorsfoundation.org/news/VOF_pub-082709_release.php |date=2010-01-15 }} Retrieved 16 July 2010{{cite web|url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Pulaski/077-0013_Ingles_Ferry_Inn_1969_Final_Nomination.pdf|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Ingles Ferry |author=Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Staff|date= May 1969|publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources}} and [http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Pulaski/InglesFerry_Photo.htm Accompanying two photos] The property’s three owners, all direct descendants of Mary Draper Ingles, have donated a permanent conservation easement of the 313-acre tract to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The tavern as well as portions of the original Wilderness Road can be seen at the site. Replicas of the 18th-century home of the Ingles family can be seen on the eastern side of the river, and this area was also placed under permanent easement by the owner, another direct descendent of Mary Draper Ingles.[https://www.vof.org/2009/08/29/historic-ingles-ferry-farm-permanently-protected/ Jason McGarvey, "Historic Ingles Ferry Farm Permanently Protected," Virginia Outdoors Foundation News, August 29, 2009]

A historical marker was placed in 2022 at the intersection of West Main Street and Wilderness Road.[https://cardinalnews.org/2022/09/27/state-approves-historical-marker-for-ingles-ferry-in-radford/ "State approves historical marker for Ingles Ferry in Radford It is one of eight new markers approved statewide."] Cardinal News, September 27, 2022 A second historical marker at the intersection of Rock Road and Tyler Avenue, erected in 1998 by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, describes Ingles Ferry Road.[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=162755 Bernard Fisher, "Ingles Ferry Road Historical Marker," April 4, 2011]

External links

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WDlSh_g3s4 2007 Historic Lecture Series: Ingles Tavern & Wilderness Trail], Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation

Bibliography

Fitzpatrick, Francis Burke. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/866549455 History of Ingles Ferry - 1937]. Washington, District of Columbia: Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, 1990. Notes: Microfilm of original typescript (1937, carbon or mimeograph, 65 leaves). Contains history of Ingles Ferry and settlement and biographical sketches of Colonel William Ingles and Mary Draper Ingles.
John Preston McConnell Library. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/938646348 James Zoll Ingles Ferry Store Ledgers]: [Finding Aid]. Radford, Va: McConnell Library Archives and Special Collections, 2011. Summary: This contains two ledgers and a few supporting documents from a store owned by James Zoll that was at or near the site of Ingles Ferry near Radford, and operated ca. 1850-1870s.
Killen, Linda. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44405487 Ingles Ferry Ledgers: 1840s to 1880s]. [Virginia?]: [L. Killen], 1999. Notes: Includes index. Description: 96 pages; 28 cm. Responsibility: transcribed by Linda Killen.