Pemberton 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 Goochland County,

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 ...

, United States.

Virginia State Route 45 State Route 45 (SR 45) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs from the junction of U.S. Route 15 Business (US 15 Business) and US 460 Business in Farmville north to SR 6 at Georges Tavern. SR 45 is ...

passes by Pemberton, located about west of Goochland, the county seat. It was named for the family that owned

Clover Forest Plantation Clover Forest, is a historic mansion, and former plantation house built starting in 1761 and located in Goochland County, Virginia, Goochland, Virginia. The mansion lies in a large bend of the James River, and is an authentically restored in a F ...

. Nearby is Howard's Neck Plantation, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

History

This hamlet was named for the owners of

. The settlement overlooks the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

and was once a hub of rural trading activity. A dam and canal lock were built on the James at Pemberton to enable passage by boats. The lock lowered boats from the

Kanawha Canal The James River and Kanawha Canal was a partially built canal in Virginia intended to facilitate shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western counties of Virginia and the coast. Ultimately its towpath became the roadbed for a ...

into the James River just below

Cartersville, Cumberland County, Virginia Cartersville is an unincorporated community in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. Cartersville formed around the James River and Kanawha Canal. An 1855 gazetteer described it as having "1 church, several stores, and about 50 dwelli ...

and connected with

Tamworth, Virginia Tamworth, patented 1728, is an historical hamlet in Cumberland County, Virginia, United States, centered along Tamworth Road. In addition to farming, a gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds ...

and its mill. Trade moved from the Cartersville port and Willis River downriver on the James. Pemberton became connected to other markets via the Cartersville-Fredericksburg State Road, that began in Cartersville, crossed the James, and continued northward. The Cartersville Bridge, built across the James River in 1824, connected Cartersville and Pemberton; it was the first James River bridge built in Goochland County. At the time, all other river crossings were by ferry. In the late 1800s the Richmond-Allegheny Railroad (later the

Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond to ...

, and currently CSX) was built through the area along the tow path of the abandoned Kanawha Canal. Pemberton was one of the railroad stops. Trains arrived in the village daily, carrying passengers and mail. By the early 1920s the rural village of Pemberton consisted of a large combined general store and post office, a lumber mill and pulp yards. Prominent Goochland County residents living in Pemberton included William Henry (Bill) Hall, a veteran of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

; and Bland Selden Hobson, the only Goochland woman known to have served overseas in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.Melinda Brooking Gammon, "Looking Back: Pemberton once was a hub of activity," ''Goochland Gazette''

References

Unincorporated communities in Goochland County, Virginia Unincorporated communities in Virginia {{GoochlandCountyVA-geo-stub