Information Panel: Jonathan Child House

The Child family lived in the home here, and survived the flood of 1870 while trapped in the home.

NPS / Claire Hassler

Quick Facts

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Jonathan and Emily Child owned the house that once stood on this foundation. Along with partner John McCreight, Child bought Virginius Island from Abraham Herr after the Civil War and moved here with his family in 1867. Three years later, on September 30, a violent flood trapped his family in this house. Mrs. Child gave this chilling description of the ordeal in a letter to her mother:
"Last Friday toward evening, the water commenced rising rapidly. Before two hours every way of escape was cut off from us. So we were compelled to stay within the crumbling walls which sheltered us from the terrible water which seethed and dashed about us. There were two bridges connecting the Island with the mainland, one wooden near our house and the railroad bridge. So violent was the water that these were torn to fragments and carried away..."
The Childs survived that flood, but 42 others perished. With reports that the water rose six feet in four minutes, the only industrial building standing after the deluge was the cotton/flour mill.
Photo Caption: The Child House survived the 1870 flood, but the Shenandoah finally toppled it in 1936. That flood also ended human occupation on Virginius Island.