Editing Port Royal, Virginia

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Port Royal, Virginia
|settlement_type          = [[Town]]
|nickname                 = 
|motto                    =

<!-- Images -->
|image_skyline            = StPetersEpiscChPortRoyalVA2.jpg
|imagesize                = 250px
|image_caption            = St. Peter's Episcopal Church
|image_flag               = 
|image_seal               =

<!-- Maps -->
|image_map                = VAMap-doton-PortRoyal.PNG
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location of Port Royal, Virginia
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             =

<!-- Location -->
| subdivision_type        = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = [[United States]]
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Virginia]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Virginia|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Caroline County, Virginia|Caroline]]

<!-- Government -->
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = 
|leader_name              = 
|leader_title1            = 
|leader_name1             = 
|established_title        = 
|established_date         =

<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref  = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2019">{{cite web|title=2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2019_Gazetteer/2019_gaz_place_51.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=August 7, 2020}}</ref>
|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_sq_mi         = 0.65
|area_land_sq_mi          = 0.65
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2010 United States Census|2010]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 126
|population_density_sq_mi = 317.90

<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
| utc_offset = &minus;5
|timezone_DST             = EDT
| utc_offset_DST = &minus;4
|elevation_footnotes      = 
|elevation_ft             = 30
|coordinates              = {{coord|38|10|11|N|77|11|27|W|region:US-VA_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 22535
|area_code                = [[Area code 804|804]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 51-63928<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=2008-01-31|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref>
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 1499899<ref name="GR3">{{cite web|url=http://geonames.usgs.gov|access-date=2008-01-31|title=US Board on Geographic Names|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]|date=2007-10-25}}</ref>
|website                  = {{URL|http://www.co.caroline.va.us/}}
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_as_of = 2019
|pop_est_footnotes = <ref name="USCensusEst2019CenPopScriptOnlyDirtyFixDoNotUse"/>
|population_est = 206
|area_total_km2 = 1.69
|area_land_km2 = 1.68
|area_water_km2 = 0.01
|population_density_km2 = 122.72
}}
'''Port Royal''' is an [[incorporated town]] in [[Caroline County, Virginia|Caroline County]], [[Virginia]], [[United States]]. The population was 126 at the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]].<ref name="Census 2010">{{cite web| url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/1600000US5163928| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Port Royal town, Virginia| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=August 20, 2015}}{{dead link|bot=medic|date=April 2020}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Port Royal was established in the mid-17th century in the [[Colony of Virginia]] primarily as a port at the head of the navigable reach of the [[Rappahannock River]] for export of [[tobacco]], Virginia's [[cash crop]].  The town developed along an early [[Stagecoach|stage road]], which brought passengers and freight for embarkation on ships at the river. It is near the crossroads of the busy modern highways of [[U.S. Route 17 in Virginia|U.S. Route 17]] and [[U.S. Route 301 in Virginia|U.S. Route 301]].

==History==
===17th century origins===
Port Royal is one of the area's oldest colonial settlements. It was first established in 1652 by English colonists as a port at the head of sea-going navigation on the [[Rappahannock River]]. Waterways were the fastest and easiest method of transportation of people and property in the British [[colony of Virginia]]. It was an important point for export of tobacco, Virginia's [[cash crop]].

Local tradition holds that Port Royal was named after the Roy family. Dorothy Roy and her husband John owned a warehouse chartered by the crown, a [[ferry]] service across the Rappahannock River to [[King George County, Virginia|King George County]], and a tavern. In the 21st century, the chimneys of the Roy house are preserved landmarks in the town.<ref>[http://www.historicportroyal.com/ Welcome to Historic Port Royal, Inc<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Port Royal was incorporated as a town in 1744. The "town green", where the Town Hall and the firehouse stand today, was forever reserved "for public and civic use".<ref>[http://www.co.caroline.va.us/portroyal.html Welcome to Historic Port Royal!<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218170735/http://www.co.caroline.va.us/portroyal.html |date=2007-12-18 }}</ref>

[[File:Port Royal house, Port Royal, Caroline County, Virginia.jpg|thumb|left|Port Royal house. Photo shows dirt road leading to river; on left, house with stone 1st floor and wooden 2nd floor. By Frances Benjamin Johnston, between 1927 and 1929]]

===19th-20th centuries===
Shipping of property from the port began to decline after completion of competing railroads in Virginia, beginning in the 1830s. But the last scheduled passenger ship service ended in 1932, supplanted by highways. However, Port Royal was served by the new highways which became [[U.S. Route 17 in Virginia|U.S. Route 17]] and [[U.S. Route 301 in Virginia|U.S. Route 301]], with their crossroads at Port Royal.

In April, 1863 before the start of the [[Chancellorsville Campaign]], Port Royal would be captured by the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 1st Division of the [[I Corps (Union Army)]] of the [[Army of the Potomac]], with the 1st brigade being the famed [[Iron Brigade]]. The units who led the assault were the [[24th Michigan Infantry Regiment]] of the Iron Brigade and the [[84th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] (14th Brooklyn Zouves) of the 2nd Brigade.

Port Royal's most notable claim to fame is that [[John Wilkes Booth]] was killed about two miles outside town by Sgt. [[Boston Corbett]], part of a contingent of federal troops, at the now obsolete Garrett farmstead on April 26, 1865. Booth had [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln]] on the night of April 14, 1865 at [[Ford's Theatre]] in [[Washington, DC]].

Booth initially escaped through [[southern Maryland]], fleeing to Virginia across the [[Potomac River|Potomac]] and [[Rappahannock River|Rappahannock]] rivers. He was cornered in a tobacco barn on the Garrett farm at sunrise. Shot through the neck and instantly paralyzed, Booth died on the porch of the Garrett house, where he was carried from the barn. [[David Herold]], one of his accomplices, was with him and captured at the Garrett farm. He was tried, convicted, and hanged on July 7, 1865, in Washington, DC, along with other conspirators.

Poet [[Judith Lomax]] lived in Port Royal for some years.<ref name="LindleyStebner2008">{{cite book|author1=Susan Hill Lindley|author2=Eleanor J. Stebner|title=The Westminster Handbook to Women in American Religious History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4hLAtDBHskC&pg=PA134|year=2008|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-22454-7|pages=134–}}</ref>

==Geography==
Port Royal is located in northern Caroline County at {{coord|38|10|11|N|77|11|27|W|type:city}} (38.169799, −77.190763),<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=2011-04-23|date=2011-02-12|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref> on the south bank of the [[Rappahannock River]].

U.S. Routes [[U.S. Route 17 in Virginia|17]] and [[U.S. Route 301 in Virginia|301]] intersect just southwest of the town limits. US 17 leads northwest {{convert|21|mi}} to [[Fredericksburg, Virginia|Fredericksburg]] and southeast {{convert|27|mi}} to [[Tappahannock, Virginia|Tappahannock]], while US 301 leads northeast {{convert|17|mi}} to the [[Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge]] over the [[Potomac River]] and southwest {{convert|12|mi}} to [[Bowling Green, Virginia|Bowling Green]], the Caroline County seat.

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the tiny town's total area in 2010 was {{convert|0.27|sqkm|order=flip|2}}, all land.<ref name="Census 2010"/> In July 2014, the county approved new boundaries, and the town quintupled in size to 481 acres (.75 square miles).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fredericksburg.com/news/new-boundaries-new-vision-in-port-royal/article_9231c1fe-823c-53fa-a08f-2ca10753c6ad.html|title= New boundaries, new vision in Port Royal|work=The Free-Lance Star| date=1 July 2014|publisher=Fredericksburg.com| access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref>

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1850= 470
|1860= 323
|1870= 435
|1880= 347
|1890= 236
|1900= 193
|1910= 194
|1920= 155
|1930= 157
|1940= 123
|1950= 139
|1960= 128
|1970= 199
|1980= 147
|1990= 204
|2000= 170
|2010= 126
|estyear=2019
|estimate=206
|estref=<ref name="USCensusEst2019CenPopScriptOnlyDirtyFixDoNotUse">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.2019.html|date=May 24, 2020|title=Population and Housing Unit Estimates|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=May 27, 2020}}</ref>
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2" /> of 2000, there were 170 people, 72 households, and 43 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] was 1,467.9 people per square mile (547.0/km<sup>2</sup>). There were 90 housing units at an average density of 777.1 per square mile (289.6/km<sup>2</sup>). The racial makeup of the town was 59.41% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 38.24% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.59% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 1.76% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 0.59% of the population.

There were 72 households, out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 31.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.1% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 17.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $31,429, and the median income for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $23,571 versus $19,167 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $15,878. None of the families and 7.2% of the population were living below the [[poverty line]], including no under eighteens and 10.4% of those over 64.

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Caroline County, Virginia}}
{{Virginia towns}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Caroline County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1652]]
[[Category:1652 establishments in the Colony of Virginia]]