County Background
Virginia with insert of Fluvanna County(Click image for map page)
Near the center of Virginia you will find the small, but rapidly growing County of Fluvanna. Fluvanna covers about 282 square miles, one of the smaller counties in Virginia, and is 25 miles east of Charlottesville, 60 miles west of Richmond and 120 miles south of Washington, D.C. To the south Fluvanna’s border is the James River separating her from Buckingham and Cumberland Counties, while to the west she is bordered by Albemarle, to the north by Louisa and the east by Goochland County. Fluvanna County is one of the fastest growing counties in population size in Virginia.
Brief History of “Old Flu”
As with most counties formed in colonial times, the future Fluvanna was originally part of much larger counties – the first being the original 1634 Shire of Henrico. If an 18th century settler was fortunate to live to old age in the area, they could have possibly lived in fourth counties- Henrico, Goochland (1727), Albemarle (1744), and Fluvanna (1777), without ever moving an inch.
Indirectly named after Anne (1665-1714), the second daughter of England's King James II (1633-1701), Fluvanna took its name from the Fluvanna River, which was what the upper James River was called in colonial times (Long, p. 37).
Before settlers from Virginia's tidewater region began moving into the area, Fluvanna was inhabited by Monacan Indians. One of the largest Monacan settlements in Virginia, Rassawek, was located near the present town of Columbia near Fluvanna's border with Goochland County. Fluvanna's first river port was located at Seven Islands, a small but industrious community loosely based between the Hardware River and Bremo Creek.
A community was established around Virgin Mills (built circa 1800) at Seven Islands, which included industries such as blacksmithing, coopering (barrel making), carpentry, and bricklaying. Also located around the mill were a general store, a boat landing and a post office that was established in 1842.
As time progressed, the lengthy James River and Kanawha Canal replaced the risky bateaux boat travel on the James in 1840. The canal passed right in front of the Seven Islands community. Virgin Mills was situated right on the canal and made for easy shipment of goods. When the canal was being put through in the 1830s, all creeks or other bodies of water had elaborate culverts built, which carries the water under the canal build. These culverts still are in use today, with heavy coal trains barreling over them several times a day, a great testament to the workmanship used to build them.
Having a heyday of only 20 years, after the Civil War the canal fell into disrepair and was replaced by the railroad in 1880. Though the railroad provided a much quicker means of transportation than the canal ever had, it would indirectly lead to the downfall of the Seven Islands community. The sparks from a passing locomotive effectively ended the life of Virgin Grist Mills around 1895. Without the mill, the community focused more on that of nearby Shores, which had Middleton Mills, a train station, hotel, general store and other industries. Without its mill, Seven Islands just could not keep up.
The 20th century was slow to find rural Fluvanna. However the trains brought the outside in to Fluvanna. With few paved roads and no interstates the only reliable form of transportation was the trains that stopped twice a day at Shores, once in the morning going west and once in the evening going east. By early 1950s only a few inhabitants still lived in the Seven Islands area.
Tutwiler Homeplace Seven Islands, Virginia circa 1935
Courtesy: Mrs. D.T. Wood
Mrs. Leona C. Tutwiler Moore (1885-1954), the last of the Tutwiler family to live at Seven Islands, was a widow who lived by herself in the Tutwiler home place (originally the miller's house for Virgin Mills) located adjacent to the mill ruins. Mrs. Moore's death in November 1954 brought a chapter in Fluvanna's history to a close. In addition by 1960 passenger and mail service, provided by the railway since it started service in 1881, ceased operations. Now Seven Islands and Shores no longer had a daily connection with the outside world.
The businesses closed shop and were knocked down and now there is hardly a trace of the community that once thrived at Shores. Seven Islands has reverted to wilderness. Pictures from the 1920s show the Tutwiler homeplace surrounded by open fields, no trees in sight. Today it is dwarfed by a forest that has reclaimed the land.Today’s Seven Islands would most likely look more familiar to the settlers of the 18th century then the farmers of the early 20th century. Reminders of its past still survive, though hidden by time and
Mother Nature. The wind whistles through the empty home as trains continue to ramble past the house as they have for over 125 years. Mighty trees that once watched the homeplace radiate with life now stand as silent witnesses to the effects of time and nature. Though houses may empty and their inhabitants may pass on, grand homeplaces such as the Tutwiler home will always retain the spirit of its previous owners.
