Bremo Bluff is an
unincorporated community located on the northern bank of 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 ...
in
Fluvanna County
Fluvanna County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,249. Its county seat is Palmyra, while the most populous community is the census designated place of Lake ...
,
Virginia, United States.
The locale was established by the Cocke family in 1636.
During the
American Civil War, the family of General
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
sought refuge in the community.
It is home to Bremo Power Station, which, at one point, generated 3 percent of the total electricity delivered by utility company
Dominion Energy.
History
The history of Bremo Bluff can be traced back to the prominent Cocke family of the
Tidewater region of Virginia.
Richard Cocke, an English immigrant, was granted a
land patent on March 6, 1636, that covered along the James River.
The Cocke family settlement was named "Bremo" after their ancestral home of
Braemore in the United Kingdom.
To retain their claim as descendants, the brothers Benjamin and Richard Cocke cleared and developed the area of Bremo Bluff around 1725. In 1808,
John Hartwell Cocke II began building a plantation estate of three houses, which he named Bremo. He invested in the
James River and Kanawha Company to develop a series of locks and canals that began operating around 1840 to improve river transportation. A boat
wharf was built to accommodate the river traffic that became an important part of the local economy by the 1850s. However, a series of floods and the
American Civil War brought an end to this era.
Mary Anna Custis Lee, the wife of the Confederate general
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
, stayed in the Fluvanna County area on several occasions as a safe haven from the Civil War.
She spent time at the
Bremo Plantation,
where her family friend and owner, Dr. Cary Charles Cocke, had a special bed built to accommodate her needs because of
rheumatoid arthritis. She was usually accompanied by her son Rob and daughters Agnes and Mildred. Despite the risk of prosecution, Mary Anna Custis Lee and Dr. Cocke taught slaves to read, which was illegal at that time in the
Confederate States of America, as they were opposed to slavery.
In November 1865 after the war, the Lee family departed for
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...
, where Robert E. Lee had become the president of
Washington College. A few months before the death of her husband in 1870, Mary Anna Custis Lee returned to visit the area once again.
Industrial development
The remnants of the local canal route were acquired by the
Richmond and Allegheny Railroad
The Richmond and Alleghany Railroad was built along the James River along the route of the James River and Kanawha Canal from Richmond on the Fall Line at the head of navigation to a point west of Lynchburg near Buchanan, Virginia, and combined ...
in 1880 to build a new railway. Bremo Bluff soon became one of the five busiest stops for passenger and freight traffic. By 1918, four trains each day were stopping at the town.
In 1931, the
Virginia Electric & Power Company constructed a 30-megawatt
coal-fired power station
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts Nameplate capacity, capacity. They ...
along the path of the James River Line at Bremo Bluff.
The
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad's Strathmore Yard, located nearby to the west, was once a junction to the
Virginia Air Line Railway, but was later abandoned. The railway along the James River is now owned by
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
and is connected by the
Buckingham Branch Railroad to
Dillwyn, Virginia, which provides the coal to feed the power station.
Bremo Power Station was operated most recently by
Dominion Energy. An 80-megawatt generator entered service in 1950, followed by a 170-megawatt unit in 1958. After the original 30-megawatt system was shut down in 1972, total capacity has remained over 240 megawatts, delivered over a area.
On June 25, 2008, the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board voted to require Dominion Resources to adapt the plant to utilize
natural gas.
The power station is scheduled to be completely demolished by the end of 2022.
Landmarks
Bremo Bluff can be accessed from
U.S. Route 15
U.S. Route 15 (US 15) is a -long United States highway, designated along South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. The route is signed north–south, from U.S. Route 17 Alternate in Walterboro, South Caro ...
and lies across the James River from
Buckingham County, Virginia to the south. The historic area of the village, called "Bachelor's Quarters", is located along Route 657.
Nearby to the west, the
Bremo Historic District includes the Cocke family plantation and is a
National Historic Landmark. Based on the
Palladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
of
Thomas Jefferson, the plantation mansion was designed by John Hartwell Cocke with master builder John Neilson, who had worked with Jefferson on
Monticello. The estate once included the
Bremo Slave Chapel
Bremo Slave Chapel, constructed in 1835 and located in Bremo Bluff, Virginia, United States, is the only Slavery in the United States, slave chapel known to exist in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This Gothic Revival structure originally served as ...
, which has since been moved to the center of the Blemo Bluff village and is now listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Also listed on the National Register of Historic Places are
Glen Arvon and
Rivanna Farm.
Demographics
Bremo Bluff is part of the
Charlottesville metropolitan area The Charlottesville Metropolitan Statistical Area is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the Piedmont region of Virginia, Piedmont region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia as defined by the Office of Management and Budg ...
. The local
zip code of 23022 was populated by 328 men and 328 women in 2010. The median ages of the men and women were 40.8 and 41.8, respectively. The average home value was $56,000 and the average annual household income was $54,396. 129 people were employed across 14 local businesses, generating a total annual payroll of $6,243,000 as of 2010.
Geology
The "Big Sandstone" vein of
quartzite was discovered at Bremo Bluff by the Tellurium Mine,
which also had been a source of various precious metals since 1832.
Climate
Climate is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. The
Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "
Cfa" (Humid Subtropical Climate).
Climate Summary for Bremo Bluff, Virginia
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References
Further reading
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External links
Historic Bremo Bluff, Virginia
Bremo Bluff, Virginia community profile
at HomeTownLocator
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Unincorporated communities in Fluvanna County, Virginia
Populated places established in 1636
Populated places on the James River (Virginia)
Bremo Bluff
1636 establishments in Virginia