Year 2 - Day 11 Petersburg VA to South Hill VA



Today’s ride is through rural Virginia. Lots of farm fields, tobacco, soybeans, and pine tree farms. We saw three flocks of wild turkeys. Each flock contained four birds. Only one jake (male) could be identified. 

We spent a lot of time on Route 1. It was very lightly traveled in this area and all drivers were very courteous, either going into the left lane, where applicable, or crossing well over the centerline to give us adequate berth.

Route 1 in this area is also called the Boydton Plank Road. There were other areas where we rode on a road called Plank Road. I searched for the origin of this name and found the following.

The Boydton and Petersburg Plank Road, built between 1851 and 1853, was the first all-weather route connecting Southside Virginia's tobacco and wheat farms with the market. Pine and oak planks, 8 feet [2.4 m] long, 1 foot [0.30 m] wide and 3 to 4 inches [7.6 to 10.2 cm] thick were laid across paralleled beams slanted toward a ditch. The road boosted crop revenues 30 to 100 percent. Along the approximately 73 miles [117 km], there were 7 toll houses and keepers. Stagecoaches drove the 73 miles Monday through Saturday, stopping every 11 miles [18 km] for food and fresh teams. Condemned by 1860, it nonetheless provided an important route for troop movements during the Civil War. Another continuous hard-surface link would not exist until 1930s. Parts of some highways, including U.S. 1, follow the old roadbed, and Petersburg still has a thoroughfare called Boydton Plank Road. A ten-mile [16 km] extension to the Roanoke River at Clarksville was completed in 1856. Boydton Plank Road was mentioned numerous times in Robert E. Lee's dispatches to President Jefferson Davis and Secretary of War John C. Breckenridge during the last days the Confederate Army was in Petersburg during the final days of the Civil War.[2]

We passed through Lakewood, Dinwiddie, Butterworth, Dewitt, and Sturgeonville. I happened to quickly read a road sign as we crossed the Sturgeon Creek. I was totally surprised that sturgeon were at one time in a creek in VA! Who would have thunk!


We stopped for lunch in Lawrenceville VA at Pino’ Pizza and Italian on Hick’s Street. This was the last town before we connected with the Tobacco Heritage Trail. We enjoyed sweet tea and another meat lover's pizza. I got called Darlin by the waitress! Of course, so did everyone else!

As we entered the Tobacco Heritage Trail, we saw a doe and a fawn crossing the trail. The trail is gravel for about 12 or more miles of the approximately 20 total that we rode. 



Some other photos from along the trail. 






The trailhead dropped us off less than a mile from our hotel. After today, we have ridden 714 miles and climbed 25,470 feet in elevation gain!

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