Founded in 1734, as a trading post, this tiny Virginia hamlet hugs the banks of the Occoquan River, providing a picturesque setting for visitors to escape mall and city shopping.

Occoquan is a Dogue Indian word meaning "at the end of the water."  The river location made Occoquan a natural site for water-borne commerce from the earliest days of Virginia.

A tobacco warehouse was built as early as 1736, and industrial complex begun in 1750.  By the turn of the century, Occoquan had forges, grist and saw mills, a bake house and store houses.  The Merchant's Mill ws the first automated grist mill in the nation, in operation for 175 years, until it was destroyed by fire.  By 1838 the town boasted one of the first cotton mills in Virginia.  Farmers and traders came from as far away as the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Prior to the Civil War, Occoquan's economy specialized in a wide variety of goods and services, from ship building and cotton and grist mill products to trade in cord wood, fish and river ice.  The first commercial ice storage house in the area was built in Occoquan.

A mail stage route ran through Occoquan as early as 1805.  The Occoquan Post Office became the main delivery point for letters and packages between the North and the South.  During 1862, the Confederate forces, under General Wade Hampton, wintered in Occoquan in the Hammill Hotel before their spring campaign.

The dawn of the 20th century saw Occoquan bustling with grocery stores, a lumber and hardware store, drugstore, millinery, chruches, school, blacksmith, barber, undertaker, bank, doctor, and pharmacy.

Occoquan became a social, as well as commercial, center for the area.  The Oddfellows Hall became the first opera house in the area nd the Lyric Theater brought people from the surrounding communities.

A fire in 1916 devastated much of the town.  In 1972, Hurricane Agnes struck, destroying buildings, streets and the Occoquan Pratt iron-truss bridge.  Residents and merchants repaired and restored the historic buildings.  Many have been in continuous use for over 100 years.  Many of the old buildings are believed to have ghosts!  you are invited to study these "Spirited Histories" and experience an authentic Virginia riverfront town.