History
Claremont is an incorporated town in Surry County, Virginia County, Virginia, United States. Incorporated in 1886, the town of Claremont became the eastern terminus of the new Atlantic and Danville Railway (A&D), a narrow gauge railroad, which was completed to a point near Emporia, Virginia called James River Junction, where it connected with a standard gauge track towards Danville, Virginia Unfortunately for Claremont, the A&D decided to connect its western leg with a new eastern terminus in Portsmouth, Virginia Norfolk on the harbor of Hampton Roads, and the line to Claremont, which was never standard gauged, went into semi-abandonment. Claremont's Sunken Meadow section along the riverfront was badly damaged by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Beginning in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Claremont was a busy port town on the navigable portion of the James River (Virginia) River, shipping many goods, but especially hogsheads of tobacco. Frank Mancha, a Maryland real estate developer took on the project to develop, subdivide and colonize new town in 1879.
