European

Explorers

French explorer went down the Ohio River

to present day Louisville, Kentucky

Robert de LaSalle

British explorers who went into the New River

region and found the MANI tree

Batts and Fallam

Lieutenant Governor who explored the

Shenaandoah Valley and gave his

companions Golden Horseshoes

Alexander Spotswood

British explorer, bad weather drove him north of his destination, landed

on a peninsula in the James River, this site became Jamestown

Christopher Newport

Frenchman who buried lead plates in the banks

of the Ohio River

Celoron de Blainville

British pair that were sent to break the

trade monopoly with the Occaneechi

Needham and Arthur

Killed by Indian John

James Needham

First European to see the Great

Kanawha River

Gabbiel Arthur

German explorer who explored the Harpers

Ferry area, wrote in his journal about seeing “peacocks, lions, and the Atlantick Ocean”

John Lederer

First European to enter what is

now West Virginia

John Lederer

British pair of Land Company

Explorers

Walker and Gist

Named the Cumberland Gap

Thomas Walker

Explored the route that became the National Road

Christopher Gist

Pair of British explorers that travelled down the Mississippi and were

captured by the French and taken to New

Orleans

Howard and Salling

While traveling near Peytona in Boone

County this explorer was the first to see

coal.

John Peter Salling

This pair of British explorers went to the origin of the Roanoke

River to create interest in the area

Wood and Bland

This British explorer became the Commander of Fort Henry, he led and sent several expeditions

into the interior to expand the King’s

territoryAbraham Wood

He kept record of their trip that was published as “The Discovery of New

Brittaine”Edward Bland