At Claytor Lake State Park you’ll find a historical marker commemorating Dunkard’s Bottom. Dunkard’s Bottom was the first white settlement west of the New River. The community was enveloped by water when the dam was constructed and now lies at the bottom of Claytor Lake.
This article has some fascinating information about the early settlers of Dunkard’s Bottom. One of the earliest recorded descriptions notes that:
“In 1749 the Moravian missionaries noted that in the region of Dunkard’s Bottom they found a “kind of white people who wore deer skins, lived by hunting, associated with the Indians and acted like savages.” Once the Dunkard’s got to America they changed their ways to fit the lifestyle of the American Frontier.”
To read the full article follow this link: