Johann Lederer was the first European to explore the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains and to leave a record of his discoveries. He helped to open the great Indian Trading Path toward the southwest for the fur traders of Virginia. His discoveries were not perfect and he reported features that simply do not exist (he may have depended on a poor understanding of what the Indians told him). He was a bold and daring explorer who did leave a record.
Lederer had come from Hamburg and was about twenty-six years old in 1670, when he made an appearance in Virginia for reasons that are not clear. He was a scholar and a student of medicine who was interested in Indians, in Indian trade, and in the native resources of the country, especially Virginia and the land to the south. He was praised as a doctor of medicine by the officials of three colonies.
On his first of three expeditions, which was begun 9 March 1670, he struck a path along the Pamunkey River and reached the Blue Ridge Mountains northwest of the present site of Charlottesville, Virginia. He wandered along the ridge for some days looking for a pass but found none. He returned to the settlements.
The second expedition, starting 20 May 1670, took him into Carolina, possibly into South Carolina. He turned back at this point because he feared that he might fall into the hands of the Spaniards. His biggest error was that he thought he had found a large lake where none had been or was to be known. For this reason, his work was discredited but it remains that many new discoveries were verified.
His third trip, begun 20 August 1670, Lederer tried to cross the Blue Ridge in a northwest direction from Jamestown. He reached the crest and looked into the Shenandoah Valley where he saw more mountains. This was very discouraging to him because he, with most Virginians, thought that the Pacific or Indian Ocean could be seen just over the mountains.
On the second and longest exploration, he had started with a party of Virginians. They became discouraged and, probably fearful regarding the outcome, went home. Lederer with one Indian continued on for a major exploration of the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. When Lederer returned home, he let it be known that the majority of the party had deserted him. These individuals launched a campaign to vilify Lederer. They claimed that his findings were made up. The taxpayers were given to understand that their levy that year had been spent on the expedition and they were unhappy. In this state of affairs, Lederer left Virginia for Maryland.
(29 Sep 04)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.