Hayward’s United States Gazetteer (1853) page 628

Click on the image for a larger version suitable for printing.


HOME PAGE ... REFERENCE PAGE ...THIS GAZETTEER’S PAGE




Page 627 ...Page 629



Note: Ctrl and + increases the font size of the text below, Ctrl and - decreases it, and Ctrl and 0 resets it to default size.

628    COUNTIES, CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, &e.,

side of Eel River. 120 miles N. N. E. from In-
dianapolis.

Whitley County, Ky. Wayne co. bounds this
county on the W., Pulaski and Laurel N., Knox
E., and Claiborne and Campbell counties, of
Tennessee, S.

Whitley, Ky., c. h. Whitley co. On the S. side
of Cumberland River. 125 miles S. S. E. from
Erankfort.

Whitpaine, Pa., Montgomery co. On the W.
side of Wissahicon Creek. This township is
situated 15 miles N. N. W. from Philadelphia.

Whitesburg, Ky., c. h. Letcher co.

Whiteville, N. C., c. h. Columbus co. On the E.
side of Beaver Dam Creek. 125 miles S. by W.
from Raleigh.

Whitesville, N. C., Columbus co. This village
is located on Beaver Dam, a branch of Wac-
camaw River. It is the seat of justice, and lies
118 miles S. from Raleigh.

Whitneyville, Me., Washington co.

Wickford, R. I., Washington co. Situated on
a W. branch of Narraganset Bay, and has a good
harbor. S. from Providence 22 miles. It has
considerable shipping in the West India and
coasting trade.

Wiconisco, Pa., Dauphin co. Watered by Wi-
conisco Creek, which enters the Susquehanna
River at this place. Distant 53 miles N. from
Harrisburg.

Wiggins Ferry, Is., St. Clair co. On the Mis-
sissippi, opposite St. Louis, Mo., and 95 miles S.
by W. from Springfield. It has constant com-
munication with St. Louis by steam ferry boats.

Wilbraham, Ms., Hampden co., was first
settled in 1731. Before its incorporation, in
1763, it was the fourth parish of Springfield, and
called Springfield Mountains. This town is
watered by the Chicopee, and several of its
small tributaries. The surface is diversified by
hills and valleys, and the soil is well adapted to
agricultural pursuits. The Wesleyan Academy,
in Wilbraham, is an institution of great value,
and in high reputation. It is situated at the
N. part of the town, in a pleasant village, about
3 miles from the Western Railroad. From this
village, by the railroad, it is 9 miles to Springfield,
and 89 from Boston. South Wilbraham village
lies 4 miles S. from the academy, and 2 N. from
Rattlesnake Hill.

Wilcox County, Aa., c. h. at Canton. Butler is
on the S. E. of this county, Monroe S., Clarke and
Marengo W., Dallas N., and Montgomery N. E.
Through the county, from N. to S. passes the
Alabama River.

Wilkes County, Ga., c. h. at Washington. Co-
lumbia and Warren are on the S. E., Greene S.
W., Oglethorpe N. W., and Broad River, or
Jefferson co., and Lincoln E.

Wilkes County, N. C. This county is situated
in a valley between mountains, and is drained by
the sources of Yadkin River. A small village at
the court house is the principal place.

Wilkesbarre, Pa. Shire town of Luzerne co., in
the Wyoming valley. 114 miles N. E. of Harris-
burg, and about 120 N. N. W. from Philadelphia.
This town was laid out in 1773, by Colonel
Durkee, who gave it the compound name it bears
in honor of two eminent and zealous advocates of
the American cause in the British Parliament —
Wilkes and Barre. It is situated on a high bank
of the Susqjiehanna River, which is here spanned
by a fine bridge, and occupies one of the most
splendid sites in the state. The town is regularly
laid out, but upon a plan, perhaps, entirely unique.
There are four streets forming a parallelogram
of equal sides, enclosed by which are four others
running diagonally to these, and forming a dia-
mond within the outer square, containing about 4
acres. This diagonal square is the public green,
in which are the churches, the court house, and
other buildings. At the angles it is cut by the
sides of the parallelogram which surrounds it.
The western angle is opposite the bridge, with
the width of Main Street intervening. The
bridge connects Wilkesbarre with the village of
Kingston.

This is now a place of considerable business.
There is here one of the most extensive rolling-
mills in the country. The iron for these works is
brought by canal from Danville. The Pennsyl-
vania North Branch Canal passes E. of the town;
and a railroad runs over the mountains 20 miles
to the Lehigh at White Haven. The rich coal
mine of the Baltimore Company is about 2 miles
N. E. of the village.

The first settlers of this town, and of the beauti-
ful valley in which it is situated, were principally
from Connecticut. The inhabitants are still a
highly-intelligent and moral people, retaining, in
a good degree, the manners, habits, and enterprise
of their New England fathers.

The valley of Wyoming, it is well known, is
one of the most enchanting spots in its natural
features, and one of the richest in historical asso-
ciations, among the localities of our country. We
cannot indulge in any extended description here,
or enter into the minute incidents of its thrilling
history. The site of Fort Wyoming was where
the court house now stands. There was another
fort a little below the bridge. Fort Durgee was
half a mile below, and on the hill, N. of the vil-
lage, the remains of the old redoubts are still
visible.

“ The severe and long-continued struggle for
the possession of this country,'' says Professor
Silliman, who visited this valley in 1829, “ which
was sustained by the original Connecticut settlers
from 50 to 80 years since, and the repeated at-
tempts which were made to disposses them by
arms, sufficiently evince the high estimation in
which it was held by all parties. . . No one
who now surveys this charming valley can wonder
that they would not quietly relinquish their claims.
.    . Few landscapes that I have seen,'' he adds,

“ can vie with the valley of Wyoming. The first
glance of a stranger, entering at either end, or
crossing the mountain ridges which divide it
(like the Happy Valley of Abyssinia) from the rest
of the world, fills him with the peculiar pleasure
produced by a fine landscape, combining richness,
beauty, variety, and grandeur.''

The visitor to this beautiful valley will not fail
to inquire for the battle ground, which was the
scene of such a desperate conflict, and bloody
massacre during the war of the revolution. The
site of Forty Fort, the place where the little force
of Wyoming was chiefly concentrated, to defend
their settlement against an invading army of about
three times their number, composed of British-
American loyalists and Indians, is two or three
miles N. of Wilkesbarre, on the Kingston side of
the river, and about as much farther still to the
N. is the plain, on and near which most of the
men of Wyoming were slain, in and after the
battle, — chiefly in their flight, and after sur-













This page is written in HTML using a program written in Python 3.2, and image-to-HTML-text by ABBYY FineReader 11 Professional Edition.