PATRICK HENRY’S MAP DESK This map table with pullout extensions supported large maps and larger dreams of wealth. Patrick Henry, like many Virginia planters, bought thousands of acres of land west of the Appalachian Mountains, hoping to resell later at a higher price to settlers. Yet his acreage was occupied by the Cherokee. To avoid frontier war, the British in 1763 prohibited speculation and settlement west of the mountains. Courtesy of Preservation Virginia.