Danny Foote was a lonesome fellow who never accomplished much. The fourteen-year-old Irish boy came onboard a ship packed with poor Irishmen bound for Jamestown, Virginia. It was his opportunity to escape the lord who ran his parents off their land with high rents and poor crops. 1650. Planters in the new colony needed indentured servants to work the tobacco farms and to make a profit with the Virginia Company. According to the rules and tradition, Danny's master agreed that he would give him 50 acres of land after seven years. Mr. Weathers was among the lucky few with planters who occupied the acreage of Bermuda Hundred, where the gentlemen spent their summers running mares in the weekly race known as "Bermuda Hundred."
Is it any wonder that the boy loved to ride and eventually trained young fillies to run the maiden race? Generally, Mr. Weathers' breeds were considered "hot-blooded" horses but were known for their agility, speed, and spirit. However, when his indenture ended, Danny fell in love with a poor young girl from a family of five girls living with their widowed mother. Meadow Run plantation suffered from the lack of hands, and Danny thought he could win her favor by bringing an excellent racehorse to the farm. He figured Fancy Lane would win the Spring maiden race and promised Mrs. Worcester the purse. The win brought hope to the plantation, and Danny moved into the house with his wife and five sisters.
But there were wild Indians about, thieving and pillaging in the district. One evening after supper, some Indians stole Fancy Lane from the stables, and although Danny chased after them, he lost the horse. It was the beginning of more troubles because while searching, he joined the Nathaniel Bacon gang in their effort to rid the region of the Indians. Ultimately, he would be wounded by one of Governor Berkeley's soldiers as they overtook and arrested the gang. Danny ran and escaped.
Yet Danny did not give up. He bred some of Mrs. Worsham's mares with Mr. Weathers' stallion and raised the foals. For years, he worked grooming another fine racehorse, but the poor Irishman's struggles would until typhoid fever entered the region and took his wife's and children's lives.
All alone, after he took stock of the pitiful state of the plantation, he decided to abandon Meadow Run. Jamestown had lost its standing as the capital city, and many of his neighbors left Jamestown after it burned down in 1676.
After selling the foals, he hitched his two best horses to a wagon and took the road to Williamsburg. The ride was a meandering horse path through the woods that crossed Powhatan and Mill Creeks, ending at the plantation of James Bray.