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Year:
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1998
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VTRC No.:
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99-R17
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Abstract:
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The establishment and maintenance of public roads were among the most important functions of the county court during the colonial period in Virginia. Each road was opened and maintained by an overseer (or surveyor) of the highways, who was appointed each year by the Gentlemen Justices. The overseer was usually assigned all the able-bodied men (the "Labouring Male Tithables") living on or near the road. These laborers then furnished their own tools, wagons, and teams and were required to work on the roads for six days each year. County court records relating to roads and transportation are collectively known as "road orders." The Virginia Transportation Research Council's published volumes of road orders and related materials contain not only information on early roads, but also the names of inhabitants who lived and worked along the roadways, plantations, farms, landmarks, landforms, and bodies of water. This volume is the nineteenth entry in the Historic Roads of Virginia series, initiated by the Virginia Transportation Research Council (then the Virginia Highway & Transportation Research Council) in 1973. Augusta County Road Orders 1745-1769 is also the first volume of published road orders to be concerned wholly with territory west of the Blue Ridge, although portions of the Shenandoah Valley were covered by a previous publication, Orange County Road Orders 1734-1749, which included the period the territory was part of Orange County, prior to 1745.
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