Gravesend was granted, allowing the men of the town to operate boats between London and the town; these became known as the "Long Ferry". It became the preferred form of passage, because of the perils of road travel (see below). On Gravesend's river front are the remains of a Tudor fort built by command of King Henry VIII in 1543. On 21 March 1617, John Rolfe and Rebecca (aka Princess Pocahontas) with their two-year-old son, Thomas, boarded a ship in London bound for the Commonwealth of Virginia; the ship had only sailed as far as Gravesend before Rebecca fell fatally ill,
Tom Rolfe as a four-year-old in 1966. His wins included carrying 127 pounds to victory in the Aqueduct Handicap in September. Retired to stud at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky, Tom Rolfe proved a successful sire. He is largely known today as a sire of outstanding broodmares, but his best offspring on the track was 1970 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and 1987 leading broodmare sire Hoist The Flag. Tom Rolfe died in 1989 and was buried at Claiborne Farm's Marchmont cemetery. Tom Rolfe Tom Rolfe (1962–1989) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the leading colt of his generation in