Todd Mountain

George W. Todd was among the men who built the county's government. In March 1858 he opened the Fort Mason post office, three miles from the fort; it was renamed Mason that June and later moved into town. On August 2, 1858, Todd organized the new county. The act creating it required the county seat to stand within two miles of the fort, and on May 20, 1861, voters chose the town of Mason. During the Civil War the fort stood almost empty and attacks on settlers were especially severe, and families gathered in or near it for protection.

What the plaque says

Todd Mountain Named for family of George W. Todd, first Mason County clerk, which was attacked by Indians at this site while en route to Mason in late Dec. 1864. A 12-year-old Black servant girl was killed, 13-year-old Alice Todd taken captive, and Todd's wife, Dizenia Peters Todd (b.1826), wounded severely. Mrs. Todd died about 3 weeks later, in Jan. 1865. An older half-brother, James Smith, returned from the Civil War and searched for Alice for several months, but she was never found. Mrs. Todd and the servant girl were buried in unmarked graves, (150 yards southeast). (1974)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Mason — 3.7 mi
  A reconstructed officers' quarters on Post Oak Hill above Mason, standing where the army's stone fort was taken apart by the town that grew up below it.
• Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve — 11 mi
  A limestone cave on the James River where about four million Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young each summer, kept open to visitors by a family's gift.
• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area — 27 mi
  A dome of pink granite north of Fredericksburg that rises some 385 feet above Sandy Creek, creaks as it cools at night, and has drawn people for thousands of years.

More markers nearby

• Mason County — 3.0 mi
• Fort Mason, Site of — 3.1 mi
• Mason National Bank — 3.6 mi
• Fort Mason and Camp Llano, C.S.A. — 3.7 mi