Named for John Draper who was one of the early settlers of the Virginia Frontier and the land along the New River.
Draper first settled at Draper's Meadows near present day Blackburg, Virginia
but in 1755, Shawnee Indians made their way from the Ohio River Valley to raid the Virginia Frontier.
As a result of one of those raids, Bettie Robertson Draper (John's wife)
and her sister-in-law, Mary Draper Ingalls and five other were captured
and taken back to the Shawnee Camps in the Ohio River Valley.
Mary Draper Ingalls escaped and traveled on foot more than 850 miles back to the new River Valley.
Bettie Draper lived for 6-years with the Shawnee, before John Draper found her and bartered for her release.
In 1765 John and Bettie Draper moved from Draper's Meadow to the area known as Draper's Valley.