Natural Bridge, Virginia, Drawn by W. Goodacre, circa 1850

This is an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, lettered below the view "NATURAL BRIDGE, VIRGINIA." The upright view looks up a narrow gorge at a massive stone arch spanning the sky between sheer cliffs, with trees along its top and a glimpse of clouds and distant hills beneath it. In the lower half a stream breaks over rocks toward the foreground. Two hunters crouch on the rocks at left, one aiming a gun across the water at a pair of deer by a slender tree at the foot of the cliffs at right.

The uncaptioned emblem above the view shows a kneeling man in a loincloth raising both arms, a chain running from his wrist to a shackle at his ankle. Two uncaptioned scenes are set into the sides of the border: at left a man carrying a heavy bale on his back with figures and tall chimneys behind, and at right a man in a hat raising a whip over a man fleeing through tall grass. Below at left, "INDIAN MASSACRE, 1622." shows an attack on settlers before a burning cabin. At right, "SIR JOHN HARVEY SEIZED." shows a group of men in cloaks and broad hats laying hands on another man. The credit "Drawn by W. Goodacre, New York." is lettered under the lower left corner of the view. The imprint at the foot reads "J. & F. TALLIS, LONDON, EDINBURGH & DUBLIN."

The plate belongs to the History of the United States of America, edited by John Howard Hinton (1791 to 1873), the English Baptist minister and author, and published by J. and F. Tallis about 1850. J. and F. Tallis were London publishers of illustrated works sold in parts around the middle of the nineteenth century, and the plates of this edition set a central steel engraved view inside an engraved ornamental border with small lettered vignettes of episodes from American history. Sir John Harvey was an early governor of colonial Virginia.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.