The Neighborhood at a Glance
Bounded by the James River, Blackwater Creek, and H Street, the hill is named for the Daniel family. Dr. George Cabell purchased a 757-acre tract in 1805, which he named “Point of Honor.” His land included much of what is now Daniel's Hill, plus the river islands and the flood plain where U.S. Pipe Foundry now stands. The brick home on the plantation, known as Point of Honor, was completed in 1815. By 1830, Dr. Cabell and his wife Sarah had passed away. The land was inherited by their eldest son William and his wife Eliza, but shortly after the young couple passed away. Point of Honor was then inherited by Eliza’s family, the Daniels.
Judge William Daniel, Jr.
By the 1850s, Judge William Daniel, Jr., began selling off parcels, and homes such as the Dabney-Scott-Adams house were built. The Daniel family built "Rivermont" in 1852, an expansive Greek Revival home on F Street that gave its name to the large development and neighborhood that followed.
Rivermont House on F street in Daniel's Hill
Rivermont Bridge
In 1891 a steel bridge was built over Blackwater Creek, and the Rivermont Company was formed. With a bridge and trolley connection to downtown, the company designed one of the first planned suburbs in America, and Lynchburg expanded several miles to the west.
In the photo on the left, the old D Street footbridge is in the foreground, and the Daniel's Hill neighborhood can be seen on the left. The Rivermont Bridge is on the right, shown here before it was encased in concrete in 1925.
Narcissa Chisholm Owen
Narcissa Owen was the daughter of the last hereditary chief of the Western Cherokee and was originally from Oklahoma. She and her husband Confederate Col. Robert L. Owen lived at Point of Honor during the Civil War. Her son Robert Latham Owen, Jr., was one of the first two U.S. Senators from the new state of Oklahoma.