Leedstown is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Westmoreland County, in the

U. S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. It is the site of the signing of the Leedstown Resolutions.

History

Sometime before 1678, Edward Bray had built a brick church, an ordinary, ferry, and wharf at the present Leedstown. Up to this date the site was known as Rappahannock. After 1678, it was known as Bray's Wharf or Bray's Church. By 1742, it was known as Leeds. Later it was known as Leedstown. Leedstown was created a town by an act of the

Virginia House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

in 1742. In colonial days, Leedstown was not only a place for commerce. General George Washington often visited Leedstown. There was a ferry across the river to Layton, on the south side of the river in Essex County (it operated until about 1927 when the Downings Bridge to Tappahannock opened). Following the Revolutionary War shipping at Leedstown began to decline as many planters moved west into the Kentucky and Ohio territories. Late in the 19th century, Leedstown had a slight revival steaming from visits of the Rappahannock River Steamboat Line.

References

GNIS entry
Unincorporated communities in Virginia Unincorporated communities in Westmoreland County, Virginia {{WestmorelandCountyVA-geo-stub