Berkeley Plantation Or Harrison's Landing V7
A short distance south, it was first settled in 1619, when the first Thanksgiving was held here. The present mansion, built in 1726, was the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and president William Henry Harrison. During July and August, 1862, it was the headquarters of General McClellan. The bugle call Taps was composed here then by General Butterfield.

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Benjamin Harrison PA250
Benjamin Harrison (1726-1791) - Virginia planter, politician, and signer of the Declaration of Independence - was born at nearby Berkeley plantation. He first served in the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1752, though elected in 1749, and remained in office until 1775. In 1774, the Virginia Revolutionary Convention sent Harrison to the Continental Congress, where he served through 1777. He was Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1778 to 1781 and governor of Virginia from 1781 to 1784. His son William Henry Harrison and great-grandson Benjamin Harrison were presidents of the United States.

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Shadwell, Birthplace of Thomas Jefferson W202
Thomas Jefferson - - author of the Declaration of Independence, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia - - was born near this site on 13 April 1743. His father, Peter Jefferson (1708-1757), a surveyor, planter, and officeholder, began acquiring land in this frontier region in the mid-1730s and had purchased the Shadwell tract by 1741. Peter Jefferson built a house soon after, and the Shadwell plantation became a thriving agricultural estate. Thomas Jefferson spent much of his early life at Shadwell. After the house burned to the ground in 1770, he moved to Monticello, where he had begun constructing a house.

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Carroll College WI185

Carroll College, chartered by the territorial legislature on January 31, 1846, is Wisconsin's oldest college. Named for Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence, it advanced the work of Prairieville Academy, founded in 1841 in Prairieville, the town soon to be called Waukesha.

Carroll College opened on September 8, 1846, with an enrollment of five men and a faculty of two. Of the latter, Professor Eleazur Root subsequently became Wisconsin's first superintendent of public instruction, and Professor John W. Sterling served as vice president of the University of Wisconsin from 1869 to 1885. The college became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in 1852. On land donated by Morris D. Cutler and Charles R. Dakin, both of Waukesha, a two-story stone college building was erected in 1853.

Under presidents John Adams Savage 0850-1863) and Walter Lowry Rankin 0866-1871, 1893-1903) the college grew and became firmly established as Wisconsin's pioneer college.

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John Day UM48
John Day, a free African American cabinetmaker and brother of Thomas Day, cabinetmaker and builder, was born in Hicksford (present - day Emporia) on 18 Feb. 1797.  Licensed in 1821 as a Baptist minister, he sailed in December 1830 to Liberia, where in 1853 he became pastor of Providence Church in Monrovia, the capital.  In 1854 he established Day's Hope High School.  He was a delegate to Liberia's constitutional convention, a singer of its constitution and its Declaration of Independence in 1847, and the second chief justice of its supreme court.  Day died in Monrovia on 15 Feb. 1859.

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Newington OB10
A mile south of the Mattapony River is the site of Newington, birthplace of Carter Braxton, (born September 10, 1736), signer of the Declaration of Independence, in earlier times, colonel Jacob Lumpkin, supporter of Governor Berkeley in Bacon’s Rebellion 1676 lived there.

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Mattapony Church OB3
This is the ancient Colonial Mattapony Church, used by the Baptists since 1824. Here are tombs of members of the family of Carter Braxton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.kk

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Byfield DE5
Near this site stood the boyhood home of Caesar Rodney, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Byfield was originally settled in the early 1680's by Daniel Jones, Rodney's maternal great grandfather. Following Jones' death, it became the family seat for three generations of the Rodney Family. Caesar Rodney spent his formative years here and eventually acquired ownership of the property after the death of his mother in 1763. Upon entering public life in 1764, Rodney moved to the town of Dover. Although the property was occupied by tenant farmers, Rodney retained Byfield until his death in 1784. He is buried in an unmarked family cemetery on the property.

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Caesar Rodney DE6
Born on October 7, 1728 on a farm east of Dover, Caesar Rodney  was one of Delaware’s most distinguished statesmen. Entering  public life at an early age, Rodney held numerous local offices. He  was a member of the Colonial State Assembly, and a delegate to the  Stamp Act Congress. From 1774 through 1776 he was a member of  the Continental Congress.  During his service as a member of the Continental Congress in  1776, Rodney was summoned from his home to Philadelphia to  break a deadlock in the state’s delegation and add Delaware to the  list of states approving the Declaration of Independence. He was  commissioned Brigadier-General during the Revolution and given  responsibility for commanding the Delaware Militia. In 1778 he was  elected President (or Governor) of Delaware, a capacity in which he  served until 1781. He died at his home near Dover on June 29,  1784. Throughout his career of public service, Caesar Rodney was  noted for his high integrity, purity of character, and patriotic  leadership.  In 1916 a new school for area youth was constructed.

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