Lynchburg Virginia wasn't paved with cobbles

Lynchburg has no cobblestone streets.  Surprised?

Around 1892, the city began to lay stonework on the trodden pathways.  Some of those earliest efforts are still visible on Kemper and 10th Streets.  But while even city natives often mistakenly refer to the stonework as cobblestone, Belgian blocks is the correct term.  True cobbles, better known as river-jacks, are round and water worn smooth, usually six inches or more in diameter.

Cobblestones were considered the Cadillac of paving.  They were rarely used before the advent of railroads because transportation was too expensive.  A true cobblestone is just a random-sized stone.  There are no really true cobble streets in Lynchburg.

Belgian blocks, however, are trimmed to a brick-like shape.  Trained masons laid the block in crushed stone, similar to building a wall.  Laying the streets was not a highly technical trade.

Most of the stones used on Lynchburg Streets came from Mount Airy, N.C. and Petersburg.  The blocks were all granite and fairly easy to transport.

Although laying and transporting the blocks was simple, covering even small portions of road was often a full days work.  A 10 to 12 foot portion of road with a 50 foot right of way could take two or three men as long as a day to block.

In a town often referred to as "red clay country," every foot of pavement was a precious commodity to early residents.

Before the stonework was laid, the city council hired men to cover roadways with top soil.  The city's hills required special care to prevent the steep streets from eroding into gullies.  The rich, black field dirt remained firmly packed longer.