Stop, Look and Listen in King & Queen

BY KATHERINE CALOS - Staff Writer
Published: August 30, 2008

If you’re in the mood for an old-fashioned Sunday drive, a good place to go is King and Queen County. The longest road through the county is a Virginia Byway.

Scenic state Route 721 runs from U.S. 301 in Caroline County to U.S. 360 through the western part of King and Queen. At St. Stephens Church, the road’s designation changes to state Route 14 and its name becomes The Trail as it heads southeast to state Route 33 and Shacklefords.

Gentle dips and curves hug the contour of the land, making the route a favorite of motorcyclists who want to feel the road. When its too hot to hop on a Harley, a car will work just as well.

You’ll want to stop here and there to look and listen.

Stand next to a wheat field ready for harvest and you may hear the distinctive call of a bobwhite, a species that’s declining over much of its range.

Walk through the graveyard at Bruington Church and, while you’re reading a Civil War-era tombstone, a rooster may be crowing mightily at midday.

Looking around may make you wish for the days when gas was only 17 cents a gallon, which is still the amount displayed next to the antique pumps at the restored Griggs Store, unfortunately not open for business.

History buffs will want to read highway markers along the way. The markers will tell you about Newtown, which was a major crossroads for Powhatan Indians and Colonial settlers. The Chiskiack Trail became known as the Great Post Road or the King’s Highway leading from Williamsburg to Philadelphia.

Walton’s Academy, now a home, was a center of learning in the 1850s. It stands at Newtown’s single intersection, brightening the path with colorful plantings along the roadside.

At King and Queen Courthouse, the county historical society restored Fary’s Tavern in 1999 resulting in the Courthouse Tavern Museum. The building, parts of which date to 1800, is the only surviving structure in the Courthouse Green Historic District that was not burned by Union forces in 1864. It’s open three days a week: Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m.

The tavern dining room, parlor and two bedrooms have been restored as if still in use for people attending sessions of the county court. One bedroom has kerosene lights, a fireplace heating stove and a pre-plumbing bathing tub to show life before 1900. The other bedroom has electricity and plumbing to show early 20th-century technology, including fans, heaters, a vacuum cleaner and a toaster. Exhibits tell the history of the county through items loaned by county residents. Artifacts include early fossils, part of a cannon used in the 1600s at Fort Mataponi and a spyglass used during the Revolutionary and Civil wars by a King and Queen family.

A log cabin schoolhouse dating from about 1870 was moved to the site in 2004 and rehabilitated by community volunteers.

If you want to get a quick glimpse of the Mattaponi River, just drive a couple miles past the museum complex on Court House Landing Road and you’re there.

After the courthouse, it’s smooth sailing to the road’s end at state Route 33. If you drive the route straight through, it takes less than an hour. If you stop often to look and listen, you easily could spend half a day. Either way, it’s a pretty path.

IF YOU GO
Getting there: From Richmond, go north on I-95 to Exit 98 for Doswell. Follow Route 30 east to U.S. 301 north. Go about 12 miles and turn right on Route 721, which at that point is named Sparta Road.

Cutting it in half: If you don’t want to drive the whole route, you can come back to Richmond on U.S. 360. Another alternative, between St. Stephens Church and Stevensville, uses Route 629 to Walkerton and a bridge over the Mattaponi River. On the south side of the river, Route 30 will take you west to U.S. 360.

More info: Learn more about King and Queen County at http://www.kingandqueenco.net