Many Thanks to WVTim, GR8Caches and The Wandering Panhandlers for their guidance, support, cache page design and cache placement for the Villages of Berkeley County Trail. We hope you enjoy yourself!
Torytown-Morgan Cabin
Take a step back in time as you search for this cache. Imagine yourself as Morgan Morgan, the first white settler in the area.
In 1728 Morgan Morgan, born in Wales, came to this area from Delaware. He built a crude structure to house his family. To get here he followed the early Indian Trails that later became the Philadelphia Road and went from Philadelphia to the Potomac River.
When Morgan built a better cabin in 1731, he put a gun slot in the north end wall which had no windows. Guns could be fired out windows on the other sides in the event of an attack.
Houses were located near springs so that water could be had. Springhouses were built to use for refrigeration.
Morgan is also known as the first road builder in WV. He built a road that ran from Winchester to his plantation, about 12 miles. His son, Zacquill was the founder of Morgantown.
Other settlers came to this area and they shared crops, medicinal herbs and worked together as they were a great distance from any town. In 1734 by an act of the Virginia legislature this land, which belonged to the county of Spotsylvania, was divided and became Orange County, Va. It took several more divisions and a war to create what is now Berkeley County, West Virginia.
A grandson, James Morgan was killed here during the American Revolution by a group of Tories. This area has since been known as Torytown.