Hi all — We are very fortunate that CVGA has been given the opportunity to publish a new book by Joanne L. Yeck — Peter Jefferson’s Snowdon —  as CVGA’s first Occasional paper. Here’s the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Jeffersons-Snowdon-publications-Genealogical/dp/B088B833B7

An Occasional paper is a work of interest to historians and researchers on a Central Virginia topic, but which is too long to fit in our newsletter, Central Virginia Heritage.

These papers are not published on a set schedule, but as they are completed. The only requirement is that the topic of the paper has something to do with Central Virginia history or research. The average length of these publications will be approximately 40-100 pages, but that is flexible. Contact the newsletter editor, Jean Cooper, if you have a suggestion for future Occasional papers.

In this case, the book is a detailed essay on the history of Snowdon, a plantation created by Peter Jefferson in the first half of the 18th century.

“Beginning in the 1720s, a small group of men based in Goochland County, Virginia, began to migrate west, along the James River, settling the frontier which lay at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A few stopped at what is known as the Horseshoe Bend, a particularly beautiful and fertile spot in the river. Today, the modern counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, and Fluvanna converge there at the village of Scottsville.In the early 1740s, President Thomas Jefferson’s father, Peter, already a successful surveyor and land speculator, was quick to realize the commercial value of the spot when the newly formed Albemarle County located its seat at the Horseshoe Bend. This volume tells the story of settlement on the south side of the James River and the development of the plantation Peter Jefferson would call Snowdon, a very valuable farm with a complex history.”

Note: The Occasional papers are not part of the membership benefits of CVGA but must be purchased separately.