In 1745 old Albemarle County was organized at Scott’s landing, its first county seat, on the great horseshoe bend of the James River. In 1818 the town was incorporated as Scottsville, and beginning in 1840 it flourished as the chief port above Richmond for freight and passenger boats on the James River and Kanawha Canal. It played a vital role in the opening up of the west, and the 1840s and ’50s were its golden era.