The Shockoe Examiner is 15 years old today. We remember one its founders, Tyler Potterfield.

Last week, Selden reminded me that the 15th anniversary of The Shockoe Examiner was approaching. In 15 years we published just over 500 blog entries on Richmond's varied history. Selden and I agreed that we should mark the anniversary of the Examiner by republishing our blog's first post - written by our friend Tyler Potterfield, one of the founders of this site. You will find the post below. It describes the origin of the name "Shockoe" and its location. 

Tyler leads a Hollywood Cemetery tour in June of 2010. 

Tyler was a planner in the Richmond Department of Planning and Development Review. He wrote, published, and lectured on the city's history. He died much too early, at the age of 55, on April 25, 2014. He was the author of Nonesuch Place: A History of the Richmond Landscape published in June 2009. Tyler and his wife, Maura Meinhardt, lived in the Oregon Hill neighborhood of Richmond right next to Hollywood Cemetery where he is buried. 

Many Richmonders will know of Tyler as the namesake of the former Brown's Island Dam Walk, a bridge across the James that connects Brown's Island to the James River Park System on the Manchester side of the river. The bridge is now named for Tyler and is called the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial bridge. Tyler was the project manager for the bridge's redevelopment into a pedestrian bridge. We remember Tyler for his friendship and for his many efforts in documenting and preserving Richmond's history. 

I also want to thank Selden for his contributions to this site. For the last few years, Selden's posts, many of which concentrate on the history of the city's architecture and Richmond's hidden crime stories, have carried this site. If it wasn't for Selden's research, writing, and posting, there would not have been much new content here. So thank you Selden for providing our readers with your unique and interesting stories of this city's history.  

We also want to thank our guest contributors, readers, fans, and supporters (including Karri and Susan for their helpful editing suggestions). 

Below is our first blog entry published 15 years ago today. Thank you readers for viewing our site. We would love to hear your comments. 

-- Ray

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Postcard view of Shockoe Valley from Jefferson Park, ca. 1910.

Where is Shockoe?

The origin of the name Shockoe predates European contact, being a modern corruption of the name applied by the Powhatans Native Americans to a creek with a large flat rock at its mouth. The native peoples who lived in the village of Powhatan (modern Richmond) applied their word for stone Shacahocan (as recorded by the English linguist William Strachey) to this creek. The particular rock was a substantial landmark; so large it was used as a pier for small craft during the colonial era. It marked the beginning of what the Powhatans called Paqwachowng, translated by Strachey as the Falls of the Kings River.

The English referred to the large granite outcropping at the Rock Landing and came to refer to the creek that flowed into the river at the landing as Shaccos. Over time the whole area west of the Creek came to be known as Shaccos, the location of many public tobacco inspection warehouses. In 1733, William Byrd of Westover established Richmond, adjacent to Shacco’s on the east bank of the creek. In 1758 Shaccos was incorporated into the town of Richmond.

The modern standard spelling of Shockoe dates from around the time of the American Revolution. It came to be applied to the creek, the large valley in which the creek ran, and the large plateau on the western side of the creek, known as Shockoe Hill. The Virginia General Assembly in 1780 specified that the construction of various government buildings would be located on Shockoe Hill. This did not deter Richard Adams from fighting for over four years to locate the Capitol on Richmond, now Church Hill. Adams owned most of the property on Church Hill and he sought to enhance his investment through the construction of the Capitol. Investors on Shockoe Hill and Thomas Jefferson had another idea altogether and managed to hang on to the Capitol as an ornament to Shockoe Hill.

Richmonders hear the term “Shockoe” in their daily traffic reports and in the names of two interesting parts of town known for their entertainment venues and loft architecture. Aside from this, most Richmonders are probably unaware of the origins of this peculiar word or the large extent of geography it can be applied to. Shockoe Creek for a hundred years has been entombed as the City sewer main, it no longer meanders through a wide flood plain. Shockoe Hill no longer appears on maps or in tourist literature, the way that Beacon Hill in Boston does. Its rough edges have been softened by hundreds of years of public improvements. As a whole Shockoe is a largely forgotten name and archaic word that used to characterize so much of Richmond.

- Tyler Potterfield, June 10, 2009