Eggleston Springs
N 37° 17.408 W 080° 36.488
17S E 534733 N 4127130
Eggleston Springs is most likely the first settlement in Giles County.
Waymark Code: WM6P64
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 06/29/2009
Views: 9
In 1748 George and Elenor Draper along with their daughter Mary settled in the western frontier of Virginia. The area would become known as Drapers Meadows, which was located near present day Dublin, Virginia. Mary married fellow settler William Ingles in 1750, and gave birth to two sons, Thomas in 1751 and George in 1753. In July, 1755, a band of Shawnee warriors raider the area and killed four settlers including members of the Draper Family. Mary and her two sons (Thomas and George) were taken prisoner and taken to a Shawnee Village in the Ohio Valley near the Scioto and Ohio Rivers. In October 1755, Mary who had been separated from her sons managed to escape and fro the next 40 plus day followed the Ohio, Kanawha and New Rivers back to the western frontier of Virginia. It was near the location of this historic marker that Adam Harmon found Mary wandering on the banks of the New River. Mary recovered from her journey and was reunited with her husband. The couple went on to have four more children and went on to establish Ingles Ferry on the New River in 1762. Her sons George died in Indian captivity, but Thomas was ransomed and returned to Virginia where he was rehabilitated and educated under Dr. Thomas Walker. Mary Draper Ingles died at Ingles Ferry in 1815 at the age of 83.
The text of the historic marker reads'
EGGLESTON SPRINGS
"Near here Adam Harmon, probably in 1750, established what is believed to be the first settlement in Giles County. Here, in 1755, he found Mary Ingles as she was making her way back to Draper’s Meadows after her escape from the Indians."
Marker Number: KB-56
Marker Title: Eggleston Springs
Marker Location: Intersection of Route 813 &730
County or Independent City: Giles County
Web Site: [Web Link]
Marker Program Sponsor: Conservatin & Development Commission - 1930
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