and Potomac rivers below the Fall Line. In 1689 the York
River area produced the largest quantity of tobacco, the Rappahannock
River area was second, the Upper James third, and the Accomac Peninsula
last. While the production of tobacco continued to expand north and
west, it made little headway in the sandy counties of Princess Anne and
Norfolk.

All during the seventeenth century expansion tended to extend in a
northerly direction within the Tidewater region, but in the eighteenth
century the movement was to the west in search of virgin soil. Planters
began moving beyond the Fall Line soon after the turn of the century.
Robert Carter of Nomini Hall patented over 900 acres of land above the
Falls in 1707. It is generally agreed that the commercial production of
tobacco began to expand beyond the Fall Line about 1720. In 1723 a
traveler, who had just visited above the Falls, mentioned seeing many
fields of tobacco. In the following year Robert Carter had hundreds of
additional acres surveyed, in what is now Prince William County, as he
extended his holdings above the Fall Line. The tobacco industry seems
to have been fairly well established as far west as Spotsylvania,
Hanover, and Goochland counties as early as 1730.

In the year 1740 Elias and William Edmunds were among the first
settlers in Fauquier County. They settled near what is now Warrenton
and began producing tobacco of excellent quality, which soon came to be
known as "Edmonium Tobacco." Ten years later large quantities were
being produced in Albemarle (including present Nelson and Amherst
counties), Cumberland, Augusta, and Culpeper counties. During the
six-year period 1750-1755, tobacco production appears to have been
centered equally in three areas: the Upper James River district, the
York River district, and the Rappahannock River district. Each of the
three districts exported about 83,000 hogsheads of tobacco, while the
Lower James River district exported only about 10,000.

Just prior to the American Revolution the tobacco industry began to
expand rapidly south of the James River, especially to the south and
west of Petersburg. One observer declared in 1769 that the Petersburg
warehouses contained more tobacco than all the rest of the warehouses
on the James or the York River. It was estimated that 20,000 hogsheads
were being produced annually in that region alone. A considerable
amount of tobacco was also being grown in the lower region of the
Valle