Castlewoods area of Virginia before the Revolution

 Jacob Castle, the longhunter, was living on the New River by 1746 when he had land surveyed.  He lived close to Adam Harmon.  There was no love lost between the two men.  And while this was his home proved by the fact that he is named in road orders in this time period.  His land would have been in Augusta County until 1769

(Questions to fill in here:  Was he paying taxes in Augusta county?  Were the fights between Harmon and Castle found in Augusta County records?  When did he MOVE to Russell County)

So in trying to make this post make sense, I begin with the idea that when any new place was settled, there were no roads.  If we think of early Virginia along the coast we know that the land first settled would be along the rivers....and the interior of Virginia would be no different.  So when we think of where Jacob Castle, the longhunter moved farther west from his home on the New River, it is no accident that he followed a river (The Clinch) to his new home.  What seems very much off the beaten path today would have made more sense in that time period.  Here are a few maps that help establish the Castlewoods logic.

I am going to put a second screen shot that is bigger.  You will need to manipulate it in order to see the land marks