Pocahontas Island, actually a peninsula, was originally platted in 1749. Once a warehouse and wharf-filled urban landscape, it is where the first enslaved Africans were brought to work. In the 19th century, Pocahontas became a Freedom Colony, the first predominately free black settlement in Virginia and by 1860, one of the largest in the nation. The Pocahontas Island Black History Museum is an amazing collection of artifacts collected by John Stewart, who was born on Pocahontas Island in 1943 and known as The Mayor of Pocahontas. On the National Register of Historic Places. Museum (225 Witten St.) open by appointment. There is a public park with picnic shelter, 0.5 miles of the Appomattox River Trail and a natural canoe/kayak launch.