The September meeting of the Historical Society will be at the Surry Recreation Center on Monday, September 13, 1999 at 7:00 p.m. Please mark your calendar.

Report on the May Meeting: Col. George King, U. S. A. F., Retired was our speaker. Using a computer, the Internet and a projector, he showed us our future. We hear about the information explosion. His program showed us how to harness it for our use. Libraries, museums and historical societies around the world are at our fingertips. While we may have to get our children to show us how, it opens doors we cannot imagine. Through the Virginia Genweb Page we are getting valuable information from around the country. Many of our nearly 350 members from approximately 40 states heard about the Society from this source. The treasurer's report listed cash assets at $8,047.76.

The September Meeting: The speaker will be Cathy Wright, Executive Secretary of the Chippokes Plantation Farm Foundation. She will give us information on one of our jewels, Chippokes plantation. Begun within the first few years of the settling of The Jamestown Colony and considered a part of that Colony, its history continues even today. The first English owner was Capt. William Powell, who came to Virginia with Sir Thomas Gates in 1610. He probably was the William Powell who was a shareholder in the Virginia Company of London in 1609 and came from Southwark in Surrey County, England. Powell helped repel the Indians at Jamestown after Richard Pace of Surry warned the settlers of the imminent attack in 1622. Sometime before 1626 he received a patent to 750 acres, 550 of which is present day Chippokes State Park.

The name "Chippokes" may come from "Choupouke", the name of one of the Indians who helped the settlers in the early years. The Surry Indians were the best friends of the settlers. Indeed, the early patents show that the Indians fished at the mouth of Chippokes Creek. This site has not been carefully examined for the archeological remains of its pre-English settlers. It should be done.

The Ludwell House at Chippokes was probably built Ca. 1814 by Lucy Ludwell Paradise. Called the River House, it is unfurnished, but open to the public at times. Its design takes much from earlier story and a half homes in Surry County. Unfortunately, the earlier structures at Chippokes Plantation are among the missing.

SCVHS August '99 Newsletter, page 2