On 30 July 1755, during the French and Indian War, Shawnee Indians attacked the Draper's Meadow settlement nearby. They killed Col. James Patton, Casper Barger, Mrs. George Draper, and a Draper child, wounded James Cull, and captured Mary Draper Ingles, her two sons, Mrs. John Draper, and Henry Leonard. The Indians took their captives to Ohio. After several months, Ingles escaped and wandered some 800 miles to return home, a legendary feat. She and her husband, William, moved near Radford and operated a New River ferry. She died and was buried there in 1815, aged 83.

As the population in the New River valley increased in the 18th century, the western branch of the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia to the backcountry of the Carolinas and Georgia crossed the region. The branch became known as the Wilderness Road. After Daniel Boone and others improved it about 1775, it was the main route of migration to Kentucky and the West through Cumberland Gap. This segment of the Wilderness Road ascended the Allegheny Mountains at Christiansburg, crossed the New River at Ingles Ferry, then continued west. In the 19th century, the Ingles Ferry Road was incorporated into the South Western Turnpike.

John Draper's wife, Bettie Robertson Draper, was captured by the Shawnee at Draper's Meadow (Blacksburg) in 1755. Mrs. Draper was carried into the Ohio country along with her sister-in-law Mary Draper Ingles and five others. Six years later John Draper found his wife living in the family of an Indian chief. After paying for her return, the Drapers went home to the New River Valley. About 1765 they moved into a log cabin in the area still known as Draper’s Valley--just to the south and west.

Not “new” at all, the New River, the second oldest in the world, is more than 320 million years old. Only the Nile is older. The river received its original English name, Wood's River, perhaps from Colonel Abraham Wood who explored the area in 1654, from the 1671 expedition on which he sent Thomas Batte and Robert Hallom, or from Thomas Wood (possibly his son) who died on the 1671 trip. The name New derives from New Brittaine or New Virginia, for the western territory of the Carolinas and Virginia where the river begins, as mentioned after 1651 in official London reports.

It originated as a railroad town in 1856 and was known as Central. In 1862-65 this section was in the range of Union raids; Confederates burned the bridge at Ingles Ferry to retard raiders. Incorporated in 1887 as a town, the place was incorporated as a city in 1892 and named Radford, for Dr. John B. Radford, prominent citizen. Radford State Teachers College was established here, 1913.

Built by John Heavin on the Wilderness Road in 1796, the Tavern served as an Inn. A settlement, including a general store, blacksmith shop, saloon and homes grew up around it. William baskerville acquired the property in 1827 and operated a post office there from 1836-1837. Dr. John Blair Radford purchased the property in 1842. The post office returned 1849-1888.

In 1746 “Frederick Stering (Staring) and two sons” were workers on a road “ordered” from the N. Fork of the Roanoke to the New River. Second son, Frederick Starn, Jr., “entered” 200a “below the Little Horseshoe” in March 1747. Other sons, Sgt. Joseph, Pvts. Leonard and Adam, served in the 700 frontier VA Militia under Lt. Col. George Washington, 1756-58. They were sent to the Carolinas for the 1759-60 Cherokee Expedition under Capt. Chas. Hart. Youngest son, Thomas, settled on the Holston but was driven back here by the Indians.

(side b)
Frederick Starn (Staring, ca. 1700 - 1774) immigrated to NY from the German Palatinate. With his wife, Mary (Goldman), and six children, he left the Mohawk Valley in NY to settle on the New River, about 2½ miles east of here, by 1744. A 1746, 500a survey designated the “Starn Place in the bend of the river”. 200a were entered “on ye mouth of Crab Creek” in 1747. During the French and Indian War, Frederick Starn was wounded and captured by the Indians in July of 1775 but escaped. He is the ancestor of this large old Southern family who are of German descent.

One mile to the north stood this Methodist Chapel, an early one in the New River area. It was built on land given in 1795 by Alexander Page. Bishop Francis Asbury preached in the chapel in 1802 and again in 1806.

About five miles southwest is Dunkard Bottom, where Dr. Walker found a settlement in 1750. The fort there was built about 1756 and was the first fort in Virginia west of New River. The first store and first mill were also there.

This branch of the New River dividing east and west Radford was named after James Connelly, an early pioneer and surveyor. In 1749, he helped to mark the path that became known as the Wilderness Road, today Rock Road south of the Park.
Connelly's Run and a large spring served as Radford's main water supply until about a century ago. This quiet stream is now the central attraction in Wildwood Park serving as a place of solitude and a laboratory for students studying biology and hydrology. Since 1994, water quality has been monitored by Radford High School science classes.