Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in by ferry owner John Lynch , the city's population was 79, at the census , making Lynchburg the 11th most populous city in Virginia. It is the fifth-largest MSA in Virginia, with a population of , Nearby cities include Roanoke , Charlottesville , and Danville.
Monacan Indian Nation and other Siouan Tutelo -speaking tribes had lived in the area for over 10, years, driving the Virginia Algonquians eastward to the coastal areas. Siouan peoples occupied this area until about ; they had become weakened because of high mortality from infectious diseases. The Seneca had ranged south while seeking new hunting grounds through the Shenandoah Valley to the West. The James River Company had been incorporated the previous year and President George Washington was given stock, which he donated to charity in order to "improve" the river down to Richmond , which was growing and was named as the new Commonwealth's capital.
Shallow-draft James River bateau provided a relatively easy means of transportation through Lynchburg down to Richmond and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. Rocks, downed trees, and flood debris were constant hazards, so their removal became expensive ongoing maintenance. Lynchburg became a tobacco trading, then commercial, and much later an industrial center. Eventually the state built a canal and towpath along the river to make transportation by the waterway easier, and especially to provide a water route around the falls at Richmond, which prevented through navigation by boat.
By , U. Chief Justice John Marshall , who lived in Richmond, reported on the navigation difficulties and construction problems on the canal and towpath. The General Assembly recognized the settlement's growth by incorporating Lynchburg as a town in ; it was not incorporated as a city until In between, Lynch built Lynchburg's first bridge across the James River, a toll structure that replaced his ferry in A toll turnpike to Salem, Virginia was begun in Lynch died in and was buried in the burial ground of the South River Friends Meetinghouse.
Quakers later abandoned the town because of their moral opposition to slave-holding. Presbyterians took over the grounds of the meetinghouse in , and adapted it as a church, later building a new church adjacent to the site, and restoring the Quaker meetinghouse to the buildings historical appearance. To avoid the many visitors at Monticello , Thomas Jefferson in developed a plantation and house near Lynchburg, called Poplar Forest. He often visited the town, noting, "Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be useful to the town of Lynchburg.
