One year later, in 1671, Abraham Wood led another party
into our area. This time the adventurers departed from Petersburg and traveled
due west, again arriving at the Saponi Indian village, then following the
Roanoke river northwest. This time they crossed thru Smith Mountain gap (where Smith
Mountain Dam now sits), and from here they traveled upriver to a Totcro Indian village in present day Roanoke,
then further still, up towards present day Elliston. Settlers began trickling in
soon thereafter.
Smith Mountain takes it's name from Daniel and Gideon
Smith, two brothers from present day Pittsylvania County who owned thousands of
acres here in the 1740's. The gap in the middle of the mountain is a
natural marvel.
Despite the perfect site
for a dam, the area has always been very rural, which is probably why the
dam, casually proposed about 1906, and
officially proposed in 1924, took another 40 years to become a reality.
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