His son, John Mayo Jr., inherited his estate and finally completed the first bridge across the James in 1788.

This bridge was very rudimentary and consisted of “large logs, raft-like, spiked to the rocks, with rough floor laid on the logs” on the north side of Mayo's Island and of a pontoon bridge that had planks laid on top of a series of boats on the south side.

It was built on the site of the city's first bridge completed in 1788 by John Mayo Jr., the grandson of the man who first laid out Richmond's grid pattern.

During the American Civil War the bridge was burned by retreating Confederate soldiers on April 8, 1865.

The bridge's closeness to the river surface has made the sidewalks on either side of it popular fishing locations.