Ben Uzel, President of the Colonial Heights Historical Society who identified the location of the Petersburg photo the other day, follows up:
Attached is a copy of a map showing the bridges across Flea Island. [Download full size here.] This is from the F. W. Beers map of Petersburg in 1877. The train photo appears to have been taken at the north end of McNeils Alley looking east towards where the turnpike enters Pocahontas. The map shows the Southside shops on the north bank of the Appomattox River. Note that the map shows that in 1877 the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad crossed the Appomattox River west of the Pocahontas Bridge. During the Civil War, the railroad crossed to the east of the Pocahontas Bridge. Today the river flows north of Pocahontas, about where the word “Turnpike” is written on the Richmond Turnpike. An extension of Second Street to where the word “Richmond” is written on the Richmond Turnpike is where the Route 1 Bridge is today. Where the R & P bridge crossed the Appomattox in 1877 is where Joseph Jenkins Roberts Street loops today into Pocahontas.
The second attachment is a photo showing what the site looks like today. The southern river channel was filled in and is now covered by the Norfolk Southern track and a parking lot. Hope this adds to the interpretation.
It does indeed. Thanks!
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![[Download full size here.]](https://deadconfederates.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/1877-map1.jpg){kind=link}
That still-existing retaining wall…….is it out-of-frame to the left?
I mistakenly cropped most of it out, sorry. Here’s the full-width version.
Obviously one take-away is that the cartographers who created the maps Andy used in the original post did not place the island correctly with respect to the RR line—something we should all remember when looking at maps for details!
And, again, my thanks to Mr. Uzel.
You can’t beat local knowledge.