Rappahannock River
Although there had been a few small hamlets along the lower Rappahannock during early colonial times, the settlement of the Rappahannock River valley began in earnest during the first years of the 18th century, at the urging of Governor Alexander Spotswood. The James River had been surveyed up to its fall line, the point where, geologically, continental bedrock of the Piedmont meets the sedimentary rocks and alluvial soils of the coastal plain.  Spotswood encouraged settlement in a river valley other than that of the James.  In 1714, he began seeking immigrants from the Rhineland-Palatinate and Switzerland to homestead on lands he controlled near where the Rappahannock and the Rapidan came together.  Known as the Germanna settlement(s), these villages were founded in order to exploit the iron ore deposits of the region.