Pocahontas Island, Virginia

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pocahontas Island, Virginia is a peninsula located on the north side of the Appomattox River within the limits of what is now Petersburg, Virginia. There is evidence of prehistoric Native American settlement dating from 6500 B.C.E. The area is more recently notable as the first predominately free black settlement in the state and, by mid-nineteenth century, one of the largest in the nation. In 1860 half of Petersburg's population was black, and one-third of those people were free (3,224 people), constituting the largest free black population of the time. In 1975 residents secured renewed residential zoning to protect their neighborhoods from industrial development. The Pocahontas Island Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Archaeological evidence of a prehistoric Native American community dated to 6500 BC has been found on the island. This is at the beginning of the Middle Archaic Period (6500 BC to 3000 BC) or end of Early Archaic Period (8000 BC to 6500 BC).