Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Eagle Rock, VA

Eagle Rock is a census-designated place in Botetourt County, Virginia, located along the James River between Iron Gate and Buchanan.

Eagle Rock was first listed as a census-designated place in the 2020 census, with a population of 209 residents.

The CDP covers just 0.71 square miles, all land, at an elevation of about 971 feet, with a population density of roughly 290 people per square mile in 2020.

Eagle Rock has also been known historically by the names Breckenridge, Eagle Mountain, Eaglerock, and Rat Hole.

Eagle Rock was the site of the last lock of the James River and Kanawha Canal, the great 19th-century waterway that once linked Richmond with the Alleghany Mountains.

The community grew around lime production: limestone was quarried nearby, carried across the James River by a tram and cable system, and burned in kilns to make lime, and a 19th-century limestone kiln still stands in the village.

Before bridges, travelers crossed the river at Eagle Rock by a river ford known as 'The Free Stone Ford,' which allowed mule-drawn wagons to cross; a bridge was built across the river for the limestone trade in May 1884.

Eagle Rock was a railroad junction where the line that became the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway met the Craig Valley Line running to New Castle, and its post office opened in 1879.

The village was nearly wiped out by the James River flood of 1985, and its 1932 river bridge was closed for safety in 1997 and replaced by a new bridge in the early 2000s.

Eagle Rock has its own elementary school, and older students attend Central Academy Middle School and James River High School in Buchanan; the village had its own high school until the northern Botetourt high schools were consolidated into James River High School in the late 1950s.