Orange County Road Orders, 1734-1749

About the report:

The establishment and maintenance of public roads were among the most important functions of the county court during the colonial period in Virginia. Each road was opened and maintained by an overseer (or surveyor) of the highways, who was appointed each year by the Gentlemen Justices. The overseer was usually assigned all the able-bodied men (the "Labouring Male Tithables") living on or near the road. These laborers then furnished their own tools, wagons, and teams and were required to work on the roads for six days each year. County court records relating to roads and transportation are collectively known as "road orders." The Virginia Transportation Research Council's published volumes of road orders and related materials contain not only information on early roads, but also the names of inhabitants who lived and worked along the roadways, plantations, farms, landmarks, landforms, and bodies of water. The road orders contained in this volume cover the period from the creation of Orange County from Spotsylvania in 1734 through the creation of Culpeper County from Orange in 1748-49. As such, they are the principal extant evidence concerning the early road development of a vast area of the Virginia Piedmont and of the Valley, stretching as far as the New River near Blacksburg in Montgomery County.

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