Stingray Point- The Beginning

This is Captain John Smith.

I'm sure you've heard some version of his story-

settled Jamestown, got in a fight with Powhatan and his Native American posse 

and was saved by Pocahontas Powhatan's daughter who was around 12-13 years old at the time.

Contrary to Disney, Capt John and Pocahontas were not in love.

She ended up marrying  John Rolf and dying of smallpox.

But that isn't the story I want to tell.

Replica of the Explorer at the Holly Point Nature Center

On July 17, 1608

Captain John Smith and his crew aboard the shallop Explorer

ran aground at the mouth of the Rappahannock River.

As they waited for the tide to come in, Smith and his men began fishing in the shallows

spearing fish with their swords.

Captain Smith speared a stingray and was struck in the wrist by the ray's barb.
It was a painful wound,
and John Smith, certain he had been mortally wounded
had his crew prepare his grave on the nearby island.
Captain Smith did not die.
He recovered and was able to eat the offending ray for dinner.
He named the nearby isle Stingray Point.
The name is still used today.

There are some who thought that the area in question was actually the nearby island called Gwynn's Island which can be seen from the shore of what is called Stingray Point.
However, after much research into Captain John Smith's logs,
 it has been determined that the area where this took place
was actually a small atoll near the area where the
 Stingray Point Lighthouse once stood.