The Woods River Chapter of the American Red Cross
At our December meeting a vote was taken to include Wythe County as part of the chapter that had encompassed the Twin Counties of Virginia. A decision was made to rename the chapter with a name that reflected the character of the three counties that now make up the chapter.
A decision was made to use the name of one of the oldest landmarks that is shared by the three counties. That is the Woods River, named for Colonel Abraham Woods. Colonel Woods in the year 1671 became one of the first white men to enter what is now called the New River Valley of Virginia. He crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains through what he names as Woods Gap in present day Floyd County and continued to followed the Little River down to a major river that flowed in a northern direction. He discover this River at a location near modern day Radford Virginia and this River was named after the man that discovered it, Abraham Woods. This river was know for nearly 100 years as the Woods River.
In 1750, Dr. John Walker lead a group of explorers and map makers into the western frontier of Virginia, through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and back through the current state of West Virginia then back into Virginia. He followed sections of the Woods River around "Duckards Bottom" (now covered by Claytor Lake) down Reed Creek in Wythe county, on through Ky and WV. When he traveled east off Flat Top Mountain in WV to the fork of the Greenbrier and Woods River, he thought he had discovered a "New River". It was the Woods River that flowed though North Caroline into Grayson, Carroll and Wythe Counties of Virginia that he happen upon about 70 miles north from where he had left it nearly 4 months earlier.
He attached the name "New River" to this body of water when he wrote about it in his notebook. For many years following, the River was referred to as both the Woods River and New River. By the 1800's the original name of the river was all but forgotten.
Our Red Cross Chapter is returning to this original name for this tri-county chapter because we all share a portion of this magnificent river.
Tsunami Disaster Response:
The local chapter response to the devastation in Southeast Asia has now topped $10,000.00 Thanks to all that have responded and those that will respond with their generous gifts to save lives. See the link on the home page for additional details.
