Named for the Indian chief's daughter Pocahontas, the Pokahuntas Bell was created in 1907 to hang in the Kentucky Building, a recreation of Fort Boonesborough, at the Jamestown Exposition.[1]
The push to create the bell was led by the Pocahontas Bell Association, created by Anna S. Green of Culpeper, Virginia.[2] The author Livia Nye Simpson Poffenbarger was a lifetime member of the group.[3]
Crafted in the McShane Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland, it contained a melted-down spur from Confederate Major John Pelham, a bracelet from Chief Pugallop, an armour plate from the CSS Virginia warship and nails from Libby prison.[4] Edith Wilson, the future First Lady of the United States, gave a key to her New Jersey home to include in the cast.[5] The plating had been donated by the United States Navy, in a joint resolution.
Scheduled for presentation for May 18,[6] the bell was formally presented on June 15, at a ceremony hosted by Virginia governor Claude A. Swanson. The Exposition's general counsel T. J. Wool and Major Hunter were both present.[7]
It was intended for the Bell to be given to the University of Virginia after the close of the Exposition.[7] However shortly after the Governor announced this fact, there was dispute about where it should ultimately be sent.[8]
