BRUNSWICK.
Brunswick was formed, in 1720, from Surry and Isle of Wight.
It is nearly a square of 26 miles on a side. The southwest angle
touches the Roanoke, and a small section is drained by that stream;
but the body of the county is comprised in the valleys of Meherrin
and Nottoway Rivers and declines to the east. Large quantities
of tobacco and corn are raised, together with some cotton. Pop.
1830, 15,770; 1840, whites 4,978, slaves 8,805, free colored 563;
total, 14,346.
Lawrenceville, the county-seat, is 73 miles W. of S. from Richmond.
It is a neat village, pleasantly situated on a branch of
Meherrin River, and contains 2 churches and about 25 dwellings.
Lewisville contains about 15 dwellings.
In the upper end of the county, in the vicinity of Avant's and
Taylor's creeks, have been found many Indian relics, and this portion
of the county yet shows traces of having been inhabited by
Indians. It is supposed that when the country was first settled,
there was a frontier fort, or trading establishment, a few miles
below Pennington's Bridge, on the Meherrin: an iron cannon now
lies on a hill near the spot, and in the neighborhood runs a road,
called to this day "the fort road." There are also excavations in
the earth constructed for wolf-pits, by the early settlers. Tradition
says they were formed in the following manner: A hole was
dug ten or twelve feet deep, small at the top, and growing wider
on all sides as it descended, sloping inwards so much that no beast
could climb up. Two sticks were fastened together in the middle
at right angles; the longer one confined to the ground, and the
shorter—to the inner end of which was attached the bait—swinging
across the middle of the pit, so that when the wolf attempted
to seize it, he was precipitated to the bottom.
