1654 Col. Abraham Wood got permission from the governor of Virginia to explore, hunt and trade with the Indians.
1716 Gov. Spottswood and his Knights of the Golden Horseshoe crossed the Blue Ridge and believed they were the first to do so.
1745 Petitions for land grants for lands west of the mountains.
1747 Petitions for land grants.
1748 Petitions for land grants.
First white people to settle in the upper Woods or New River Valley were the Ingles and Drapers.
1749 Petitions for land grants.
French engineers planted a leaden plaque naming the Kanawha River Chi-na-do-chetha.
1750 Petitions for land grants.
Dr. Thomas Walker led an expedition into Kentucky which discovered new parts of the New River Valley.
1751 Petitions for land grants.
1752 Petitions for land grants.
Peter Fontaine made a map for the governor which showed land only to the Allegheny Mountains.
1753 Petitions for land grants
1754 Petitions for land grants.
1755 Shawnees raided Draper’s Meadow, killing many and kidnapping Mrs. Ingles and Mrs. Draper.
1764 Matthew Arbuckle followed the rivers into Ohio, and it is claimed he was the first white man ever in the Kanawha Valley.
1768 Mr. Steward, superintendent of Indian affairs, made a treaty with the Cherokees, having them cede to Virginia their rights to certain lands.
1770 Map of British Empire calls Kanawha River the “Great Conoway or Wood’s River.”
Another treaty was made with the Cherokees; Mr. Steward got them to cede some more of their land rights to Virginia.
General Washington surveyed his lands on the lower Kanawha.
1771 Simon Kenton, Yeager, and Strader were the first to build a cabin or camp and settle in the Kanawha Valley.
1772 General Washington did more surveys on his land, this time higher up the valley.
1773 The Indians attacked, killing Yeager and wounding Simon Kenton and Strader.
Col. Thomas Bullit surveyed his lands around where Charleston now stands.
Walter Kelly made the first family settlement in the Kanawha Valley.
John Alderson, with John and Peter Van Bibber came down the New River and Kanawha.
1774 William Morris settled at the mouth of Kelly’s creek where Walter Kelly had been killed by Indians. Also settling in that area were John Flinn, Leonard Morris, and Thomas Alsbury.
1775 General Washington and Lewis “took up” 250 acres.
1776 Robert Hughes, the first settler at the mouth of Hughes Creek, was captured and imprisoned by the Indians for two years.
1777 Cornstalk and his sons, Elinipsco and Red Hawk, were killed at Point Pleasant.
1782 Thomas Teays was captured below the mouth of the Coal river and condemned to be burned with Col. Crawford, but a friendly Indian saved them.
1785 Capt. John Dickinson located land around the mouth of Campbell’s Creek, including the “Big Buffalo lick” or Salt spring.
1786 The first wagon road was made from the Greenbrier settlements to the Kanawha River.
1788 George Clendenin built the first house and fort on the site of present-day Charlestown.
Lewis Tackett was captured by Indians but escaped when rain loosened the buckskin thongs tying him to a tree. Tackett’s fort was later attacked and several people were captured or murdered. John Young saved his wife and one-day-old baby by taking them in a canoe to Clendenin’s fort.
Ben Eulan escaped from the Indians by jumping off a high cliff and landing in a bush.
Capt. John Van Bibber’s family was attacked near Point Pleasant. Some died or were taken prisoner.
1788-9 Act of Virginia Legislature established the county and called it Kenhawa.
Daniel Boone and Paddy Huddleston caught the first beavers trapped in the Kanawha valley.
1789 Ann Bailey made her famous trip on horseback to take ammunition to Fort Clendenin.
Clendenin was made the capital and seat of government of this territory. Members of the court were Thomas Lewis, Robert Clendenin, Frances Watkins, Charles McClung, Benjamin Strother, William Clendenin, Daniel Robinson, George Alderson, Leonard Morris, and James Van Bibber, with Thomas Lewis as sheriff. Surveyors, justices, deputies, commissioners, coroners, and military organizations were appointed. In addition to Kanawha County being organized, the first U.S. Congress met, the Constitution became the law of the land, and George Washington became President.
1790 First election for legislators was held. Col. George Clendenin and Col. Andrew Donnally were elected.
Indians again attacked Fort Clendenin and Fleming Cobb managed to get to Point Pleasant to get more ammunition and then back to the fort, despite being chased by Indians.
1791 George Clendenin and Daniel Boone were elected legislators.
1794 Clendenin’s property was established as the town of Charlestown, by the Virginia Legislature.
John Harriman was the last white person killed by Indians in the valley.
The Virginia Legislature granted ferry franchises to George Clendenin and Thomas Lewis.
1797 Elisha Brooks, leasing from Joseph Ruffner, erected a furnace to make salt.
1801 First post office in the valley was established at Charleston. Edward Graham was postmaster.
1815 Capt. James Wilson bored the first gas well in America by accident and abandoned the well because he did not know what to do with it.
(1819) The first steamboat entered the Kanawha River.
1815-20 Sawmills were erected, tobacco was raised and used as legal tender
1840 William Tompkins bored a well, struck gas, and used it to boil the brine for his salt. He was the first in America to use natural gas for manufacturing purposes.
1841 Dickinson and Shrewsbury struck the largest flow of gas ever found in the valley. They used it for salt-making.