Gamble's Hill Monument (Richmond Landmark Series) Traditional Cache

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The history of Richmond stretches back five centuries to 1607, when King James I granted a royal charter to the Virginia Company of London to settle colonists in North America. Settlers sailed from London to Virginia, in order to find gold and a water passage to the Orient. The first permanent English settlement was established at Jamestown on May 14, 1607.

Ten days later, on May 24, 1607, Captains Christopher Newport and John Smith traveled northwest up the King's River (later renamed the James River). Their expedition of 120 men from Jamestown made the first attempt to settle at the Falls of the James. They erected a wooden cross at the foot of the rapids, and claimed the river and adjacent lands in the name of His Majesty James I of England. The area where the cross was planted would later be known as Richmond, named after a suburb of London...


Revolutionary veteran Major Robert Gamble moved to Richmond about 1792, where he prospered greatly in business and became a highly influential citizen. His residence, at the corner of Third and Byrd streets, was a commodious square building of brick known as Gamble House. The house construction was begun by John Harvie, an enterprising lawyer. Unfortunately, he lost his life in a fall, caused by the breaking of a ladder which he had ascended to inspect the progress of the construction. Colonel Gamble purchased the property, and completed the home. The area occupied by the building became known as Gamble's Hill...


A replica of the Newport and Smith cross, known as the Gamble's Hill Monument, was erected at the south end of 3rd Street on Gamble's Hill on June 10, 1907 by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Gamble's Hill Park was situated at the southern end of 3rd and 4th street, and commanded a magnificent panoramic view of the falls of the James River and the surrounding countryside. The large boulder monument marked the historically significant area where Captains Newport and Smith first set foot in "Richmond".


Go see how Richmond, "the City of Monuments", has preserved its first monument....