Port Royal is an

incorporated town An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation. Canada Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government. United States An incorporated town o ...

in Caroline County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The population was 126 at the 2010 census. Port Royal was established in the mid-17th century in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

primarily as a port at the head of the navigable reach of the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the enti ...

for export of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, Virginia's

cash crop A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate a marketed crop from a staple crop ("subsi ...

. The town developed along an early stage road, which brought passengers and freight for embarkation on ships at the river. It is near the crossroads of the busy modern highways of U.S. Route 17 and U.S. Route 301.

History

17th century origins

Port Royal is one of the area's oldest colonial settlements. It was first established in 1652 by English colonists as a port at the head of sea-going navigation on the

. Waterways were the fastest and easiest method of transportation of people and property in the British

colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

. It was an important point for export of tobacco, Virginia's

. Local tradition holds that Port Royal was named after the Roy family. Dorothy Roy and her husband John owned a warehouse chartered by the crown, a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service across the Rappahannock River to King George County, and a tavern. In the 21st century, the chimneys of the Roy house are preserved landmarks in the town. Port Royal was incorporated as a town in 1744. The "town green", where the Town Hall and the firehouse stand today, was forever reserved "for public and civic use".

19th-20th centuries

Shipping of property from the port began to decline after completion of competing railroads in Virginia, beginning in the 1830s. But the last scheduled passenger ship service ended in 1932, supplanted by highways. However, Port Royal was served by the new highways which became U.S. Route 17 and U.S. Route 301, with their crossroads at Port Royal. In April, 1863 before the start of the Chancellorsville Campaign, Port Royal would be captured by the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 1st Division of the I Corps (Union Army) of the Army of the Potomac, with the 1st brigade being the famed Iron Brigade. The units who led the assault were the 24th Michigan Infantry Regiment of the Iron Brigade and the 84th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (14th Brooklyn Zouves) of the 2nd Brigade. Port Royal's most notable claim to fame is that

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...

was killed about two miles outside town by Sgt. Boston Corbett, part of a contingent of federal troops, at the now obsolete Garrett farmstead on April 26, 1865. Booth had assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865 at Ford's Theatre in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Booth initially escaped through southern Maryland, fleeing to Virginia across the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. He was cornered in a tobacco barn on the Garrett farm at sunrise. Shot through the neck and instantly paralyzed, Booth died on the porch of the Garrett house, where he was carried from the barn.

David Herold David Edgar Herold (June 16, 1842 – July 7, 1865) was an American pharmacist's assistant and accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After the shooting, Herold accompanied Booth to the home o ...

, one of his accomplices, was with him and captured at the Garrett farm. He was tried, convicted, and hanged on July 7, 1865, in Washington, DC, along with other conspirators. Poet Judith Lomax lived in Port Royal for some years.

Geography

Port Royal is located in northern Caroline County at (38.169799, −77.190763), on the south bank of the

. U.S. Routes 17 and 301 intersect just southwest of the town limits. US 17 leads northwest to Fredericksburg and southeast to Tappahannock, while US 301 leads northeast to the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge over the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

and southwest to

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

, the Caroline County seat. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the tiny town's total area in 2010 was , all land. In July 2014, the county approved new boundaries, and the town quintupled in size to 481 acres (.75 square miles).

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 170 people, 72 households, and 43 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 1,467.9 people per square mile (547.0/km²). There were 90 housing units at an average density of 777.1 per square mile (289.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 59.41%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 38.24%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.59% from other races, and 1.76% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.59% of the population. There were 72 households, out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.89. In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.1% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 17.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $31,429, and the median income for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $23,571 versus $19,167 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $15,878. None of the families and 7.2% of the population were living below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including no under eighteens and 10.4% of those over 64.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Caroline County, Virginia Populated places established in 1652 1652 establishments in the Colony of Virginia