Cartersville Historic District

Cartersville is a small village on a bluff above the James River in northern Cumberland County, Virginia. The Virginia General Assembly established it in 1790 at Carter's Ferry, a river crossing that also served as a Revolutionary War supply post. The ferry, the Cartersville Bridge of 1822 and the James River and Kanawha Canal, which arrived in 1851, made it a regional transportation center. After the Civil War the railroad bypassed the town, and its economy and population declined. The district covers about forty-eight acres and holds mostly wood-frame, weatherboard houses from around 1900, along with Federal-style houses and taverns from the 1780s to 1810, three churches, a post office, a former bank and several commercial buildings. Notable examples include the Deanery, the Cartersville Tavern, the Victorian Gothic Baptist church and three modified Queen Anne houses. The village has changed little since the early twentieth century, which is the basis for its listing for transportation history and architecture.