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The Fletcher Era

Below is a brief overview of Elijah Fletcher's Life. The most significant events in his life include arriving in Virginia at age 21 (in 1810); publishing The Virginian (a local paper), becoming Mayor of Lynchburg, engaging in land speculation and purchases, and, in 1830, purchasing the land that became the Sweet Briar Plantation.

When Elijah died (in 1858), his daughter Indiana Fletcher inherited Sweet Briar Plantation. Although she tried to sell the plantation (on the eve of the Civil War), in the end, she lived out her days on the land, surviving the death of her daughter (Daisy, who died tragically in 1884 at age 16) and her husband (James Henry Williams, who died in 1889). Indiana died in 1900 and left instructions in her will to use the land and her generous bequest of $40,000 to found a college for women. Sweet Briar College continues this mandate today.