Original steel engraving from Picturesque America, 1872.The engraving depicts a scene on the Chickahominy River, an 87-mile-long river in Virginia. Created by artist W.L. Sheppard and engraved by W. Wellstood.
Picturesque America was a popular two-volume publication that provided a glimpse of 19th-century America through its illustrations. The publication was meant to help Americans, after the Civil War, to construct a national self-image based on reconciliation between the North and South and the incorporation of the West.
