Pocahontas Island Historic District

Pocahontas Island, on the northern edge of Petersburg, Virginia, is a small residential neighborhood laid out in 1749 on a grid of streets. A channel cut in 1915 now separates it from Chesterfield County. Most of its frame, one-story houses date from the turn of the twentieth century, and only two buildings are known to predate the Civil War: the brick Federal-style Jarratt House, built about 1819-1820, and a frame double house known locally as the Underground Railroad House. Shotgun houses, side-gable houses and double houses reflect housing built for African Americans. A 1993 tornado destroyed or damaged many homes, leaving more open space than the once densely built area had historically, and newer replacement houses are counted as noncontributing. The district also includes the site of the 1830s Richmond and Petersburg Railroad depot and a former distillery site. It was listed because it records the island's change from a white-dominated town to a largely African American community.