Blackwater River, between the City of Franklin and the North Carolina border
(Source: Terraserver)
Note also how the swamplands southwest of the Elizabeth River are labelled. The Blackwater River forms the border between today's Isle of Wight and Southampton counties - think that's an "aboriginal" name translated into English, or a name created by the early European explorers?)
A 1686 visitor from France understood the English words for the James River, but spelled the word as he heard it - "Gemerive." He also referred to the Pethomak (Potomac) River, and wrote about Cape Charles and Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay as the "Cap de Bies." Various arms of the Chesapeake Bay were "Bees" rather than "bays."1, and Jamestown was spelled "Jemston."2
Though we can't be positive, the Rivanna is probably the "river Anne" - and the Fluvanna ("fluvial Anne") was probably named for Princess for Pricess Anne too. She became queen of England after the deaths of King William and Queen Mary. In the 1600's, as English settlers explored up the James River, they discovered a fork where two large streams came together to form the James. The north fork was called the Rivanna, the south fork the Fluvanna, and the junction was called Point of Fork. During the Revolutionary War, it was a key point for storing supplies for the Americans, until captured in 1781 by the British.
The town at that spot is Columbia now, and the south fork was renamed the James after further exploration revealed that fork extended much further than the Rivanna. Today the start of the James is where the Jackson and Cowpasture rivers join, just downstream of Clifton Forge.
The New River was first named Woods River, for the sponsor of the first exploration party to see it, but after being "rediscovered" it apparently was renamed. Further west, the Holston, Powell, and probably the Clinch were named for early explorers or settlers. By the time this area was filling up with Europeans between 1750-1800, the local natives, with their local place names for the rivers, had already been displaced. [It was Shawnee from Ohio and Cherokee from Tennessee who attacked Daniel Boone and others, as they created the Wilderness Road and the first farms in Southwest Virginia.]
However, many of the rivers in tidewater Virginia, the area first explored and settled by the English, are still called by the Algonkian names. Occoquan means "at the end of the water" (where the freshwater stream ended in the brackish Potomac). Rappahannock supposedly means "rise and fall of water" (tidewater...) - though Stingray Point at the mouth of the Rappahannock River got its name from Captain John Smith's painful encounter with a stingray. The Appomattox, the Meherrin, and the Nottoway are named for the tribes of Native Americans that once lived on their banks.
"Shenandoah means "daughter of the stars," reportedly. "Potomac" supposedly means "trading place." However, it's hard to know for sure whether these are really the place names used by the local Indian tribes. The translations and the spellings may have been modified substantially by the English settlers.
Restoring the "original" names is not outside the realm of possibility. Canada has renamed the capital of the new Nunavut territory from Frobisher Bay to Iqaluit, and American place names perceived as pejorative or racist - such as "squaw" - are being eliminated in many states now.
On modern maps, you'll see the name "run" instead of "stream" or "river" in some places. Though the rationale for this naming is in dispute, it may just reflect a term common in the early 1600's for streams near tidewater. Paul Fly has created a map that shows a clear geographic pattern of places named run vs. branch. He also notes3 (citing George R. Stewart's Names on the Land):
The most famous of these is a stream running through Prince William County and forming the Occoquan River. The first major land battle of the Civil War was fought at the Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861.
If you live near Ashland, the Little River is a small stream in the Pamunkey watershed (HUC 02080106) between the North Anna and the South Anna - there's a sign on the side of Route 1 when you cross it. If you live in Goochland County, there's a separate Little River near Manakin on the north side of Sabot Island in the Middle James-Willis watershed (HUC 02080205).
There's yet another "Little River" in Augusta County, in the South Fork of the ShenandoahRiver watershed (HUC 02070005). Those who live in Russell County near the Tazewell County line consider "Little River" to be their local stream in the Upper Clinch River watershed (HUC 06010205). If that isn't confusing enough, there are two streams called "Little River" in the Upper New River watershed (HUC 05050001) - one in Grayson County and one in Floyd/Montgomery.
If you live in Northern Virginia, however, the Little River is a stream in the Middle Potomac - Catoctin watershed (HUC 02070008) that runs from the Blue Ridge to Goose Creek and the water source that powered Aldie Mill. From the George Mason University campus in Fairfax, go north on Route 123 to its junction with the Little River Turnpike at the Fairfax County Courthouse. Go west to Route 50, and follow the old turnpike path westward. Go past Fair Oaks Mall, Greenbriar, Chantilly, and Dulles Airport. Cross Route 15 at Gilberts Corner, and within a mile
you'll cross a narrow stone bridge. The Little River supplies the waterpower for Aldie Mill, on the left as you head west.
The watershed for the Little River includes much of northeastern Fauquier County, in the Mosby Heritage Area. If you drive west on I-66, the area north of the interstate between The Plains and Marshall is the headwaters of the Little River. US Route 55 follows more closely the divide between the Little River and Broad Run (which helps form the Occoquan River). The engineers who built I-66 had the earth-moving equipment to construct custs and fills, creating a straighter road compared to Route 55.
The Little River flows north from I-66, past some Fauquier wineries, the Aldie Mill, and then joins Goose Creek before flowing into the Potomac near Leesburg. George Carter of Oatlands (a historic plantation house on Route 15 between Gilberts Corner and Leesburg) once planned to build a canal to the mill, and there are still remains of the canal locks just to the right of Route 7 where it crosses Goose Creek, at the old Xerox Training Center property.
Incidentally, 30 other states also have at least one stream called "Litttle River" in the United States, according to the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
