Intersection of Wickliffe Road (Rt 608) and Harry Byrd Highway (SR 7)
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Last updated on May 20, 2024
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Directions from Bristow to Site 4:
- Head northwest on Shepherd’s Mill Rd towards Frankford Ln for 0.5 mile
- Turn left onto Wickliffe Rd and continue for 1.8 mile
- The old store/school building will be on the left, just before the intersection of Harry Byrd Hwy (SR 7) and Wickliffe Rd
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In 1868, Joseph Webb, an African American man, purchased three acres of land from Charles H. Smith at what is now the crossroads of Wickliffe Road and Harry Byrd Highway. The next year, Webb built a house valued at $100 on his property. In 1881, Webb sold 1 ½ acres of his land to Henry Webb. The earliest use of the name Webbtown for this community was found in an 11 August 1881 article in the Clarke Courier that told of the sale of a house and lot situated in “Webbtown.”
It is assumed that this community was named after the Webb family. Parts of the old store building at the corner of Webbtown were originally used as a school, and G.L.D. Harris was one of the teachers. According to an interview with local citizen Viola Brown on 19 April 1996, the school building was purchased in the late 1920s by Mr. Tumblin, who converted it into a store. Webbtown appears on Henry W. Carpenter’s 1923 Map of Clarke County, Virginia, and shows several dwellings but no school, suggesting the school had closed by then. |
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