Gwaltney Family Homecoming 2009--page 2

There are more photos of the Homecoming on this page, but primarily this page shows photos from the auto tour we took on Sunday, July 26. We ate at the Surrey House, which was a restaurant founded by the Gwaltney family (although no longer in Gwaltney hands). We also visited Mill Swamp Cemetery, the John Avington Merit Gwaltney homeplace, and the Bethany Methodist Church and Cemetery. The highlight of the tour was to visit the original Gwaltney homeplace that was deeded to our founding father, Thomas Gwaltney, in 1666. The Gwaltneys held the land up until 1870 when they sold it to the Bell Family. We were able to tour the home that is presently on the property. Interesting, while the current home was built shortly after 1870, it is built around a one-room house that is much older and belonged to the Gwaltneys. From this piece of ground, the Gwaltney family migrated to various parts of Surry and Isle of Wight Counties, Virginia and then on to North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and other parts of the country.