View source for Henricus

{{short description|Archaeological site in Virginia, United States}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->
| name                    = Henricus
| official_name           = 
| native_name             = <!-- if different from the English name -->
| native_name_lang        = <!-- ISO 639-2 code e.g. "fr" for French. If more than one, use {{lang}} instead -->
| other_name              = Henricopolis, Henrie Town, Henrico
| settlement_type         = Town
| image_skyline           = Henricus_-_Reconstruction_of_Mt_Malady.JPG
 | imagesize               = 
| image_alt               = 
| image_caption           = Reconstruction of Mt. Malady, the first English hospital in America
| image                   = <!-- other image (specify File: or Image: namespace) -->
| nickname                = 
| motto                   = 
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| coordinates = {{coord|37.374|N|77.362|W|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes   = <!-- for references: use <ref> tags -->
<!-- location ------------------>
| subdivision_type        = Present Country
| subdivision_name        = [[United States of America]]
| subdivision_type1       = State
| subdivision_name1       = [[Virginia]]
| subdivision_type2       = 
| subdivision_name2       = <!-- etc., subdivision_type6 / subdivision_name6 -->
<!-- established --------------->
| established_title       = Established
| established_date        = {{Start date and age|1611}}
| established_title1      = <!-- Incorporated (town) -->
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| established_title2      = <!-- Incorporated (city) -->
| established_date2       = 
| established_title3      = 
| established_date3       = 
| extinct_title           = Abandoned
| extinct_date            = by 1622
| founder                 = [[Thomas Dale]]
| named_for               = [[Henry Frederick Stuart|Prince Henry]]
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{{Infobox NRHP
| embed                          = yes
| name                           = Henrico
| nrhp_type                      =
| designated_other1              = Virginia Landmarks Register
| designated_other1_date         = December 21, 1971<ref name=register>{{cite web|title=Virginia Landmarks Register|url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_counties_cities.htm|publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources|access-date=5 June 2013}}</ref>
| designated_other1_number       = 020-0709
| designated_other1_num_position = bottom
| nearest_city                   = [[Dutch Gap, Virginia|Dutch Gap]], [[Chesterfield County, Virginia|Chesterfield County]], [[Virginia]]
| locmapin                       = Virginia#USA
| built                          = 1611
| architect                      =
| architecture                   =
| added                          = April 13, 1972
| area                           = {{convert|12|acre}}
| refnum                         = 72001400<ref name=nris/>
}}
}}

The "Citie of '''Henricus'''"—also known as '''Henricopolis''', '''Henrico Town''' or '''Henrico'''—was a settlement in [[Virginia]] founded by [[Thomas Dale|Sir Thomas Dale]] in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original [[English overseas possessions|English settlement]] at [[Jamestown, Virginia]]. Named for [[Henry Frederick Stuart|Henry, Prince of Wales]] (1594–1612), the eldest son of [[James I of England|King James I]], Henricus is located on a former curl of the [[James River]] about 12 miles southeast of the modern city of [[Richmond, Virginia]] or 15 miles from the fall line of the James River.

Today, the settlement is interpreted via Henricus Historical Park, a [[Living museum|living history museum]]. It is surrounded by the Dutch Gap Conservation Area, an 810 acre mixture of woodlands and wetlands operated by Chesterfield County, Virginia. Captain Dale (who had previously served as a mercenary with Dutch forces) ordered a channel dug which attempted to shorten the river meander, hence the name Dutch Gap. As discussed below, the channel was re-dug during the American Civil War, which created [[Farrar's Island]], which after further dredging became the main course of the James River around 1870. The park and conservation area are on the [[Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail]].<ref>https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/walk-the-marshes-at-dutch-gap-conservation-area.htm</ref>

==History==
The second successful English colonial settlement in the New World, Henricus was opposite to the Native American village of  Arrohateck.  At the time, the [[Anglo-Powhatan Wars#First Anglo-Powhatan War|First Anglo-Powhatan War]] was raging, and the Indian tribes of Virginia offered continuous resistance to colonial settlement, largely orchestrated by native leader [[Nemattanew]] &mdash; or as the colonists knew him, "Jack-of-the-Feather". Before the development of Richmond, Henricus was one of the westernmost outlying developments from the Colony of Virginia's fortified capital downriver at Jamestown. In 1612–1613, a facility known as "Mt. Malady" was built nearby; it was the first hospital in the English colonies of North America.

This settlement was near where [[Pocahontas]] grew up among the [[Appomattoc]] tribe of the [[Tsenacommacah|Powhatan Confederacy]]. Reverend [[Alexander Whitaker]] converted her to [[Christianity]] during her captivity at Henricus under Sir [[Thomas Dale]], deputy governor of the colony. She met colonist [[John Rolfe]] during this time and they married on April 5, 1614. Rolfe's longtime friend, [[Richard Buck (chaplain)|Richard Buck]], presided at their wedding. They lived together across the river at the [[Varina Farms|Varina Farms Plantation]]. Their [[mixed-race]] son, [[Thomas Rolfe]] (named for Sir Thomas Dale, deputy governor of the colony of Virginia), was born on the plantation. His descendants were among many of the [[First Families of Virginia]] (FFV).

===Proposed college at Henricus===
The [[Virginia Company]] tried to found the first institution of higher education in [[British America]]. In 1618, they obtained a royal charter from King [[James VI and I|James I of England]] for a proposed University of Henrico. In 1619, the historic First [[Virginia General Assembly]] met at Jamestown and passed their 5th Petition: "Send men to erect the Colledge", referred to it as "A worke of Conversion", and set aside land for it adjacent to and above Henricus.<ref>Records of the Virginia Company: 1606-1624</ref> In 1619, Henricus was also incorporated into the [[City of Henrico (Virginia Company)|City of Henrico]]. The fort was abandoned by governor's orders during the [[Indian massacre of 1622]], and largely destroyed by the [[Powhatan]] afterwards.

By 1623, more settlers occupied the college land than before the massacre. The next year James I dissolved the Virginia Company, seizing its assets and transforming the proprietary colony into a royal one. The Crown controlled it from then on.

===End of colonial era===
Henricus became part of the Shire of Henrico (created 1634) and was renamed [[Henrico County, Virginia|Henrico County]] in 1637. Virginia Company stockholder [[William Farrar (settler)|William Farrar]] acquired the property in 1637 and his descendants sold it to [[Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe|Thomas Randolph]] in 1737. Meanwhile, in 1693, the [[College of William and Mary]] was established in [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]] under a new charter granted by the joint English monarchs [[William III of England|King William III]] and [[Mary II of England|Queen Mary II]]. A plaque on the [[Wren Building]], the college's first structure, ascribes the institution's origin to "the college proposed at Henrico".

==Modern era==
[[File:HENRICO, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VIRGINIA.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Reconstructed settler's house]]
The area later saw action during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. During the [[American Civil War]], it played a minor role in the [[Bermuda Hundred Campaign]] and in 1865 the [[Battle of Trent's Reach]], one of the last major naval engagement of the conflict, was fought offshore. In the interim, Union General [[Benjamin Butler]] ordered troops to excavate the narrow neck of Farrar's Island on which Henricus was located to create the [[Dutch Gap Canal]] in an attempt to bypass Confederate defensive [[Artillery battery|batteries]] along the James River. The channel was widened in 1870, and became the main channel of the James River, and the old river channel silted up, forming what is now the {{convert|810|acre|km2|adj=on}} Dutch Gap Conservation Area.

In 1922, [[Chesterfield County, Virginia|Chesterfield County]] annexed the former location of Henricus south of the Dutch Gap Canal from [[Henrico County, Virginia|Henrico County]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Henrico County's History |url=http://www.henricohistoricalsociety.org/history.1611-today.html |website=Henrico Historical Society |access-date=25 January 2019 |quote=an annexation in 1922 by Chesterfield County that claimed the site of Henricus, changing the boundary of Henrico to what it is today.}}</ref> 

The area became used for sand and gravel mining, and sunken ships are still visible in the lagoon.<ref>https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/walk-the-marshes-at-dutch-gap-conservation-area.htm</ref> Dominion Power still operates Chesterfield Power Station, with controversial coal ash lagoons adjoining the Dutch Gap Conservation area.<ref>https://www.southernenvironment.org/news/public-park-toxic-coal-ash-side-by-side-at-dominions-chesterfield-plant/</ref>

Over time, the exact location of the former town of Henricus became uncertain. After archeological excavations, the U.S. [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1972 listed the {{convert|12|acre|adj=on}} archeological site in Chesterfield County as ''Henrico''.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> Though archaeological evidence of the actual settlement has not been found (due to the creation of Dutch Gap and other [[Disturbance (archaeology)|disturbances]] including the nearby quarries), a reconstruction based on historical evidence of the settlement was created nearby as a [[living history museum]], Henricus Historical Park.<ref name=CWJournal>{{cite journal|last=Theobald|first=Mary Miley|title=Henricus: A New and Improved Jamestown|journal=CW Journal|issue=Winter 2004-05|url=http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter04-05/henricus.cfm |access-date=24 May 2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*David A. Price, ''Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of A New Nation'', Alfred A. Knopf, 2003
* [[Philip Alexander Bruce|Philip A. Bruce]], ''Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century (Volumes I and II)'',  Kessinger Publishing, 2006

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.henricus.org/|Henricus Historical Park official website}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050904235611/http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?AttrID=12867&MGrp=1&MCat=2 Virginia.org: entry on Henricus Historical Park]

{{Jamestown Colony}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia}}
{{Henrico County, Virginia}}
{{Chesterfield County, Virginia topics}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henricus}}
[[Category:1611 establishments in the Colony of Virginia]]
[[Category:1622 disestablishments in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:English colonization of the Americas]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Chesterfield County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Henrico County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Museums in Chesterfield County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Former English colonies]]
[[Category:Populated places on the James River (Virginia)]]
[[Category:History of Richmond, Virginia]]
[[Category:History of the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1611]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 1622]]
[[Category:Open-air museums in Virginia]]
[[Category:Living museums in Virginia]]
[[Category:Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales]]
[[Category:Pocahontas]]