"An act for Ports, &c. That from and after the first day of October (1692), all shipps, barques, and other vessells whatsoever, arriveing into, or sayling out of this country for trayd, shall unload and put on shoare, and take from shoar to load on board, all tabaccoes, goods and merchantdises, at one or other of the poarts ? mentioned in this act?" Virginia General Assembly, April 1691, Legislation establishing Yorktown
Tobacco, in the 17th and 18th centuries, was a valuable form of currency. It could be used to pay taxes, fines and salaries of government and church officials as well as purchase merchant goods. Upon the founding of the commercial port of Yorktown in 1691, the price for a half acre town lot was 180 pounds of tobacco.
This road trace in the 18th century was a busy thoroughfare called Tobacco Road. The road provided an easy route for exported goods, including thousands of pounds of tobacco, to reach the port facilities on the York River, while circumventing most of the town.
By 1750, the amount of tobacco sent from Yorktown began to decline as crop yields on local plantations started to decrease. The town never recovered from the devastation of the 1781 siege and the port became a shadow of its former self.
Today, Tobacco Road is a quiet walkway providing a link between the waterfront and the National Park Service Visitor Center. As you stroll along, envision the road as it once was - a vital link for both Yorktown and Virginia's economy.
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