About the New River
The river we know today as the New River was first
named in 1654 by Col Abraham Wood who came from Petersburg to
establish trade with the Indians. He called it Wood's River.
In the days before the American Revolution our New
River was also called the Great Kanawha and the Great Canhoway
which in the Indian tongue means "New Water." Although
the reason for the present name is lost in history, some have
suggested that the New River was named after Francis New, an
early ferryman.
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In 1952, the Scientific American Geologists call the
prehistoric stream bed of the New River the "Teays,'claiming
that it is millions of years old, and that only the Nile River
is older. The ancient Teays was a mighty stream which started
near a mountain summit east of Blowing Rock, and drained all
of the region to the northwest until it entered a prehistoric
seas near present day St.Louis. |
Most scientists today agree that the New River is
very old and certainly the oldest river in the northern hemisphere. |
