New York

New York, colloquially spoken of as Little York, was one of several unrealized-plans for distinct towns that were to be established within Albemarle County during the early nineteenth century.

History

1824 "Map of Virginia and Maryland" by Anthony Finley (1784-1836) that labels New York within the boundaries of Albemarle County. Reproduced from the David Rumsey Map Collection.

The site of New York was established by James Hays at the foot of the Blue Ridge (a few hundred yards north of the road to Staunton, which passed along the main street of the proposed town). Like the City of Charlottesville, the site was divided into lots and out lots. The first inhabitants of the area were Germans from Pennsylvania, belonging to such families as the Greegors, Spieces, Hallers, and Landcrafts.

The proposed town of New York possessed the manufactories of a smith's shop and a tanyard. It was once the seat of a postoffice as well as a meeting house, and had a place on a map of Virginia that was published by Anthony Finley in 1824. Over time, the inhabitants of the area moved to other locales with more plentiful opportunities.

By the end of the nineteenth century, all signs of the buildings and streets of New York's ruins had completely disappeared. The site of the proposed town was then a fertile field, upon which a late proprietor had raised the most abundant crop of corn he had ever gathered.