SITE AT SKINKERS FORD

Skinkers

Ford

is an old crossing of the

Rapidan

between 2 and 3miles

down

theriver

from

allthatremainsofGovernor Spotswood's settlementat

Germanna,

adjoining

Fox Neck

andIndian

Town,

which willlater be described.

The

ford is near the middle ofa greatbend inthe river,

and

immediatelybelow^it is anancient fish trap thatoc- cupies theentirestreambed

from

bankto bank. This willbetermed the lowertrap, todistinguish it

from

the upper trap, which extends across theriveralittle

more

thanhalfa mile above.

The

sitegives the impression ofbeingveryextensiveandofhaving beenoccupiedandreoccupiedbydifferent tribesthrough generations.

When

initsnativestate,with denseforestscoveringclififsandravines and reachingtothe riverbanks,it

would

have been oneof themost desirable locations for a native settlement inthe entire valley of the Rapidan. Fishwere undoubtedlyplentiful, as suggestedby^{the pres-} ence of thetraps,andwild

game was

alwaystohave been encountered inthe surrounding wilderness. Although an additional water supply

was

of no great importance, because of the proximity of the river, several springs of sufficient size to supply thewants of

many

people flow

from

beneaththeclififs thatborder thelow ground.

BothsidesoftheRapidan had beenoccupied, but onlythat part of thesiteontheleftbankof the river,extendingbetweenthe twofish traps, will be described at this time.

However,

the entire area is

worthy of careful examination, and possibly the right bank, being the higher,would provetobe the

more

interesting.

The

entiresite is

shown

inplate 14. This is a view

up

the river, the camera being pointed about northwest.

At

the time the photo-

"Thespecimenjustdescribed isinthe privatecollection ofF. M. Aldridge, Fredericksburg, Va.

SMITHSONIANMISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94, NO.8, PL.15

Photograph U.S. \in)\Air(,,i,.s

1, Siteat

Skinkers Ford on the

Rapidan Lookingdownthe vallev.

PhotographU.S.ArmyAir Corps.

2. SiteatSkinkers

Ford on the

Rapidan Lookingdowntheriverandshowingthe position of thelowerfishtrap.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94, NO.8, PL.16

.'ii

Specimens

from

Siteat

Skinkers ford on the

Rapidan Above,various small objects, ^naturalsize. Belovi^,eight jasper bladesand

scrapers,natural size. U.S.N.M.nos.373795-6.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.94, NO.8, PL.17

SPECIMENS

FROM

SITEAT

SKINKERS FORD ON THE

RAPIDAN Above, implement attributed tothe early period. Below, fragmentsof pottery.

i naturalsize. U.S.N.M.no. 2,73797.

NO. 8

MANAHOAC

TRIBES IN VIRGINIA

BUSHNELL

₃₇ graph

was

made,theriver

was

higher thanithad beenfor years,and

much

of the lowground

was

flooded.

A

road can be distinguished running

from

agroupofbarns near theleft center of the pictureto theriverontheright. This islost inthe fringe of timber, but leads

down

totheford,whichhere crossestotheleftbankoftherivernear thecluster of trees. This is just above the lower fish trap, which cannotbedistinguished by reason of the depth of the water, which likewisecovers

much

of thelowground onthe leftbankof the river betweenthe

two

traps.

The

secondoruppertrap crosses theriver at thefar end of thelow ground, justbelowtheheavymass of timber thatreaches thebankof theriverwhereitbeginstobeartotheright.

Nothingof the history of the trapsis

known

tothe presentoccupants of theadjoining farms.

The

traps haveexistedin theirpresent con- ditionaslong ascan be

remembered

and have never been^used.

A

view

down

the river over theford, showing the position of the lowerfishtrap,is reproducedinplate 15. figure 2.

A

sketch of thelowertrapis

shown

infigure11. This

was

not

made

to scale,noactualmeasurements having beentaken,butitissufficiently accuratetorevealthe several peculiarfeatures.

The

river at thispoint is approximately₂₅yards inwidth.

The

twolines of boulders touch thebanks and extend

down

thestream approaching to within6 or 7 feetnear themiddleof thechannel.

The two

wallsthen continue for about 10 feet,roughly parallel.

Logs

extendingtransversely are still

remaining,bothaboveand belowtheopening,under water andpartly coveredby sand andgravel.

The

ends of these are held inplace on therightby a longlog, extending with the current, andthis in turn

isheld

down

by alarge fiatboulder. Probablya similar log, likewise held in place by a boulder, once stood on the opposite side.

The

uppertrap is said tobe of similar construction, butviewed

from

the leftbank of the river, it appears to be rather

more

massive and to

l)ebetterpreserved.

Althoughitiswell

known

thattraps ofthisgeneral

form

werecon- structedby Indians in-prehistorictimes, it is difficult to accept these

two

examples as havingexisted in their present condition for

more

than a century. Buttheirhistoryis

unknown

andconsequentlynothing definite can be told of their origin

— ^when

and by

whom

they were constructed.

As

previously mentioned, traps similar to these occur inthe

Rappahannock

justbelowthe large islandatthe falls.

Undoubtedly, innumerable objects of native originwere once scat- tered over the surface of the site or accumulated in refuse heaps, but little can

now

be found.

However,

considering the

number

of years the land has been cultivated and thefrequent floodsthat have

38

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS

COLLECTIONS ^VOL. 94