Port Walthall

Port Walthall
Former town
Views on the Appomattox at Port Walthall
Etymology: William Walthall
Coordinates: 37°18′N 77°21′W / 37.300°N 77.350°W / 37.300; -77.350
Country	United States
State	Virginia
County	Chesterfield

Port Walthall was located on the north bank of the Appomattox River in Chesterfield County, Virginia, a few miles upriver from its confluence with the James River at City Point.

Port Walthall was part of 1600 acres patented by William Walthall, Merchant, 26 July 1656, land "Lying and being in the county of Henrico, on the north side of Appomatuck River." William Walthall's ancestors were members of the Mercers Company in London who held stock in the Virginia Company and descended from Thomas Walthall bc 1450 Nantwich, Cheshire, and Margaret d/o Sir William Stanley of Hooten.

The Town of Port Walthall was established in 1840.

Port Walthall was on a Spur of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad from 1846 to the Reconstruction Era. The spur was built to get coal from the Clover Hill Pitts to Port Walthall to be shipped north by coastal ships.

As part of the competition for commerce between Richmond and Petersburg, Moncure and Wirt Robinson, presidents of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad and one other Railroad, built the branch line from the R&P to Port Walthall. They also financed a Steamship Company owned by the R&P. The company was forbidden to make purchase of other companies, to prevent other steamship companies from fearing a large monopoly and refusing to facilitate connections north or engaging in competition. The railroad presidents merely wanted to compete with Petersburg and did not mind making these concessions. A Newspaper Editor in Petersburg was not happy with this development.

The proposed charter of the steamship company was debated by the Virginia House of Delegates and was granted.

The Port Walthall Steamship Company was formed in 1846 by the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. The company was chartered to book passengers through Old Point Comfort in Norfolk, Virginia but no further. The Richmond and Petersburg Railroad provided repairs for and managed a joint schedule for point to point transportation through to Norfolk. Later the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad also bought into the company. The tracks underwent some maintenance in 1849 and the governor remarked that the train had never had an accident or had ever been late and missed the steamship in three years.