toll bridge

For $19,000 Farish received some 150 acres, including the "Pireus" tract, all "rent and other covenants accruing from James A. Crewdson and Henry W. Jones," Meriwether's interest in the dam across the Rivanna, and a toll bridge there which formed part of Virginia's expanding road network. Though no factory was mentioned in the transaction, it is clear from later deeds that Farish also acquired that property, except its machinery which did not belong to Meriwether. The value of the land outside the "Pireus" tract was apparently only a small part of the purchase price. Probably $18,000 of that money was required to buy the factory, dam, and toll bridge, because on April 20th of the following year, Parish sold for $9,000 one undivided half of the thirteen acre "Pireus" tract including all the buildings, improvements, water power, and other appliances attached to it, and one half of the toll bridge, dam, and a saw and plaster mill. The buyer on this occasion was Farish's father, William P. Farish, who had come to Albemarle County about 1820, acquired the reputation of being "an active man of affairs," and subsequently became a Baptist minister.--Harry Poindexter