The Lost Town–Pulaski, Virginia’s Early History

John White, Director of Economic Development at Town of Pulaski, will present a talk on the history of Pulaski at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum on Sunday, November 15, at 2 PM. Entitled “The Lost Town: What a 19th Century Plat Tells us about Pulaski Town’s Early History,” the presentation will include early photographs from the Town of Pulaski’s collection.
White notes that in November 2014, maps of Pulaski were discovered between the walls of an old building in Winston-Salem, N.C.. Workers renovating the building pulled down a wall to reveal rolled-up maps of a town two hours away. Dated 1890, these historically significant maps show Pulaski as it once was. One gives an overview of the town while the other lays out the plats, streets, and alleys.
White explains that these plat maps and another from 1892 indicate that the earliest settlement in what was to become Pulaski City was along the higher ground of the southwestern portion of what is today the Town of Pulaski.
“Even before the industrial boom of 1879-1880,” he notes, “the settlement that grew up around a water tank on the Martin Farm spread, with development beginning along Pepper’s Ferry Road (or Valley Street/Road), south of the Virginia-Tennessee Railroad tracks.
“As time progressed, business and retail development continued in the southwest portion of town. The town’s oldest bank, The Bank and Trust building, anchored the southwest corner of Valley and Commerce Streets. It was ‘Pulaski’s first skyscraper.’ All of these commercial structures that existed in the earliest periods are now “lost,” including the iconic Maple Shade Inn (1884).”