Point of Fork Arsenal
arsenal established in the 18th century located near Columbia, Fluvanna County, Virginia
Point of Fork Arsenal was an arsenal established in the 18th century located near what is now Columbia, Virginia, United States. It was raided and destroyed on June 5, 1781, by Col. John Graves Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers. It was rebuilt and used for the manufacture and repair of arms and supplied material to combat the Whiskey Rebellion and to aid the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The arsenal remained in service until 1801, when it was abandoned in favor of a more centralized arsenal at Richmond, the Virginia Manufactory of Arms.
Today Point of Fork is a historic archaeological site. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
History
The arsenal was located at Point of Fork, a point where the Fluvanna River (the former name of the James River west of the Point of Fork) and Rivanna River meet. Stationed at Point of Fork were elements of the 5th Virginia (Gaskins' Battalion) as well as elements of the local Fluvanna County militia.
In May 1781, Baron von Steuben relocated to the arsenal.
The public source identifies “Point of Fork Arsenal” as arsenal established in the 18th century located near Columbia, Fluvanna County, Virginia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Point, Fork and Arsenal.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16933022. Authority coordinates are 37.751, -78.168. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1781, 1801 and 1969.
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This entry incorporates text from “Point of Fork Arsenal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.