Kenny Franklin, REALTOR® ~ Stafford, Virginia

Stafford County has an alert web page... Roam Secure Alert Network at http://www.staffordalert.com/. Here are some screen grabs:

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Welcome to Stafford Alert This Roam Secure Alert Network system is administered by the County of Stafford, Virginia Stafford County uses the Roam Secure Alert Network to immediately contact you during a major crisis or emergency. The Roam Secure Alert Network delivers important emergency alerts, notifications and updates to you on all your devices: email account (work, home, other) cell phone (via SMS) pager smartphone/PDA (BlackBerry, Treo & and other handhelds) When a major crisis or emergency occurs, authorized senders will instantly notify you based on your group(s) selection using the Roam Secure Alert Network. All users will receive emergency alerts that affect the public's safety. The Roam Secure Alert Network is your personal connection to real-time updates, instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, who to contact and other important information. Stafford County Government does not charge a fee for use of this Emergency Notification System. However, by signing up to receive text alerts to your cell phone, please understand that your private cell phone provider may charge standard (text) message rates, depending on your service. Please click below to log in to manage your existing account, or to register a new account.

You can select what kind of an alert you want by selecting a group. These are the groups that I have picked:

My Alerts Severe Traffic Alerts

Stafford County Severe Traffic Alerts • Please join this group to receive Stafford County Traffic Alerts
Arlington County Traffic • Join this group for Arlington County, Virginia traffic alerts
District of Columbia Traffic • Join this group to receive Severe traffic alerts from the District of Columbia
Fairfax County Traffic • Please join this group to receive Traffic Alerts concerning Fairfax County VA

Stafford County Weather Warnings • Join this group to receive National Weather Service warnings for Stafford County

Federal Government Closings • Join this group to receive notification of Federal Government delays and closings
Stafford County Government Closings • Join this group to receive notification of Stafford County Government closings

Stafford County School Closings

Virginia Amber Alerts • Join this group to receive Amber Alerts issued for Virginia

Stafford County Crime Bulletin • To promote awareness techniques and crime reporting, but not the physical confrontation of criminals.

Virginia Historical Highway Markers

Stafford County

E 48

Kidnapping of Pocahontas

This marker is on Route 1 just north of the intersection of Route 1 with the Centrepoint Parkway, on the right side of the road heading north. Next to this marker is another marker about Marlborough. Performer Wayne Newton claims to be descended from Pocohontas. There are still Newtons here in Stafford County.

"Pocahontas" was a nickname, meaning "the naughty one" or "spoiled child". Her real name was Matoaka.

The sign reads:

Near here, Pocahontas visited friends among the Patawomecks on the Potomac River in April 1613. Capt. Samuel Argall saw an opportunity to capture Pocahontas and exchange her for English prisoners held by her father Chief Powhatan. Argall sought out Iopassus, the chief of the Indian town of Passapatanzy. After Argall made veiled threats, Iopassus obtained permission from his brother the Patawomeck district chief to aid Argall. Iopassus had one of his wives insist that Pocahontas accompany her on a tour of Argall's ship. Once aboard, Pocahontas was detained, the ship departed, and she was held captive elsewhere in the colony. During negotiations for her exchange, Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614.

Virginia Historical Highway Markers

Stafford County

E 75

Marlborough

This marker is on Route 1 just north of the intersection of Route 1 with the Centrepoint Parkway, on the right side of the road heading north. Next to this marker is another marker about the kidnapping of Pocahontas at Marlborough Point. My father and I built a couple of houses near Marlborough Point at Marlborough Cliffs back in the 1990's. The original residents of the Marlborough Point area were the Patawomeck Indians. There were at least 10 villages, each consisting of 2 to 100 long houses. It was here that Pocahontas was kidnapped and taken to Jamestown.

This marker replaced a marker with the same number and title erected in the late 1920s or early 1930s south of here (about 4 miles north of Fredericksburg). It read, "At Potomac Neck, four miles east, land was laid off in 1691 for a port and the town of Stafford County, called Marlborough. Houses were built and the county court was held there for some years. The town did not grow, and in 1747, John Mercer bought the county's rights in it."

The sign reads:

Strategically situated at the tip of a peninsula jutting into the Potomac River at Potomac Creek, Marlborough was established under the Town Act of 1691 as a river port town. It served as the county seat of Stafford County from 1691 until about 1718. Marlborough never fully developed. In 1726, noted lawyer John Mercer (1705-1768) moved there and built Marlborough plantation and attempted to revive the town. Mercer had one of the largest private libraries in Virginia, in which the young George Mason received much of his education. Mercer's attempt to revive the town was unsuccessful and it ceased to exist by the end of the 18th century.

Virginia Historical Highway Markers

Stafford County

E 50

From Indian Path to Highway

This marker is near one of Stafford County's baseball fields that my son used to play and I coached, only a few miles south of Stafford's courthouse on Route 1. When you pass this marker heading south you pass over Accokeek Creek. If you look to your right you will see a very old bridge that used to be Route 1. If I had to guess, it's at least 75+ years old.

The sign reads:

In 1664, a colonial road here probably followed the trace of an old Indian path. Two years later, the road was extended to Aquia Creek. It became a post road in 1750, and in Sept. 1781 Gen. George Washington passed over it on the march to Yorktown. By 1900, a crude dirt road followed this route. The 1914 American Automobile Association Blue Book described it as mostly "very poor and dangerous; should not be attempted except in dry weather." By 1925, auto camps and cabins, the predecessors of auto courts and motels, stood at frequent intervals along present-day U.S. Route 1 between Washington, D.C., and Richmond.

Virginia Historical Highway Markers

Stafford County

J 92

Aquia Landing

This marker was on Route 608 (Brooke Road) near the entrance to the park at Aquia Landing, but now it's missing. When I was younger, Aquia Landing was called Aqua Po Beach. This is where Aquia Creek and the Potomac River meet. It was given it's original name back in the 1990's. The pilings from the Civil War wharves are still there posing a boating hazard. There is a link on the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries page about Aquia Landing at http://www.dgif.state.va.us/vbwt/site.asp?trail=1&loop=CFB&site=CFB01. There is a map of the park on Stafford County's web page at http://www.co.stafford.va.us/Parks/Park_Maps_and_Directions/asset_upload_file974_9449.pdf.

The sign reads:

The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad was extended to its terminus here at Aquia Landing in 1846. By steamboat and railroad, travelers from Washington, D.C., to Richmond could complete in 9 hours a journey that took 38 hours by stagecoach. In May-June 1861, Confederate batteries at Aquia Landing exchanged fire with Union gunboats. The first use of nautical mines ("torpedoes") in the war occurred here on 7 July 1861 against the U.S.S. Pawnee. After the Confederates abandoned the site in 1862, the Union army built new wharves and storage buildings for supplies. The army burned them in 1863, when it pursued the Confederate army into Pennsylvania. The railroad was extended across Aquia Creek in 1872.