Fort Boykin was named for Francis Marshall Boykin, a Virginia state senator, general in the state militia, and owner of the property on which the fort was built. Its topography provided an excellent position for monitoring river traffic to Richmond. Laid out by Col. Andrew Talcott of the Confederate Engineers, the fort fronts the James River on the highest point of land in the area, where shallow water brought the navigable channel close to shore and placed passing vessels within firing range. Though built as a river defense, it was also designed to withstand assault from land, with ground sloping away at the back and sides to give Confederates a commanding view in all directions. John Smith knew the James River by its Algonquian name, Powhatan, and traveled it many times between 1607 and 1609 while trading with Virginia Indians to ensure survival at Jamestown; what he saw there inspired his exploration of the greater Chesapeake Bay. Features of the site include gun salients, a parade ground for assembling troops and ceremonies, two magazines built during the Civil War period and destroyed by a Union landing party, a well believed to predate 1860 from which artifacts discarded by Confederate troops were excavated, a chimney base near former living quarters and headquarters, and a flag mound where the Confederate flag was raised and lowered daily. A black walnut believed to be more than 200 years old and reputedly the second largest in the state dominates the parade ground. The commanding bluff above Burwell Bay offered strategic views, and Union ironclad vessels shelled Confederate defenses there in May 1862. The shoreline near the beach has retreated about 260 feet since 1873, and the area once formed part of a plantation known as The Rocks. A garden at the fort was designed by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Greer, who lived there from 1908 to 1931.