For many years, the Quarterpath Road was the most direct route between Williamsburg and the landing on the James River at Burwell's which was east of Jamestown and more convenient to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1775, as the hostilities which became the American Revolutionary War escalated, British troops loyal to the final Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, walked along the road to steal gunpowder and munitions from the colony's stores at the Powder Magazine in Williamsburg.
However, the defense of Williamsburg was seen by the South as a means of delaying the Federals, which allowed the bulk of the Confederate army to continue its withdrawal toward Richmond.
(Benjamin Ewell's efforts to save and restore the college after the War became legendary in the U.S. Congress and the Williamsburg community).
Under the leadership of CW Chairman Winthrop Rockefeller, a large tract was sold to Anheuser-Busch (AB) in the early 1970s for planned development.
The portion of the Quarterpath Road in James City County is now adjacent to and within the Kingsmill planned resort community.
[2] However, there will be no direct motor vehicle connection to new development areas because the city elected to close Quarterpath Road at Tutters Neck Pond and convert it to a walking and biking trail, with access to Redoubt Park commemorating the American Civil War history there.
[3] According to the local Virginia Gazette newspaper, archaeologists working in 2008 found signs of a complex of dwellings they believe date to 1670, apparently a farm.