THE OCEAN HIGHWAY
Compiled by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration
To follow the course of the Ocean Highway along the shore of the Atlantic from New Jersey to Florida is like taking a living course in American history, so much of the past is still visible in the out-of-the-way hamlets, towns, bays, and islands through which the ancient route passes. This shore road, sometimes impassable even now in the spring because of high water, is the one by which the first white settlers ploughed their difficult way by muddy foot, horse, or boat in colonial days. It connects some of the oldest settlements in North America. When the economic spine of the south swung inland, these old towns were left to decay or to maintain with dignity the integrity and traditions of an earlier time.
Language and customs in some sections, like the Eastern Shore of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, are still in many ways what they were in 1700 . . . How many of these words do you recognize: “stook”; “pipjinny”; “mung-ya”; “sporry”? (See page 38.)
Over the Ocean Highway you will journey through romantic legend-haunted regions like the Dismal Swamp (Va. and N. C.); past such historic spots as Tangier Island, still guarding its ancient independence as it did in the War of 1812. You will pass the Georgia scene of Julia Peterkin's novels Black Skin and Scarlet Sister Mary; and the house which was the setting for George Alfred Townsend's story of antebellum days in Maryland, The Entailed Hat.
From the road across Butler's Island you can see the house where Fanny Kemble, the English actress, kept her unhappy diary as the wife of Pierce Butler.
On Maryland's Eastern Shore you will pass fine old mansions standing on grants that bear names like Want Weather, Penny Come Quick, Hard Bargain, Aha the Cow Pasture, and Bachelor's Delight.
Among the most interesting sections of the book are the extensive group of side-trips and the description of the North Carolina Coast written in 1584 by Captain Arthur Barlow, by whom it was “taken in possession . . . to her Majesties use.”
It is easier in these coastal regions to get the traditional dishes of the country than in the more up-to-date sections to the west. A mouth-watering feature of this book is the list of “Characteristic Coastal Dishes” included as the result of what must have been the pleasantest task of research that went into the making of “The Ocean Highway.”
Photo of two men fishingAMERICAN GUIDE SERIESTHEOcean Highway NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEYTO JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDACompiled and written by the Federal Writers’ Projectof the Works Progress Administration WITH 32 PHOTOGRAPHS
vignette SPONSORED BY CHARLES L. TERRY, JR., Secretary of State of Delawareand published byMODERN AGE BOOKS, INC.NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT 1938 BY CHARLES L. TERRY, JR., SECRETARY OF STATE, DOVER, DELAWARE.
PUBLISHED BY MODERN AGE BOOKS, INC.
(BMG. UOPWA, 18)
All rights in this book are reserved, and it may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the holder of these rights. For information address the publishers.
Composed and printed in the United States of America by Union Labor
AT THE RUMFORD PRESS, CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Typography by Robert Josephy
FOREWORDTHE OCEAN HIGHWAY is a publication of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration. Under this project, organized to give useful work to unemployed writers, an ambitious and pioneering task has been undertaken — a written description of the most important sections of the United States. The Federal Writers’ publications are of many types. This volume is part of the American Guide Series of regional, State and local guidebooks, and third in a series of interstate route guides. The entire series of guides, when completed, will highlight the history, resources and points of interest in an area of more than three million square miles.
Although collated, rechecked and edited in the central office in Washington, the materials for the book were collected in the States and the book was written by the State workers on the Federal Writers’ Project. To insure its accuracy authorities have checked statements of fact, and to give it all possible scope many public-spirited persons have given their services freely. They share with us the hope that those who use this volume will through it gain a better knowledge and greater understanding of America and American life.
The Federal Writers’ Project, directed by Henry G. Alsberg, is in the Division of Women and Professional Projects under Ellen S. Woodward, WPA Assistant Administrator.
Administrator
CONTENTS
| Foreword | iii |
| Notes on Use of Book | ix |
| Introduction | xi |
| Characteristic Coastal Dishes | xxiii |
| NEW JERSEY | |
| Section 1. New Brunswick to Delaware Line, 88 miles, US 130 | 1 |
| DELAWARE | |
| Section 2. New Castle to Hare's Corner, 2.5 miles, US 40 | 11 |
| Section 3. Hare's Corner to Maryland Line, 90.5 miles, US 13 | 13 |
| MARYLAND | |
| Section 4. Delaware Line to Virginia Line, 40.8 miles, US 13 | 47 |
| VIRGINIA | |
| Section 5. Maryland Line to Norfolk, 60.6 miles, US 13 | 59 |
| Section 6. Norfolk to North Carolina Line, 21.6 miles, US 17 | 86 |
| NORTH CAROLINA | |
| Section 7. Virginia Line to Williamston, 87 miles, US 17 | 90 |
| Section 8. Williamston to South Carolina Line, 198 miles, US 17 | 105 |
| SOUTH CAROLINA | |
| Section 9. North Carolina Line to Charleston, 119.3 miles, US 17 | 121 |
| Section 10. Charleston to Georgia Line, 115.3 miles, US 17 | 134 |
| GEORGIA | |
| Section 11. South Carolina Line to Florida Line, 136.7 miles, US 17 | 143 |
| FLORIDA |
Section 12. Georgia Line to Jacksonville, 32 miles, US 17 160
SIDE ROUTES| NORTH CAROLINA | |
| Side Route A. Elizabeth City to Hatteras Inlet, 125 miles, State 30, 34, 345 | 167 |
| SOUTH CAROLINA | |
| Side Route B. Mount Pleasant to Isle of Palms, 9.6 miles, State 703 | 191 |
| Side Route C. Junction with US 17 to Folly Beach, 8.8 miles, Folly Beach Rd. | 193 |
| Side Route D. Junction with US 17 — Magnolia Gardens — Middleton Gardens—Summerville, 22.9 miles, State 61 | 196 |
| Side Route E. Adams Run to Edisto Beach, 20.3 miles, Edisto Beach Rd. | 201 |
| Side Route F. Walterboro to Combahee River, 19.5 miles, State 303, 32 | 205 |
| GEORGIA | |
| Side Route G. Junction US 17 — St. Simon Island — Sea Island, 11.5 miles, St. Simon Causeway, Sea Island Rd., Frederica Rd. | 209 |
| Barlow's Description of the North Carolina Coast (1584) | 215 |
| Annual Events | 226 |
| Index | 229 |
| Map |
| Frontispiece | Following page |
| At the Jersey Homesteads near Hightstown, New Jersey | 12 |
| Old Drawyers Presbyterian Church, Delaware | 12 |
| Castle William (1773), Odessa, Delaware | 28 |
| Belmont Hall, near Smyrna, Delaware | 28 |
| The State House, Dover, Delaware | 44 |
| Near Dover, Delaware | 44 |
| Saw Mill, near Salisbury, Maryland | 44 |
| Teackle Mansion, Princess Ann, Maryland | 44 |
| Typical Early Eastern Shore Home | 60 |
| Mount Custis, Virginia Eastern Shore | 60 |
| Entrance of Bowman's Folly, Virginia | 76 |
| A Tangier Island Scooter | 76 |
| Hungar's Church, Virginia | 76 |
| Vauclose, Virginia | 76 |
| Beach at Kiptopeke, Virginia | 92 |
| A Libelous British Cartoon | 92 |
| Near Charleston, South Carolina | 124 |
| St. Michael's, Charleston, South Carolina | 124 |
| Tenant Cabin, South Carolina | 140 |
| Spanish Moss in Georgia | 140 |
| Wetter House (1840), Savannah, Georgia | 140 |
| Following page | |
| Christ's Church, St. Simon Island, Georgia | 140 |
| Wormsloe Gardens, Savannah, Georgia | 157 |
| Bonaventure Cemetery, South of Savannah, Georgia | 157 |
| A Florida Catch R. H. LeSesne | 172 |
| Show Boat Moored in Canal, Coinjock, North Carolina | 172 |
| From Jockey's Ridge, Nags Head, North Carolina | 172 |
| Where the Colonists Came Ashore in North Carolina | 172 |
| Trees in Avon, North Carolina | 188 |
| Wreck of the Kohler off Hatteras | 188 |
| THIS is a mile-by-mile description of the Ocean Highway and some of the short routes branching from it. Descriptions of the more important side and cross routes and large cities have been omitted owing to lack of space; readers are referred to the State guide books of the American Guide Series for this material. The description of the main route, written north to south, is of course valid in the reverse direction. For the convenience of those entering the route at midway points the description of the Ocean Highway has been broken into short sections, cumulative mileage being started afresh at the beginning of each. Mileages on the side routes are also cumulative, being counted from the junctions with the main route. Those using this guide book on the road are reminded that cumulative mileages depend on the manner in which a car is driven; if curves are rounded on the inside, if many other cars are passed, if the road is left even briefly for stops at filling stations, if an alternate to the indicated route is used in going through a city or town, total mileages will differ from those given here. |
| Travelers are advised to read in advance the descriptions of sections they expect to travel and to mark the points of interest they particularly wish to view. |
| Great effort has been expended to make this book as accurate as possible, but it is realized that no volume covering such a wide range of material, some of it inadequately documented, can be free of mistakes; if those who find errors will report them to the Federal Writers’ Project in Washington, corrections will gladly be made in future editions. |
| Note: In the late Spring some sections of this road south of Norfolk may be temporarily closed because of high water. Travelers should make inquiry along the route. |
| Katharine A. Kellock |
| Tour Editor, American Guide Series |
INTRODUCTION
THE 1000-MILE OCEAN HIGHWAY, branching south from US 1 in the industrial area of New Jersey and providing the shortest route between the New York City region and Florida, crosses swamps and tidal estuaries and inlets; it traverses flat country never far above sea-level. Thanks to the Gulf Stream most of it is ice-free when roads further inland are coated with a dangerous glaze.
Except for the 88-mile section in New Jersey the route runs through the Old South; the Eastern Shore, the narrow peninsula it traverses between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, was never a cotton-growing area and was occupied by Union troops early in the Civil War, but it was southern in customs, traditions, and sympathies.
The Ocean Highway country, in spite of modern agricultural and industrial developments, lives much in the past. It cherishes the speech and habits of its ancestors, and speaks of long-ago happenings as though they had occurred last year. Everybody knows the kin of his great-aunt's second husband's grandmother, servants work all their lives in one family, sharing their folks’ prosperity and hard times, and The War is still the Civil War.
In many places the modern road follows the Colonial route connecting the first settlements made on this part of the Atlantic Coast; in North Carolina a side route runs to Roanoke Island, where in 1585 Ralegh planted the first English colony on American soil; on the Eastern Shore the route runs close to a settlement made by Jamestown colonists, sent into supposed exile to make salt but remaining to enjoy the abundance of the land. The Ocean Highway goes through New Castle, the capital of the Province of Delaware, through New Bern, for a time the capital of the Province of North Carolina, through Charleston, the capital of the Province of South Carolina, and through Savannah, capital of the Colony of Georgia.
The early inhabitants of these regions brought old cultural traditions with them and the fecundity of the country soon enabled the new Americans to build churches and homes of architectural elegance and grace that would have merited respectful attention in western Europe. Travelers who linger here have many opportunities to wonder at the imagination and craftsmanship displayed in the early structures on these shores.
In some sections the countryside is monotonous in its fiatness, but along side routes south of the Delaware there is an astonishing lushness of vegetation, increasing toward the South, that provides delightful variety.
Fanny Kemble, the English actress who spent a winter on the islands off the Georgia Coast, after her marriage to Pierce Butler, wrote in her journal:
“. . . Every shade of green, every variety of form, every degree of varnish, and all in full leaf and beauty in the very depth of winter. The stunted dark-colored oak; the magnolia bay . . ., which grows to a very great size; the wild myrtle a beautiful and profuse shrub, rising to a height of six, eight, and ten feet, and branching on all sides in luxuriant tufted fullness; most beautiful of all, that pride of the South, the magnolia grandiflora, whose lustrous dark green perfect foliage would alone render it an object of admiration, without the queenly blossom whose color, size, and perfume are unrivaled in the whole vegetable kingdom. . . . Under all these the spiked palmetto forms an impenetrable covert, and from glittering graceful branch to branch hang garlands of evergreen creepers, on which the mocking-birds are swinging and singing even now; while I, bethinking me of the pinching cold that is at this hour tyrannizing over your region, look round on this strange scene — on these green woods, this unfettered river, and sunny sky — and feel very much like one in another planet from yourself.”
And again: “Here I saw growing in the open air the most beautiful gardinias I have ever beheld. . . . We saw quantities of wild plumtrees all silvery with blossoms . . . and a beautiful shrub covered with delicate pink bloom like flowering peach trees. . . .
“But then the sky . . . the unspeakable glories of these southern heavens, the saffron brightness of morning, the blue intense brilliancy of noon, the golden splendor and the rosy softness of sunset. Italy and Claude Lorraine may go hang themselves together!”
It is not surprising that such a country should hold formal gardens that connoisseurs rank among the most beautiful in the world. The earliest European inhabitants were fascinated by the botanical wonders of a country that later attracted such distinguished naturalists as Bartram, and they lavished as much time and money on their gardens as they did on their houses, vying with one another in a race to acquire and acclimate large numbers of exotic plants. Brookgreen,
Magnolia Gardens, Runnymede, and Middleton are merely notable survivors of the many former landscaped estates.
A list of those who had plantations and estates in the area along the highway south of Norfolk would include almost every name of importance in the early history of the Carolinas and of Georgia.
Even though the old King's Highway, which the route closely follows, was notoriously difficult south of Chesapeake Bay, it was the shortest route between the Colonial centers of government, culture, and trade, and at one time or another its mud was spattered over practically every southern colonizer, soldier, and statesman, and over every peddler, missionary, and distinguished foreigner visiting the South. The diaries and letters of these early travelers make lively reading, though arousing wonder and envy at the energy of the people of the past.
The journal of George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends who visited America in 1672, gives almost as much space to comments on the hardships of travel as it does to rejoicings over the success of the meetings he held.
“Having visited the north part of Carolina and made a little entrance for Truth upon the people there, we began to return towards Virginia. . . . We lay one night at the house of the secretary, to get to which gave us much trouble; for the water being shallow, we could not bring our boat to shore; but the secretary's wife, seeing our straight, came herself in a canoe (her husband being from home) and brought us to land.
“Next morning our boat was sunk; but we got her up, mended her, and went away in her that day about twenty-four miles, the water being rough, and the winds high; but the great power of God was seen in carrying us safe in that rotten boat. . . .
“Next day we had a tedious journey through bogs and swamps, and were exceedingly wet and dirty but dried ourselves at night by a fire. . . .” At this point he describes a woman's amazement when her large dogs make no attempt to bite him. “. . . for both in Virginia and Carolina (living alone in the woods) they generally kept great dogs to guard their houses. . . .”
Francis Asbury, who established Methodism in America and who covered an almost incredible number of miles in his ceaseless journeys, made many complaints on the difficulty of the road. On Aug. 9, 1780, when he was in North Carolina, he wrote:
“I have had little time or place for prayer till I came here. The roads are so bad that I have my carriage to refit almost every week.
“Aug. 10. I rode for the State of Virginia; we were lost, stopped at Dickinson's and took dinner; there rode on to Sylvester Adam's, several creeks to cross and bad roads to travel. Edward Bailey led my horse down a steep hill, and the carriage overset; the horse struggled but kept his feet; one shaft broke which we strapped up and rode on near thirty miles.”
In 1787 while near the present town of South Mills in North Carolina, he recorded: “I am now surrounded by hideous swamps near the head of the Pasquotank River.”
In March of 1796 he noted:
“Rode twenty-five miles to Chester's. Here I learned Edisto was impassable. If we had not hastened along as we did, we should not have passed it in proper time and I should have been prevented from visiting Georgia this year also. There are so many water-courses and so few ferries that going through this country in any certain time is like a lottery.”
But the streams that were impediments on the King's Highway were themselves travel routes. Nearly all the most desirable plantations bordered some navigable river and many plantation families traveled to the cities in their own barges and ships, making the journeys frequently because the Colonial ports were gay places, with balls, concerts, theatrical performances, and parties. They were surprisingly cosmopolitan, European newspapers, pamphlets and gossip reaching them quickly. A Charleston visitor from abroad was sometimes startled by hearing discussion of a Sir Roger de Coverley paper he had not yet read, the latest copy of the Spectator having arrived on a swifter boat than the one on which he had sailed. When popular merchants were expecting cargoes from abroad, men and women alike flocked in from the country to buy the latest Paris and London fripperies, and to parade them as soon as bought. If frocks had nine rows of ruffles in London at Christmas time, the women of the coastal plantations were wearing nine rows in February.
Many changes have taken place in the Ocean Highway country since those gay days of the past. Old plantations on the Eastern Shore, some owned by corporations, are operated as fruit and truck farms. Further south some of the old estates, occasionally in the hands of the families that formerly owned them, still produce cotton, but many
more are weed-grown or covered with scrub pine, gaunt chimneys rising above piles of brick to indicate the sites of the former mansions. Nonetheless, the country does not give an impression of decadence and ruin, because the Old South is entering a new cycle in its long history.
An outline of that history is a necessary adjunct to a description of the towns and points of interest along the route; but much of the story of the Ocean Highway country is necessarily the story of the whole South. The cultural and economic patterns set on the Atlantic coast dominated the country later settled behind it.
The English and Scottish immigrants who first made homes along the Atlantic seaboard, from Maine to Florida, were nearly alike in their aspirations and ideals; all had left the lands in which they were born, and had faced the dreadful discomforts of three-month sea voyages and the dangers of pioneering among savages, in the hope of bettering their conditions of life; all wanted security — social, economic, religious. The differences of opinion later developing between those who settled along the northern shores and those who settled further south were largely the result of climate and topography.
The Virginia colonists, first to arrive, went through a disillusioning period before they realized that the only gold America had for them must come from the cultivation of the land; fortunately the country in which they had settled was ideal for the culture of tobacco, a world demand for which had been created in an astonishingly short time, after the Spanish introduced the use of the plant into the Old World. Settlers to the south of Virginia also turned to the cultivation of crops for European markets — rice, indigo, and cotton.
The Massachusetts settlers, after almost starving to death on the barren coast, found that they could make livings by sending to England the Maine furs acquired from the Indians and the fish taken from the coastal waters. They practiced agriculture but their farms were chiefly of the subsistence variety. Fishing led them to boat and ship building, eventually turning them to the carrying trade.
All the early settlers had serious trouble in finding laborers. In a land with millions of unclaimed acres it was exceedingly difficult to persuade men to till the soil for others; poor immigrants were, however, willing to bind or hire themselves out to shippers and tradesmen to acquire skills that would later make them independent. Such as were willing to do agricultural chores shunned the South because of
the heat that was so deadly to those reared in the cool British Isles.
The first slave trader in the lands of English settlement, a Dutchman, appeared in 1619. The hard-pressed planters of Jamestown bought his goods with reluctance. Before long other slavers arrived in ports all along the Atlantic coast and disposed of their cargoes without much difficulty. The northerners, however, soon found their investments in human chattels unsatisfactory. Because of the rigorous climate in the North, Africans there proved to be highly perishable property; they lacked, moreover, the slight skills demanded by tradesmen and craftsmen. The southern farmers had less difficulty in acclimating the Negro and could use workers lacking skills and trained intelligence. So the slave traders eventually found poor markets in the North, good ones in the South.
Nonetheless, the southern settlers did not accept slavery gladly. They had both moral and practical objections to the importation of the Africans. They early recognized the disadvantages of slave labor, its productive inefficiency, and the responsibilities it entailed. Within a few decades they were acutely aware of the problems inherent in settlement by mixed races.
Long before the Revolution some of the colonies, southern as well as northern, attempted to stop further importations of slaves, but all legislative bans were immediately annulled by the British Crown, which was heavily involved in the lucrative slave trade; good Queen Anne, scattering communion cups and religious vestments among the Anglican congregations of America, was the leading stockholder in the English company holding a monopoly on the African trade.
The northerners, finding slaves unprofitable for themselves, early turned to supplying them to others. The Massachusetts ship Desire brought in Negroes in 1637. By 1680 the trade was in full swing; molasses bought in the West Indies was turned into rum by New Englanders who shipped it to Africa; there they traded it for Africans, who were carried to the West Indies for “seasoning” before shipment to the southern colonies. The ships that had carried the slaves from Africa were loaded with more molasses for processing in New England.
It was the planter Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, who, when drafting the Declaration of Independence, wrote:
“. . . he (George III) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons
of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain: determined to open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. . . .”
That this paragraph did not appear in the final draft of the Declaration was owing to the censorship exerted by northern as well as southern delegates. John Adams, sitting on the drafting committee, was mindful of the interests of New England shippers and well aware that many of the finest homes on the New England coast had been built with the profits of the trade in human beings.
Jefferson was far from being alone in his dislike of slavery. Washington, writing to Lafayette, said:
“. . . your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit would difuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country. But I despair of seeing it. Some petitions were presented to the Assembly at its last session, for the abolition of slavery, but they could scarcely obtain a reading. To set them afloat at once would, I really believe, be productive of much mischief, but by degrees it certainly might and assuredly ought to be effected; and that too by legislative authority. . . .”
Washington was praising a humanitarian plan but he was fully convinced of the practical disadvantages of slavery and more than once spoke of his own dilemma; his slaves were breeding too fast for his needs and he could not face separating families by sale.
As the slaves began to multiply in numbers there was less need to import them from abroad and the market price dropped — to the dismay of the traders; while in drafting the Constitution the Founding Fathers had incorporated a clause prohibiting any ban for 20 years on slave importations, the act was accomplished in 1807 without great opposition from the North or the South.
Had the question come up but a short time later it is possible that importation would not have been banned so easily. The North, pushing industrial development, was installing power looms in the new
textile mills and the cotton gin was coming into use, making cotton goods cheaper and greatly increasing the demand. Within a few years after the importation of slaves was prohibited the South was experiencing an enormous boom. Planters borrowed frantically to buy plantations and slaves and used their profits to obtain yet more plantations and more slaves. They ignored all possibilities of industrial development and crop diversification, becoming entirely dependent on the price of cotton. When the price of this commodity dropped alarmingly, as it did at intervals, the planters had to resort to northern money-lenders to pay the annual bills and to enable them to plant the next crop.
This dependency on northern cash, which helped to increase the antagonism between the two sections of the country, was in large part the result of the credit-economy that had prevailed in the plantation area from earliest times. The southerner had money in his pockets at only one period of the year — after his crop was sold; Parson Weems, the indefatigable book-seller, wrote to his publisher in 1804:
“. . . And as also in the long run of things, my life may be worth a Jew's eye to you, I wd, by all means, advise that I be directed, like a Bird of passage, to spend the Winter in the South, and the Summer & Autumn in the North. In the seasons last mention'd the Gentry of this Country are scatter'd abroad like sheep without a shepherd, wandering in quest of Health and healthy situations. And besides were you to light upon them at that time you wd find them as lean as so many rabbits in the Dog days, without a dollar to lay down even for the ‘The life of Washington.’ But in Winter they are all in their towns thick as Bees, and merry as Crickets, with every man his pocket full of dollars from the sale of his cotton bags & rice barrels. . . .”
Because the planter had cash only once a year he had to pay high prices for everything, storekeepers and other retailers having to make him bear the cost of deferred payments for goods. It was easy to blame the high prices on the North, the money-lender, particularly because the new industrialists of that section were constantly pressing for higher tariffs to protect their markets. A purely agricultural area producing crops chiefly for a foreign market, the South demanded free trade, protesting against having to pay nearly double price for manufactures, in part for the benefit of northern producers. Her
protests were especially bitter because of the poor quality of many American products, particularly textiles.
Meanwhile, the soil of the area through which the Ocean Highway runs was becoming exhausted; Fanny Kemble in 1834 commented on the shabbiness and dilapidation of many of the formerly prosperous homes. Describing a visit to the daughter of an exgovernor, she wrote: “. . . as for the residence of this princess it was like all the planters’ residences that I have seen and, such as a well-to-do English farmer would certainly not inhabit. Occasional marks of former elegance or splendor survive, sometimes in the size of the rooms, sometimes in a little carved woodwork about the mantle-pieces or wainscotings of these mansions; but all things have a Castle Rackrent air of neglect, . . . with which the dirty barefooted negro servants are in excellent keeping.”
The antagonism between the North and the South — between sections primarily industrial and primarily agricultural — increased steadily in strength and bitterness because of their opposing economic interests. Some northern politicians were not averse to fanning the growing anti-slavery sentiment of the humanitarians and the northern farmers’ fear of competition from slave labor in order to aid their own political battles for dominance in Congress, but the northern industrialists actively opposed these tactics, foreseeing the dangers in a social upheaval and appreciating the advantages to themselves of having cotton produced with slave labor. As the North approached the point where her population and wealth doubled that of the South, southern leaders realized that their long dominance in Congress would soon be lost; the people, particularly in the far South, saw this as a dreadful threat to their somewhat precarious prosperity. Talk of secession from the Union increased — an act that some northerners had advocated for their own States at times when national affairs were going in directions that did not suit their interests.
When in 1860 the new party, openly committed to high protective tariffs, won the national election, the southern fear became intense. South Carolina immediately called a popular convention and voted to leave the Union, calling on other States to follow her. Northern leaders, eager to heal the break, hastily put through Congress an amendment to the Constitution denying the Federal Government the power to abolish or interfere with slavery, and three States had already ratified the amendment when a series of unfortunate incidents,
minor in themselves, brought on the armed conflict. When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, it came largely as a military measure to prevent Great Britain, which had abolished slavery, from recognizing and aiding the Confederacy — the producer of the raw material for her cotton mills.
The results of the war were staggering for the South; 250,000 men, many of the most active and intelligent in the area, had been killed, and even a greater number had been permanently crippled or invalided. The people had given all possible public and private wealth to the support of their armies; the emancipation of the slaves without compensation to the owners — early offers of compensation in return for peace had been refused — resulted in the wiping out of four billion dollars’ worth of southern property; plantations, homes and public buildings had been destroyed. The humiliation of a people who had long dominated the national scene, the loss of their economic security, the fear engendered by the wreckage of their whole economic system, and the despair over the terrific task ahead, had shattering results. While the war generation made some progress in re-establishing order, it was half a century before the States that had entered the Confederacy began to recover their vitality.
These fallow years were not lost; by the beginning of the 20th century, the exhausted fields had begun to recover some of their fertility, pine forests were springing up, planters were beginning to study methods of soil conservation and crop diversification, and the new generation was seriously studying the economic and social problems before it. Industrial development had begun, changing the former southern attitude on tariff protection for domestic industry and bringing a realization of the needs of balancing the Nation's industrial and agricultural interests.
The World War, increasing the demand for cotton and stimulating industrial development, gave at least a temporary return of some of the old prosperity and opened the eyes of many southerners to the new agricultural and industrial possibilities of their land. The war also stimulated the production of naval stores, particularly in the Ocean Highway country. A Georgia chemist, Dr. Charles Herty, passionately convinced of the possibility of using the pines of the large southern forests for paper-making, has devoted his energies over a long period to the project. His faith has been justified and the Ocean Highway country is already beginning to benefit from his
work. Within the last two years an enormous amount of money has been spent in building lumber and paper mills along the coast; most of the paper mills will produce kraft — brown wrapping paper — but one, at least, will produce white paper of many grades, including that for newspapers. The signs of the prosperity created by the new mills are already visible in wide areas around them.
CHARACTERISTIC COASTAL DISHES
The Ocean Highway country is famous as the land of good food; nature has supplied a wide variety of fine ingredients and the inhabitants know well how to use them. Recipes are handed down from generation to generation, along with the family plate and portraits. Mention of special dishes provides a useful conversational wedge everywhere along the route and has been known to create firm friendships. Only a word of praise for a good meal is needed in a hotel to bring service that money can not buy.
Of all the pleasures offered by the coastal country, food stands at the head of the list.
NEW JERSEY
Clam Fritters: the juice of a dozen clams, an equal quantity of milk, salt, four slightly beaten eggs for each pint of liquid, and enough flour so that the batter drops from a spoon. To this is added chopped raw clams, and the mixture is stirred thoroughly, dropped a tablespoonful at a time in a hot pan, and fried until it becomes a golden brown.
Clam Pie: one pint of clams, two medium-sized potatoes, and two medium-sized onions, are ground, salted, and boiled in clam juice for ten minutes, then placed in a pudding dish (in the middle of which a small cup has been inverted), covered with pastry, and baked for half an hour in a hot oven.
Smoked Strawberry Bass: bass boiled for ten or fifteen minutes in a saucepan with an inch or less of water, and served with toast using the water in which the fish was steamed as a sauce.
Parsnip Stew: parsnips, potatoes, and pieces of browned salt pork stewed until tender in enough water to cover the mixture.
New Jersey Clam Chowder: chopped clams, onions, carrots, potatoes, seasoned with thyme and a small amount of salt pork.
Snapper Soup: ground snapper, boiled slowly in salt water; crab meat, green peppers, thyme, parsley, small cubes of Jersey red-skin potatoes, garlic, salt, and red pepper.
Snapper Stew: snapper cut in small cubes and cooked slowly; hard-boiled egg yolk, butter, cream, salt, nutmeg, and paprika are added. Served on toast.
Lowlands of south Jersey abound with snapping turtles, popularly known as snappers. It is a difficult job to get at the meat. The snapper is tickled on the nose with a stout stick. When he grabs it, the stick is pulled until he has fully unfolded his long neck. Then his head is chopped off behind the ears, after which he relaxes. A sharp knife is then inserted between the interstices in the side bridges that tie the lower and upper shells.
DELAWARECrab Sandwich: soft-shelled crab used as a sandwich filling. This is served at roadstands.
Potato Roll: very light dinner or luncheon roll made with a maximum quantity of boiled potato.
Delaware Biscuit: a cousin to the Maryland beaten biscuit, made with milk and shortening consisting partly of butter.
Terrapin: served with sherry in soup plates is considered a company dish.
Hog-Jowl-and-Turnip Greens: young turnip tops cooked with salt pork, is a popular dish in the spring.
Peninsula Succotash (south of Dover): fresh corn, lima beans and tomatoes, cooked with a piece of fat salt pork.
Brandywine Punch: three parts of sauterne, one part of brandy, mixed with sparkling water; also Brandywine liqueur made of Burgundy and apricot brandy in the same proportions.
Peach Cordial (company dessert or five o'clock treat): a quarter of a peck of large Delaware tree-ripened white peaches crushed with the juice of a lemon and several tablespoons of granulated sugar in the bottom of a punch bowl; to this is added a cup of old port wine, enough cracked ice to half fill the bowl, half a pint of chilled orange juice, and half a pint of chilled water. After being thoroughly stirred, this is served in wide-mouthed tumblers or in deep dessert dishes with dessert spoons.
Winter Supper Dish: alternate layers of boned boiled chicken (or ham), boiled Spanish chestnuts (or boiled sweet potatoes — especially with ham), raw oysters, chopped celery hearts, parsley, and filling as for roast turkey; seasoned and moistened with chicken or ham liquor, baked in a slow oven; this is served from the baking dish to plates containing endive with French dressing.
MARYLANDMaryland Biscuit: stiff biscuit dough beaten with a hatchet for 30 minutes — baked in small hard biscuits, pricked with a fork.
Maryland Fried Chicken: young chicken cut in pieces, dipped in light batter, floured, fried in deep fat; served with cream gravy and waffles or corn fritters and bacon.
Tipsy Parson: loaf of sponge cake stuck full of blanched almonds, saturated with sherry; served with boiled custard, topped with whipped cream.
Egg-Nog: yolks and whites of eggs beaten separately, with sugar, brandy, milk and plenty of rich cream; served during the holidays, especially on New Year's Day.
Soft Crabs: cleaned by removing sand bag, “dead man”, and eyes — dipped in batter and cracker crumbs — fried in deep fat.
Creamed Hominy: soaked overnight — simmered for six hours — creamed with butter, salt, and milk.
Planked Shad: boned, baked on hickory or other hardwood plank, served on plank with trimmings of lemon and potato chips.
Sally Lunn: unsweetened cake dough, raised with yeast, baked brown in deep dish.
Braised Muskrat: boiled until tender — cut small and baked with thick brown crust — known as “marsh rabbit.”
VIRGINIAThe Ocean Highway in Virginia passes through a land that abounds with birds and fish of exceptional quality. Housewives of the Eastern Shore cater to Epicurean tastes. It can hardly be said that they cook seafood — rather, they work magic upon all that the water yields.
Chincoteague Oysters make wands and witchery quite unnecessary. Their color is different from that of ordinary oysters — not gray but pure silver. The oysters are puffy fat, large, tender, and so delicious with the tang of the sea that the use of seasoning is considered a sacrilege. But if visitors prefer them cooked, they will be served oysters fried, scalloped, broiled, or baked.
Clam Fritters: chopped clams, seasoned, mixed with a stiff batter — and fried.
Chowder is rich with clams and has just enough celery, potatoes, and cream to give spice and stew-like consistency to the concoction.
Soft-Shell Crabs (April-Oct.): after the “dead man” has been pulled away from the squirming little creature, the crab, still kicking, is lightly rolled in corn meal and dropped into just enough hot fat to cause a brown crust to form quickly. When soft-shell crabs are not available, clever cooks on the Shore have a way of preparing hard shells after a manner all their own. The legs and claws are cut away; the top shell is taken off; the bony structure is mashed so that the meat is easily extracted; and then the body of the crab is fried in hot butter.
Bird Pot-Pie: layers of birds and layers of short pastry, more layers of birds and more layers of pastry are its only ingredients.
Diamond Back Terrapin: boiled alive in salt water; the black meat is then picked out, covered with a wine sauce, and served.
Mint Julep (served in a silver goblet covered with thick frost; it is not desecrated with cherries, chunks of pineapple, or slices of orange): two jiggers of very old whiskey — into which a teaspoonful of sugar has been melted — are poured into a silver goblet prepared by moistening the rim, dipping it in a quarter of an inch of powdered sugar, and filling the goblet with ice crushed in a clean towel and never washed after crushing; two or three sprigs of mint, whose lower leaves have been bruised, are thrust into the ice and the goblet is placed in the refrigerator for at least ten minutes before serving.
NORTH CAROLINABeaten Biscuits: made from white flour, lard, salt, and sweet milk, beaten for half an hour preferably on a marble slab; baked in a hot oven and served cold.
Sally Lunn: soft, muffin-like white flour batter baked in a deep cake ring and served piping hot from the oven, with melted butter.
Johnny Bread: pastry of white flour, lard, and sweet milk, spread an inch thick in a biscuit pan and baked in a quick oven, split and buttered while hot, and cut into squares when served. Because this keeps fresh for days, it was originally called “journey bread.” It is especially popular for oyster roasts.
Corn Pone: corn meal, water, with or without salt, shaped by hand and grooved by fingerprints, baked in a spider on top of the stove or in the oven.
Oyster Roasts: oysters roasted in the shell a bushel at a time on a grill over a hot brushwood fire, or, covered with jute sacks and steamed in an oven. They are served with drawn butter sauce, johnny bread or corn bread, and cole slaw. Many houses in eastern North Carolina, close to coast or river, have grills or ovens either outdoors or in the basement and a specially made table with a center groove for disposing of the shells.
Barbecued Meat: pig, lamb, or chicken roasted in or outdoors and basted with a highly seasoned sauce of butter, lemon juice, tomato catsup, ginger, vinegar, mustard, salt, and red and black pepper. Sweet potatoes and apples are often roasted with a barbecued pig.
Broiled Ham: from country-cured, peanut-fed hogs, smoked over green hickory chips, and broiled in a skillet either on top of the stove or in the oven.
Fresh Shad Roe: broiled in butter.
Devilled Crabs: hard-shelled crabs scalloped with butter, lemon juice, hard-cooked egg, bread crumbs, highly seasoned, and served in a baking dish or stuffed in shells.
Salt Roe Herring or Hickory Smoked Herring: broiled, and seldom served without hominy grits.
Sweet Potato Custard: boiled mashed sweet potato mixed with milk and egg and flavored with nutmeg; baked in a crust-lined pie pan with no top crust; served with or without whipped cream.
Syllabub: heavy cream slightly sweetened and Scuppernong wine beaten together with an egg-beater (or syllabub churn) until stiff.
Sally White Cake: pound cake batter, sherry wine, citron, coconut, blanched almonds, rose water, and mace, sometimes moistened with peach brandy.
Fruit Shortcake: made with a short unsweetened biscuit dough.
SOUTH CAROLINASelena la Bruce's Rice Bread: cold hominy or rice cooked with rice-flour, eggs, and yeast.
Baked Shad: fish stuffed with dressing made from potatoes, eggs, celery, and onion, then baked slowly.
Terrapin Soup: fresh-water terrapin boiled with bacon, cloves, allspice, and other seasonings; to this, just before serving, one glass of wine, containing a grated nutmeg, is added.
Hop-in-John: cow peas, rice, and bacon boiled together.
Carolina Pilau: broiled chicken cooked with rice which has been browned in bacon drippings.
Venison Pie: venison and brown gravy seasoned with wine, mace, nutmeg, and hard-boiled eggs; cooked in a deep dish lined and covered with pastry made of butter and flour.
Oyster Stew with Mace: oysters cooked in cream seasoned with mace.
GEORGIASouse Meat: hog's head, ears, and feet stewed, mashed, seasoned pressed, and sliced when cold.
Turnip Greens: fresh and tender turnip tops, boiled with salt pork or smoked bacon.
Leather Breeches: dried green snap beans, soaked overnight, and boiled with salt bacon.
Brunswick Stew: chopped beef, pork, tomatoes, corn, onion, peppers, and high seasonings.
Fried Pies: pastry filled with dried or fresh fruit and fried in hot fat.
Alligator Pear Salad: stuffed with crab meat.
Sherry Consomme: served with beaten biscuits.
Deep Pot Chicken: swimming in yellow gravy and served with wild rice.
Boiled Chitterlings: served hot with barbecue dressing, or cold with vinegar and red pepper sauce.
“Good hot fried chittlin's, crisp and brown,Ripe hard cider to wash it down;Cold slaw, cold pickle, sweet tater pie,And hot corn pone to slap your eye.”FLORIDAFried Shrimp: shrimp cleaned in the usual way, except that the tails are left on, are seasoned with salt and pepper, dipped in a batter made of beaten egg, rolled in cracker meal, and fried quickly in fat. The shrimp are eaten by holding the tail between the thumb and finger and dipping them in catsup, chilli sauce, or relish.
Roasted Oysters: oysters covered with wet sacks (to prevent charring and make them open more easily) are roasted over an open furnace, or charcoal pot covered by a strip of tin or a wire grill. After roasting, the shells are removed and the oysters dipped in melted butter.
Mullet Baked in Clay: cleaned mullet wrapped in leaves, rolled in soft clay, and baked in the glowing coals of a charcoal pot. When the clay has been baked hard, it is broken with a hammer and opened carefully. The mullet skin adheres to the leaves, and the flesh is removed intact.
Smoked Mullet: mullet that has been cleaned, salted, and seasoned overnight is washed, hung up to dry, and then smoked over hickory wood for ten or twelve hours.
MAIN ROUTE
New Brunswick, New Jersey to Jacksonville, Florida
Ferries across the Delaware River, the Chesapeake Bay and the Elizabeth River
US 130, US 40, US 13, and US 17
992.3 miles
NEW JERSEY
New Brunswick — Hightstown — Camden — Delaware River Ferry at Pennsville, 88 m. US 130.
Pennsylvania R.R. roughly parallels route.
All types of accommodations throughout.
Two- and four-lane concrete or macadam roadbed. Heavy freight traffic at night.
Section 1. New Brunswick to Delaware River, 88 m. US 130
US 130 avoids the congestion of traffic around Trenton and Philadelphia, and passes through more varied and attractive country than does the heavily traveled US 1, from which it branches. Small communities in the northern section retain much of the flavor of the days when the Dutch and the English made the first settlements in the area. Farms and woodlands line the highway throughout but in the flatter country between Camden and Pennsville, corn shocks and trees alike are scarcer, and broad creeks and marshes are numerous. Between Bordentown and Pennsville, US 130 follows the course of the Delaware River, which is about two miles away (R), and the tall chimneys of factories along the riverbanks are seen at intervals. Beyond the river rise the towers and skyscrapers of Philadelphia.
US 130 branches S. from US 1 at a traffic circle, 0 m., on the southern edge of New Brunswick, 38 m. W. of New York City. Several hundred feet R. stands the red and white steel tower of an airway beacon.
DEANS, 5.3 m. (85 alt., 200 pop.), in the center of farming country, still has, on one of its four corners, pasture land, with an old-fashioned red barn not far beyond.
DAYTON, 7.5 m. (117 alt., 390 pop.), was named for Jonathan Dayton who served in the Revolutionary Army and was later a brigadier general in the United States Army; he was a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention and served the State in both houses of Congress. Dayton, Ohio, was named for him. The little village is an important shipping point for potato growers. A blacksmith shop and, in season, crowded corncribs and haystacks accent the peaceful rusticity of the neighborhood.
Many old houses are still standing along the road in this region. One, built in 1710, is some distance from the highway at 10 m. (R).
It is recognizable more by the roadside sign advertising its age than by characteristics of Colonial architecture.
Windmills, having water tanks midway in their towers, as is customary in South Jersey, move their fans languidly in the gentle, fairly constant winds. The extensive Forsgate Farms (L), plainly marked by a large sign, has good herds and fine buildings; it is one of the leading producers of Grade A milk in New Jersey.
At 11.1 m. is the junction with a concrete road.
Right on this road to CRANBURY, 1.4 m. (110 alt., 1,278 pop.), one of the centers of a potato-growing district; it retains much of the charm of early America. The streets are lined with old frame houses, some of them converted into stores, others the homes of retired farmers. The village post office is almost concealed within the bulky Masonic Hall (L).
Cranbury was settled in 1682 and here, fifty years later, David Brainerd, the young follower of George Whitefield, often preached to the Indians under one of the spreading village elms. After his death from tuberculosis in 1747 at the age of 29, Brainerd's diary was an inspiration to many other “witnesses to the spirit.”
On the north edge of the town (R) is the L. P. Curtin House, recognized by its white frame walls and the iron grillwork on the porch. Aaron Burr slept here in 1804 while fleeing from New York to Philadelphia after wounding Alexander Hamilton in the fatal duel. In summer the blossoms of the giant lotus on Brainerd Lake (L) form one of the area's most beautiful sights. Near the lake is Cranbury Inn, which in 1780 began to supply meat and drink to travelers on what was then the old York Road. Two of these wayfarers were Washington and Hamilton. The well-proportioned First Presbyterian Church (R), built in 1734, is painted an immaculate white; it has two fluted columns on the façade and a graceful lantern. In the well-kept cemetery behind the church, names and dates from 1758 are legible on the gravestones.
The highway cutting through fields and across the eastern end of Brainerd Lake (R) by-passes Cranbury (R).
At 13.7 m., at a traffic circle, is the junction (R) with Cranbury's main street (see side tour above), and a concrete road (L).
Left on this road is HIGHTSTOWN, 1.5 m. (100 alt., 3,012 pop.), a busy market place, for the surrounding farm country; it also has some manufacturing plants. The entrance to the town from the N. is attractive, with grand old willow trees grouped on the shore of Peddie Lake (L), and an ornate stone firehouse (R). Houses erected before 1800 are scattered about the village among buildings of later construction. Elaborate iron grillwork ornaments the porches of some of the old homes. The Sarah B. Smith House, 137 Stockton St., just behind the railroad station, was built in 1770 and in 1819 became the community's first post office. A modern touch is given Hightstown by the concrete street markers, designed in the shape of the Washington Monument.
Founded in 1721, the town was named for John Hight, an early landowner. In 1854 it became a station on the Camden and Amboy, the first railroad built in New Jersey.
The Peddie School, established in 1864, is a private preparatory institution for boys. Its eighteen buildings serve the needs of approximately 260 students; the fine campus of 148 acres includes a private golf course.
Left from N. Main St. on Extra Rd. to JERSEY HOMESTEADS, 6.5 m., a project started by the Interior Department. Two hundred houses, built of cinderconcrete blocks, with flat, overhanging roofs are in horseshoe shaped groups. This combined agricultural and industrial community, covering 1,260 acres in rolling, partly-wooded country, was planned to remove about 200 families whose heads are union needle-trades workers from the crowded districts of Philadelphia and New York. The community is organized on a cooperative basis. Each family contributes $500 to a general fund for financing the equipment and operation of a women's clothing factory. A 414-acre farm is part of the cooperative experiment. Net profits will be divided equally among all residents — factory workers, farm workers, and clerks of the cooperative stores. The residents will make payments on their houses over a period of 40 years, with interest at three percent on the unpaid balances. One purpose of the project is to show that an industry, hitherto heavily concentrated in the slum and sweatshop areas of large cities, can be decentralized with its workers improving their own living conditions by cooperative methods.
South of the traffic circle, the highway by-passes Hightstown (L).
At 17 m. is the junction with a concrete road leading into Hightstown (see side tour above).
WINDSOR, 18.9 m. (100 alt., 250 pop.), was named by the English who settled here about 1714. A row of old-fashioned frame houses (L) lines the main street, but more conspicuous than these is the weathered brick General Store which for more than a hundred years has been the trading place of the large surrounding farm district. Behind the iron posts and worn wooden steps of the porch is an interior typical of hundreds of stores of a century ago. One display cabinet is filled with all kinds and colors of threads; another is stocked with spices. Both the cabinets and the wooden counters are even older than the pot-bellied stove in the center of the store.
Vineyards and nurseries, thriving on the rich loam of the region, and prosperous farms showing modern improvements and equipment, make this an unusually attractive area. Occasionally a snake fence encloses one of the fields. The village being within commuting distance of Trenton, many residents daily drive or ride on busses to work in the factories there.
ROBBINSVILLE, 22.4 m., a hamlet off the highway (R), was at one time known as Hungry Hill because wayfarers found it hard to obtain food there. English Quakers settled the land in 1750, and the
community took its name from George Robbins, an early resident.
The business district of YARDVILLE, 25.4 m. (60 alt., 920 pop.), is a few hundred yards from the highway (R). A rubber mill and a floor-covering factory are the principal industrial establishments. The village, formerly called Sand Hill, was the point where passengers on the pioneer Camden and Amboy R.R. left the train to be shuttled by stagecoach to Trenton; in 1850 the name was changed to honor the first postmaster. Many inhabitants are employed in Trenton.
On the southern edge of Yardville US 130 crosses Crosswicks Creek, remembered for a Revolutionary skirmish that took place 2 miles upstream at Crosswicks village, when the British Army was marching from Philadelphia to Monmouth in June 1778. Bogiron was mined in this area in Colonial times, and sailing vessels used the creek regularly in collecting and discharging cargoes.
At 28.3 m. is the junction with a marked, paved road.
Right on this road to the Clara Barton School, 0.2 m., a diminutive red-brick building resembling a doll's house, which stands in a triangular plot at the road fork. The key to the house may be borrowed from a nearby resident, but all of the plain interior can be seen through the windows. The school, built in 1839, was used from 1852 to 1854 by Miss Barton, later founder of what is now the American National Red Cross, as an experiment in free public-school education. Her resignation in 1854 was a protest against the townspeople's action in naming a male principal to supervise her work.
BORDENTOWN, 0.5 m. (65 alt., 4,400 pop.) (see N. J. GUIDE).
Railroad Station. Pennsylvania R.R., Camden Branch, by Delaware River.
Accommodations. Two small hotels.
Points of Interest. Bordentown Military Institute, Bonaparte Park, John Bull Locomotive Monument.
The New Jersey Manual Training School, 29.3 m. (R), is a State institution giving agricultural and industrial training to about three hundred Negro boys and girls. There is a small tuition fee. Part of the responsibility of the large teaching staff is to find employment for graduates of the school.
The Delaware River is visible (R) at 29.8 m. The land here is a low-lying plateau, slightly undulating, with ravines and shallow valleys cut by creeks on their way to the river.
At 32.7 m. is the junction with a concrete road.
Right on this road is ROEBLING, 1 m., a company town established by John A. Roebling, founder of the large steel-cable factory that supplied cables for
the Brooklyn, the Niagara Falls, and other big suspension bridges. Workers of Hungarian and other central European nationalities have long been employed here. Viewed from US 130, the outlying fringe of company houses of the town seems in keeping with the worst slum traditions. Closer examination disproves this, however, for some of the dwellings are of modern construction, all are of substantial brick, and the streets have been carefully planted with trees. Old-fashioned, solid-row construction has made windows impossible except at front and back, and there is an atmosphere of somber monotony about the town that is in no wise lessened by the inherent ugliness of the mill buildings and the waste land around them.
South of the junction with the road to Roebling the highway is almost a straight line, avoiding the curves of the Delaware River, 2 to 3 miles R.
At 36.9 m., where US 130 turns (L) to by-pass the city of Burlington, is the junction with the concrete road.
Right (straight ahead) on this road is BURLINGTON, 1 m. (10 alt., 10,844 pop.) (see N. J. GUIDE).
Railroad Station. Pennsylvania R.R., Broad St. in center of town.
Accommodations. Several small hotels and inns; tourist homes.
Points of Interest. Birthplace of James Fenimore Cooper, Old Quaker Burial Ground, St. Mary's Church (1702) and St. Mary's Cemetery, the Witches’ Tree, Thomas Revel (William Penn) House, Green Bank.
At 41.1 m. is the junction (R) with the road detouring through Burlington. South of this point US 130 traverses the peach orchard section of Burlington County, where the spring blossoms attract thousands of visitors each year.
At 43.2 m. is Rancocas Creek, largest tributary of the Delaware River in this region. US 130 crosses the creek on a drawbridge that is a reminder of the busy traffic in lumber and charcoal that once passed along the stream. William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin and last Royal Governor of New Jersey, had an estate on the banks of the creek. Appointed in 1763 as a compliment to his father, he did not share his parent's democratic viewpoint and remained ardently loyal to the Crown. At the outbreak of the Revolution, his arrest and imprisonment were ordered by the New Jersey Legislature because of his autocratic handling of State affairs. In 1778 he was freed through an exchange of prisoners; later he went to England and was reconciled with his father, but never returned to America.
BRIDGEBORO, 43.5 m. (20 alt., 500 pop.), lies (L) on the south bank of Rancocas Creek, with a cluster of stores and frame houses.
CINNAMINSON, 47.2 m. (80 alt., 100 pop.), once had its provocative name on postmarks, but mail is now handled through the post office at nearby Riverton. To nurserymen and entomologists Cinnaminson is known as the primary port of entry of the Japanese beetle. In 1916 the first of these brightly colored beetles appeared in the community, unrecognized as the parent of future billions of pests. The insect was probably imported as a grub, concealed in soil packed around the roots of Japanese iris. Only a year later the U. S. Department of Agriculture established the Japanese Beetle Laboratory, and ever since then Federal and State experts have waged continuous war on the destructive insect by quarantine rules, poison sprays, and the importation of parasitic enemies. Although the area of heavy infestation has a radius of scarcely 100 miles from Cinnaminson, stowaway beetles have traveled by automobile and train as far north as Maine and as far west as Missouri, settling new colonies there and at scores of way stations. Motorists should beware of hitch-hiking beetles, especially during July and August when they are most numerous.
At the junction with a macadam road (L) is the Friends’ Meeting House, a charming little red brick building erected in 1859. It stands on a shaded knoll, back from the road.
At 48.6 m. is the junction with State 41.
Right on this highway is the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge (toll, 35¢ for car and passengers), 2.5 m., a steel arch span over the Delaware River; its western end is in the city of Philadelphia.
South of this junction the highway passes through the Camden suburbs. Though the section is not very attractive, Camden's back yard is better than the average outlying district of a manufacturing center.
At 51.6 m. is the junction with Cove Rd., a concrete-paved highway.
Right on this road to Arlington Cemetery, 0.6 m., which holds the Grave of Peter J. McGuire, known as the “Father of Labor Day.” The grave, marked by a 6-foot polished granite tombstone, is 225 yards N. of the cemetery entrance. On Labor Day of each year it is visited by scores of workingmen and leaders of organized labor. During the 1870’s McGuire carried on a one-man campaign for the 8-hour day and a national holiday for the workingman. In 1875 he made his home in Camden and later he organized several unions. With Samuel Gompers, he helped form the American Federation of Labor in 1881. Because of his success in settling strikes he gained considerable reputation as an arbitrator. In 1894 Congress
finally declared Labor Day a national holiday and in succeeding years the Nation moved nearer to McGuire's goal of “8 hours for work, 8 hours for play and 8 hours for rest, and $1 an hour for skilled labor.” McGuire died in 1906.
At 54.1 m., at a traffic circle, is the junction with State 40.
Right on this road to the business district of CAMDEN, 2 m. (20 alt., 118,700 pop.) (see N. J. GUIDE).
Railroad Station. Pennsylvania R.R. and Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Line, Delaware River and Federal St.
Rapid Transit line to Philadelphia, stations at City Hall Plaza and at Broadway and Carman Sts.
Delaware River Suspension Bridge. Toll: 25¢.
Ferries to Philadelphia. Constant service to Chestnut, Market and South Sts. 25¢.
Points of Interest. Walt Whitman House Museum, Joseph Cooper House Museum, Pomona Hall, shipyards, RCA-Victor and Campbell's Soup factories, PWA Westfield Acres Project, and others.
Left of the traffic circle is Camden Airport, mail and passenger terminal for both Camden and Philadelphia. It is a station on all principal air lines of the East for service to Newark and New England, to Washington and the southern States, and to Chicago and the Pacific coast.
South of the airport, US 130 by-passes the business centers of suburban communities and twists through a succession of traffic circles and bridges, taxing the motorist's ability to keep a steady eye on the route number signs. It finally branches (R) at 59.4 m. from the broad lanes of concrete to become a two-lane highway — not very straight and in some places not very smooth. There are frequent views of the Philadelphia skyline (R) along this section of the road. The countryside loses its suburban appearance and once more offers views of fields that in autumn are stubbled, brown, and spotted with piles of bright pumpkins and yellow corn.
A strange collection of concrete end-walls, sole remains of one-story buildings that formerly covered several acres, is standing on the pasture land (R), at 60 m. This was the Site of the Woodbury Bag-Loading Plant, where gunpowder was packed for shipment overseas during the World War. Directly across the channel of the Delaware River are the tall cranes of the Philadelphia Navy Yard. When motors are being tested there, the wind carries their roaring to the Jersey shore.
At 62.2 m. is the junction with a concrete road.
Right on this road is RED BANK BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL PARK, 2 m. Here, on the high bank at the edge of Delaware River, stood Fort Mercer,
hastily built in the fall of 1777 to prevent the British fleet from joining the land forces that occupied Philadelphia. Before the earthworks had been completed by 400 Rhode Island volunteers, a surprise attack was made from the rear by 2,000 Hessian troops. The Americans held their fire until the Hessian battalions swept up to the base of the ramparts; they then unleashed a hail of musketballs and grapeshot at close range. With 400 dead and wounded, the Hessians fell back, reformed their lines and charged again. They were again repulsed and their commander, Count Donop, was captured and mortally wounded. As the “rented” soldier lay dying he said, “I die a victim of my ambition and the avarice of my sovereign.” Meanwhile, American guns mounted on barges were hurling shots into the British fleet. Although the battle at Fort Mercer lasted barely half an hour, the naval engagement was continued the next day, October 23. Two British vessels, the 64-gun Augusta and the 18-gun Merlin, took fire and blew up. Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side held out against the British fleet until November 11 but it was finally pounded to pieces. Washington, unable to spare enough men for its defense, later abandoned Fort Mercer. Some of the old trenches are still clearly defined; around a State Monument are three cannon, long buried but finally discovered with a radio detector.
The only building nearby is the old stone and brick Whitall House (adm. 25¢), maintained by the Daughters of the American Revolution in honor of a Quaker dame whose nonchalance during the battle set an all-time record even for the calm folk of Gloucester County. Ann Whitall was busy with her spinning in an upstairs chamber when the battle began. Balls whistled past the gables; finally, one shot blasted its way through the wall and hurtled across the room into the opposite wall. The old lady picked up her spinning wheel and went to the cellar, continuing her work until the battle ended and wounded men were brought to her house. While she bound up the wounds of Hessian soldiers, she scolded them for coming to America to butcher the colonists. The house is excellently preserved and Mrs. Whitall's spinning wheel is in one of the two rooms containing Colonial furnishings. Near the Whitall house is a Picnic Grove with the usual facilities,
The highway passes through level valley lands, utilized to a large extent for asparagus growing. Rows of cedar trees mark farm lanes and boundaries. Several tidal creeks are crossed.
PAULSBORO, 66.2 m. (15 alt., 7,121 pop.), lies W. of Mantua Creek. A large oil refinery, a fertilizer works, a paint factory, and some smaller plants made it a manufacturing community of some importance. The highway follows Broad St., along which are the stores and other business houses. Paulsboro has operated a Municipal Gas Plant since 1909, apparently to the satisfaction of its voters since they have rejected a proposal to sell it. The plant is one of a scant dozen publicly-owned utilities in the State. In 1935 its receipts were $40,209, which was more than enough to cover all expenses, including operating costs and $13,205 paid for interest and the retirement of bonds.
The town dates back to 1681, when John Fenwick and Edward Byllynge brought 250 colonists to the section. Philip Paul, for whom the settlement was named, arrived in 1685. His family Bible is kept at Borough Hall (L). In Lincoln Park (R) on the waterfront are the ruins of an old cellar; shortly after the Revolution the house that stood here was occupied by a gang of counterfeiters, producing bonds and money worth even less than the Continentals then in circulation. When officers raided the house, the ringleader stood at the top of the stairs and, hoping to gain time while his wife burned the counterfeits in an adjoining room, threatened to shoot the first man to come up. The Federal men saw through the ruse; there was no shooting.
GIBBSTOWN, 69.4 m. (10 alt., 208 pop.), is mostly a double row of frame houses. Here live many of the workmen employed in one of the largest of the du Pont high-explosive plants.
Du Pont pay envelopes carry most of the income of those who live in the entire section between Paulsboro and Pennsville. Although Wilmington is the capital of this huge industrial dynasty, operations have been extended across the Delaware River until they affect the life of every town and hamlet in the river section. Many Pennsylvanians come by boat to work in the New Jersey factories making war materials, explosives, paints, dyes, and other du Pont products.
BRIDGEPORT, 73.5 m. (20 alt., 850 pop.), has cornfields extending almost to the back doors of a line of comfortable old houses (R) on the main thoroughfare. The community is sufficiently large, however, to support an automobile sales agency and other business houses.
At 73.8 m. is the junction with a macadam road, US 322.
Right on this road to the Chester (Pa.) Ferry, 1.5 m. (24-hour service May 30 to Oct. 1; 50¢ for car and driver, 5¢ for each passenger.)
Making few curves, the highway runs through a rather dreary section of lowlands. Farms and farmhouses are not numerous. The late afternoon sun glints more brightly on the shining aluminum paint of oil storage tanks across the river at Chester than on the still waters of the tidal marshes.
South of Oldman's Creek, US 130 passes the Delaware Ordnance Depot of the United States Army (R), a typical Army reservation in neatness and landscaping. Established during the World War,
the depot is still used for storing shells of both large and small caliber. One ordnance company, numbering about 50 men, is stationed here, and there are many civilian employees.
PENNSGROVE, 81.2 m. (12 alt., 5,895 pop.), is the southern-most town of consequence along the New Jersey shore of the Delaware. The community has a motion picture house, a bustling shopping district, and a large residential section. By common industrial interests Pennsgrove is closely linked with Wilmington, Del., across the river. (Ferry service all year, leaving Pennsgrove 6 a.m. to midnight; car and driver 75¢, passengers 10¢ each. Messages received for patrons.)
CARNEY'S POINT, 82.6 m. (10 alt., 3,050 pop.), is a southern extension of Pennsgrove. The handsome Regional High School is by the highway (L). A large group of uniformly painted green and white frame houses (R) gives a key to the village's means of livelihood. These are du Pont-owned dwellings, built as emergency shelters during the World War and since then improved for rental to employees. A du Pont Powder Plant is situated nearby.
DEEPWATER, 85.1 m. (10 alt., 537 pop.), has two important industries, a du Pont Dye Works and a Power Plant of the Atlantic City Electric Co.
PENNSVILLE, 87.8 m. (12 alt., 412 pop.), was once known as a center for sturgeon and shad fishermen, but pollution of the Delaware by waste from upstream factories has driven the fish away. Today the little village is chiefly a ferry terminal and another residential section inhabited by du Pont workers. An amusement park, Riverview Beach, has a roller coaster and a swimming pool. The region around Pennsville was settled by Swedes shortly after 1636.
Right from the center of Pennsville to the Pennsville Ferry, 87.9 m., which runs to New Castle, Del. (24-hour service; car and driver 75¢, passengers 10¢; messages received and delivered for patrons.)
As the ferry moves from its Jersey landing, the low shore line of Delaware is seen ahead, scarcely broken by the roofs and spires of old New Castle. Wilmington, up the river (R), is indicated by a smudge of smoke from its many factories.
DELAWAREDelaware River at New Castle — Hare's Corner — Dover — Maryland Line. 93 m. US 40, US 13.
Pennsylvania R.R. closely parallels route between New Castle and Md. Line. Excellent paved roadbed; 45-mile speed limit. State Highway Police Stations at State Road, Dover, and Bridgeville render first aid and other assistance. Numerous filling stations, at many of which certified drinking water is available. Hotels in most towns of more than 2,000 pop.; tourist homes in towns; few tourist camps.
Section 2. New Castle to Hare's Corner, 2.5 m. US 40
The ferry slip on the Delaware shore is at the foot of Chestnut St. in New Castle.
NEW CASTLE, 0 m. (10 alt., 4,131 pop.) (see DEL. GUIDE, also NEW CASTLE ON THE DELAWARE).
Railroad Station. Pennsylvania R.R., South St. near 8th.
New Castle-Pennsville Ferry. Foot of Chestnut St.; 24-hour service; basic summer schedule, service every 20 min.; car and driver 75¢, passengers 10¢ each.
Annual “Day in Old New Castle.” Usually 3rd Saturday in May. Fee of $2 covers admission to all old houses and buildings.
New Castle was founded by the Dutch under Peter Stuyvesant in 1651 as Fort Casimir, became Fort Trinity under the Swedes in 1654, and New Amstel under the Dutch in 1656. The name New Castle was given after the overthrow of the Dutch by the English in 1664.
The fine old Courthouse on the Green was the seat of the Colonial assembly in the period between 1704 and 1776 when the Three Lower Counties, as the region was called, were a semi-autonomous part of the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1776-1777 New Castle was the capital of the new State of Delaware. The county courts sat here for two centuries prior to their removal to Wilmington in 1881.
Though the outskirts are bordered by industrial plants, including steel and iron mills, and a rayon and an aircraft factory; the plants might be miles away for all the effect they have on the old section about the Green. In the heart of New Castle, beginning at the river bank, stand a score of Colonial and post-Revolutionary public buildings, churches, and private houses, in their original form or only slightly changed; together with the later buildings scattered among them they provide a museum collection illustrating architectural development in the region. The most important structures belong to
the era when New Castle was a busy port and a governmental and judicial center — when horses and coaches bore George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other distinguished persons to the town, to board the sailing packets for Philadelphia.
For a century and a half the little city was an important point on the main route connecting the seaboard colonies. As early as 1671 a cartroad ran from here across the neck of the Chesapeake and Delaware Peninsula; later a well-traveled road to the head of Chesapeake Bay became the New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike. In 1833 one of the first steam locomotives used in the country began pulling trains over the New Castle and Frenchtown R.R. to meet vessels running from Maryland and Virginia ports. By 1845, however, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and the new railroad around the head of the bay were carrying most of the passengers and freight, and the day of New Castle as an important trade center was passing.
Among the noteworthy buildings are Immanuel Church, on the Green; Amstel House, a museum, 4th and Delaware Sts.; the Old Dutch House, 3rd St. between Delaware and Harmony Sts.; and the Read House on the Strand, near Harmony. (See NEW CASTLE ON THE DELAWARE.)
At 1.1 m., at the junction with State 41, is (L) Bellanca Field (open to visitors 8-5 by permission), adjoining the factory of the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, makers of cabin monoplanes and other types of planes, and contractors to the United States and foreign governments. Bellanca airplanes have made nine non-stop flights across the Atlantic Ocean, one non-stop flight across the Pacific, and two round-the-world flights.
New Castle Common, 1.2 m. (R), is a tract of 1,068 acres divided into farms from which the revenue, for more than two and one half centuries, has gone to the town of New Castle.
From earliest days of settlement the Dutch and the Swedes set aside certain areas for the public to use for pasturage, for the production of public revenue and so on. When the English took over the Delaware Colony in 1664 community ownership of the tracts was confirmed. William Penn, becoming the Proprietary in 1682, reconfirmed the reservation, but there were so many complaints of abuses that in 1701 he ordered that the land “hitherto reputed and called New Castle Common” be established in one convenient tract of 1,000 acres. Still the abuses and encroachments kept on, and in 1764
AT THE JERSEY HOMESTEADS NEAR HIGHTSTOWN, New JerseyOLD DRAWYERS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, DELAWARE
a charter was secured from Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William, setting up a board of trustees with power to protect the property.
But this charter did not empower the trustees to lease the land to farmers who would till it on shares. To this end in 1791 two Penns, both named John, heirs of the Proprietary, signed away all claim to the land to permit the incorporation of the Trustees of the Common under the laws of the State of Delaware; in the deed they provided against the selling of the land or the diversion of any of its income. The next year (1792) the charter from the State established the system under which the Common farms have since been leased. Gross income averages $7,500 annually. After deducting the cost of repairs, and insurance and the county taxes, New Castle obtains enough income for town expenses to benefit its taxpayers materially. In 1885 the Trustees of the Common procured an act of the legislature abrogating that part of the Penns’ deed forbidding the sale of any Common land; however, except for some small parts sold for rights-of-way and other public or semipublic uses, none has been sold and the Common has remained to protect the west side of New Castle from unsightly developments.
At the junction with US 13 is HARE'S CORNER, 2.5 m., once a stagestop and a cattle market to which large herds were driven by farm boys and farmers. The Green Tree Inn, razed in 1931 to make way for the dual road (US 13), stood at the NE. corner. Here travelers alighted for refreshment while their horses were watered or changed.
Section 3. Hare's Corner to Maryland Line, 90.5 m. US 13
South of this junction, US 13 — the Du Pont Blvd. between Hare's Corner and Dover — spans nearly the whole length of the little State of Delaware, passing through two distinct regions, the gently rolling farmland of middle Delaware and the flat, sandy, pine-wooded southern end of the State. The Delaware section of the route traverses about one-half the length of the so-called Delmarva Peninsula, the water-bound region east of Chesapeake Bay that comprises the State of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. Most of the peninsula rises only a few feet above sea level.
Bordered by few notable buildings, battlefields, or natural wonders, the route's attractions lie in the succession of comfortable farmsteads, peach and apple orchards, and vistas of quiet charm. It presents marked variations in the physical aspect of the land and in the life of the people. Within a distance of 25 miles there are in some places wide differences in terrain, forestation, crops, farming customs, architectural style and building materials, political color, tempo of life, and even in accent and expressions of speech. A farmer who lives in the southern part of the State and drives a truckload of vegetables to Wilmington every Saturday, may say “okie-doke” and then speak of “housen” for houses, or of a chicken that has been dead too long as “dainty.” North and South, the 20th and 18th centuries, the rocky Piedmont and the broad salt marshes, meet along the road. Though the upper tenth of the State has a modern northern tone, the lower nine-tenths is akin in many ways to the old South. Delaware was a border slave State, and the proportion of Negroes (13.7 per cent) is higher than that in Kentucky. The bald cypress and the turkey-buzzard, both found in Delaware, are native to the South.
HARE'S CORNER, 0 m., is at the junction with US 40.
Roses planted and tended by the State Highway Department bloom throughout the summer along the many bridges and cause-ways of US 13 in Delaware.
Buena Vista (open annual “Day in Old New Castle”), 2.7 m. (R), is a plain brick house erected in 1846 by John M. Clayton, who served as Chief Justice of Delaware, United States Senator, and Secretary of State under President Zachary Taylor. The house, to which a large wing has been recently added, stands at the end of a long avenue of trees. Clayton named the place in honor of Taylor's victory at Buena Vista, Mexico, in 1847, in the Mexican War — which Clayton had vigorously opposed in the Senate. Paintings at Buena Vista include a Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, painted about 1580 by Nicholas Hilliard, and a number of portraits by Gilbert Stuart. The present owner (1937) of Buena Vista is Clayton Douglass Buck, a great-nephew of John M. Clayton and the only Governor of Delaware to succeed himself (1929-1937). Governor Buck was largely instrumental in developing the excellent system of roads covering the State. The Claytons, a family important in State history for generations, came to Delaware with William Penn in 1682.
At 4.9 m. the road crosses Red Lion Creek, named for a nearby tavern. The creek is the boundary between New Castle Hundred and Red Lion Hundred. In Delaware the term “hundred” has been used for a political division of a county since the late 17th century; Delaware is the only State still using the term though it was formerly used in parts of Maryland and Virginia. A hundred is a tax and representation district in New Castle County. In Kent and Sussex Counties, some representation districts cross the hundred boundaries. The English hundreds established in Anglo-Saxon times by King Alfred were geographical and governmental units containing ten families, ten estates, or 100 fighting men. Each hundred had its feudal courts. By Penn's time the hundred meant little more than it does now in Delaware, though he at first planned to divide his territory into tracts of 10,000 acres to be settled with one family on each 1,000 acres.
Red Lion Hundred, a wheat-growing and dairying section of declining fertility, extending east to the wide marshes of the Delaware River, is the smallest in the State — 22 square miles. In 1850 its farms and orchards were the most productive and profitable in the State. In the 1830's the once-famous Delaware peach-growing had its beginning here, spreading through the peninsula until about 1870, when the blight called the “yellows” destroyed the orchards. Around 1845 one landowner, Maj. Philip Reybold, with 80,000 bearing peach trees on his estate, had such large crops that he shipped them to Philadelphia and Baltimore on his own steamers. Such high productivity was no accident; it resulted from a pioneer adoption of scientific methods in the use of exhausted and apparently worthless land.
By 1800 successive crops of grain and tobacco, raised by slave labor, had completely worn out the soil; old tobacco barns along the roads were falling down. Then in 1823-29 the digging of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal revealed beds of marl, a substance containing decayed seashells of an early geologic period. A canal contractor spread some of the material on his land and found that its carbonate of lime produced amazing results in his crops. In the following years thousands of cartloads of marl were dug by Negroes and spread on the farms until the appearance of commercial lime ended the herculean job of moving eight tons of the stuff to get one ton of lime.
Meanwhile, some of the more prosperous farmers were sending sons to college to learn, among other things, methods of crop rotation and fertilization. The topsoil was restored to still greater fertility. As a result of prosperity many substantial brick houses, surrounded by numerous tenant houses for Negroes, were built along this and other roads in the hundred. Social life became, on a small scale, that of a landed aristocracy and included dancing, fox hunting, and much drinking in spite of the prevailing Presbyterianism of the Scottish-Irish gentry. Slaveholding persisted, but many slaves were held as such only until attaining the age of 25 or 30, when they were given their freedom. They were able to earn $15 or $20 a month and the landowners grew rich on the crops they tended. When the Civil War came prices went sky high, and profits were huge.
After the war there were no more slaves, and laborers were demanding higher wages for their work. Prices of farm products fell. The Negroes began migrating to the cities of the North, and white labor was “scarce and common at that.” As the tobacco barns had been falling down by 1800, so the frame tenant houses around the big brick houses were falling down by 1900. The mansions themselves contained tenants.
The rains are again carrying the thin topsoil into the gullies on many farms in Red Lion Hundred and a second cycle in their agricultural history is nearing completion.
At 6.3 m. (L) is a rectangular grove of trees, the Site of Brookfield, built in 1860 and later burned; it was the home of Capt. Charles Corbit (1838-1887). Corbit's wild charge at Westminster, Md., on June 29, 1863, with only 70 men against a large force of Confederates, helped defer the arrival of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry at the Battle of Gettysburg until the afternoon of July 2. General Lee placed part of the blame for the loss of the battle on this delay.
WRANGLE HILL, 6.9 m., a crossroads with an old brick house on a slight elevation, is still so called because of a feud between two early families who lived here.
At 7.6 m. is Damascus (R) a plain brick house built about 1790; it was the home of Jesse Higgins, gristmiller and enemy of the legal profession. Believing that “an honest man cannot be a lawyer,” he wrote a pamphlet called Samson Against the Philistines in which he held that arbitration could be cheaply and effectively substituted for
lawsuits. (This is the thesis of the recently-formed American Arbitration Association.) When the booklet was published in 1804, Delaware lawyers bought up the edition. Higgins did not, however, need to re-issue the pamphlet, for William Duane, editor of the Washington Aurora, published it with wide resultant publicity.
South of Damascus the road crosses Dragon Run, which flows eastward through the large Dragon Swamp to the Delaware River; this swamp harbors snapping turtles of great size.
ST. GEORGES, 8.8 m. (265 pop.), incorporated 1825, was laid out before 1730 at what was then the head of navigation on St. Georges Creek. A tavern stood here in 1735 and a King's Highway was officially laid out through the village in 1762; travelers stopping overnight often complained of the noise made by the wild ducks in the marshes along the creek.
The brick Sutton House (private), corner of the Delaware City road and US 13 (L), built about 1800, was the home of Dr. James M. Sutton, who, seeing the results of spreading marl on barren land, imported the first commercial lime to the region and built a kiln on the southern side of the canal. The house, with a typical low kitchen wing at right angles, and a brick-floored kitchen shed, is still owned and occupied by the Sutton family.
The CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE CANAL is crossed in the village on a towering steel lift bridge visible within a five-mile radius. This sea-level canal is an important link in the Intracoastal Waterway, cutting 14 miles across the isthmus of the Delmarva Peninsula from the Delaware River on the E. to Back Creek, an arm of Chesapeake Bay, on the W. Owned and operated by the Federal Government, it is toll-free. Eventually all but the largest ships will be able to use this waterway, which shortens the route between Philadelphia and Baltimore from 420 miles — around Cape Charles — to 104. Goods valued at $50,000,000 passed through the canal in 1935, in spite of the shallow 12-foot channel, many curves, frequent slides in the Deep Cut, and the swift currents caused by the tidal variance between the two bays. Yacht traffic has become very heavy since the removal of the locks, especially in fall and spring, when travel is at its height to and from Florida through the intracoastal route.
The history of the canal goes back to early Colonial times. The creation of this waterway was predicted as early as 1661 by Augustine
Herman, proprietor of Bohemia Manor, in a letter to Vice Director Beekman:
“For the Minquaskil and the aforesaid Bohemia River run there within a league from each other, from where we shall in time have communication with each other by water, which may serve as encouragement to the inhabitants of New-Netherland.”
In 1679-80 Dankers and Sluyter, Dutch Labadist missionaries touring the colonies, suggested the value of a waterway across this narrow isthmus. Thereafter from time to time numerous plans were made and various courses suggested. In 1786 a group of men including James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and Benjamin Rush met in Wilmington to consider canal plans, but little was done until 1799, when Maryland chartered the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Co., with capital stock of $500,000, and appointed a board of commissioners to work with Delaware and Pennsylvania authorities. Work was started in 1804 but ceased because of financial troubles. Promotion became active in 1823, and that year digging commenced in earnest.
From the time the C. and D. Canal was completed (1829) until the Government bought it in 1919, and turned it into a sea-level channel (1927), three locks maintained two different water levels above tidewater. One set of locks, built of stone, was at St. Georges, whence the lower level went E. four miles to Delaware City, and the upper, eight miles W. to Chesapeake City, Md., two towns that developed with the canal. Delaware City hoped to rival Philadelphia as a port, but its grandiose dreams did not consider the possibilities of railroads, and what they might do to inland water traffic.
For some distance E. of St. Georges the canal route followed the bed of St. Georges Creek which has broad marshes beside it; accordingly it was necessary to build a high bank along the north side of the channel — to hold in the water and to serve as a towpath on which mules could plod, dragging barges and sailing vessels through the water. In the excavation of the canal many Irishmen as well as Negroes were employed, all working with picks and shovels and similar hand equipment. Many of them died of malaria, and of communicable diseases that spread from them to the nearby countryside.
In 1829 the new canal, which had cost $2,200,000, was formally opened with a great celebration. At first its prosperity seemed assured.
Revenues in 1831 were as high as $2,600 a week. Many parts of the East got their first cheap coal by barges that came down the Susquehanna River and canals to Chesapeake Bay and thence through the C. and D. Canal to Delaware City, where steam tugs would take them in tow to Philadelphia and other ports. Log rafts of great length passed through constantly; at a lock it was necessary to divide such a raft into small sections, which were passed through one at a time.
The old canal had a life of its own. Barge captains saluted each other with musical blasts from horns, while their wives hanging out the wash on clothes-lines rigged abaft the deck house called greetings to passing friends; barge householding included the keeping of chickens and even pigs. Showboats from the Chesapeake Bay circuit sometimes tied up at canal towns, and many floating emporiums traveled leisurely from place to place selling tinware, dress goods, steel traps, and other odds and ends.
Competition from the railroads started almost as soon as the canal was opened, and when in 1832 the New Castle and French-town R.R. substituted steam engines for horses on the passenger haul across the neck of the Peninsula, a line of passenger barges undertook the same job through the canal. The little railroad was soon ruined by competition from the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore R.R. Passenger boat, and later overnight steamer, service between Philadelphia and Baltimore was maintained until the 1920's.
Fiddler's Bridge, 10.1 m., now a double structure of solid concrete spanning Scott's Run, was once a narrow plank affair with swamp trees meeting densely overhead, making a dark and gloomy place. According to tradition, a demented Negro fiddler, who used to sit on the bridge rail and play doleful tunes, one night fell off and was drowned. For generations it has been believed that if a person stands on the bridge precisely at midnight and drops a coin into the water, slow, wistful notes of a violin will come from the shadows. Occasional pranks, with a real fiddler hidden in the swamp, have kept the tradition alive.
Liston Range, 10.8 m., is a tall black lighthouse (L). Standing four miles from the Delaware River, it is a range light by which pilots lay their courses.
MACDONOUGH, 13.2 m. (20 pop.), formerly The Trap, is the birthplace of Commodore Thomas Macdonough (1783-1825),
called the Hero of Lake Champlain because of his victory during the Battle of Plattsburg, Sept. 11, 1814.
The Macdonough House (private), where he was born is a plain two-and-one-half story structure (R), part brick and part frame, painted white and in good condition; the porch does not belong to the early years. Nearby is a family graveyard enclosed by a brick wall.
Thomas Macdonough entered the Navy as a midshipman at the age of 17, serving under Stephen Decatur on the Mediterranean and being promoted for bravery and ability. In Liverpool in 1810, while in the merchant service, he was seized by a British gang in one of the impressment outrages that helped to bring on the War of 1812. That night he escaped under fire to his own ship, vowing to make England remember her treatment of an American sailor. He reentered the Navy in 1812 and was given command of a small fleet on Lake Champlain. His opportunity for revenge came when, aboard his flagship, the Saratoga, he managed by clever planning to defeat the British, who outnumbered him in ships and men. This victory following Perry's on Lake Erie in 1812, stopped the enemy invasion from Canada. Congress presented him with a gold medal and the thanks of the country, and promoted him to the rank of captain, then the highest rank in the Navy. In 1815 the General Assembly of Delaware provided that a portrait of him be painted by Thomas Sully; it hangs in the Governor's office in the Legislative Hall at Dover (see below).
At 14.6 m. the dual roadways spread apart to swing in a wide curve across the marshes and channel of Drawyers Creek, which is typical of the twisting tidal creeks that flow into the Delaware River and Bay. At points on such streams where fastlands came down to navigable water there were formerly many landings for the loading and unloading of farm products and supplies, but they have disappeared owing to the development of railroads and paved roads, and the progressive filling up of the streams with silt washed from fields where forests once stood. The marshes have also been drying up, and it is now only on storm tides that the boats of the fall railbird hunters can be punted through the thickening sedge. Until recent years this marsh and the Appoquinimink marsh (see below) were famous among these sportsmen.
The name Drawyers probably came from the “drayers” hauling produce to the creek in the late 17th century.
Old Drawyers Presbyterian Church (R), 14.9 m. (grounds and
cemetery always open; church usually closed except for Sun. services at 3 E.S.T. in June, July, and Aug.), on a rise overlooking the creek valley, is one of the finest in Delaware.
This brick structure, built in 1773 on the site of a wooden church (1711) called Appoquinimy, is noted for its simple and dignified Georgian beauty. The architects and builders were Robert May and Co. of London, who built several notable houses in nearby Odessa as well as in Philadelphia and elsewhere. The building has beautiful lines and proportions; the fenestration and the simple lines of the cornice exhibit the architects’ fine sense of scale and the delicate paneling of the doors and shutters, the skill of the craftsmen. The bricks, now covered with ivy, were burned on the farm of Robert Meldrum, an early member of the congregation. Altered only slightly inside, the building is kept in repair by the Friends of Old Drawyers, a society composed largely of descendants of Colonial members.
It is entered through a pedimented doorway with engaged fluted columns. The interior is painted white, as are the pew stalls, whose tops are mahogany-stained; each pew has a number cut in the wood. Above the pulpit is a golden dove and an ornamental canopy. Pews and pulpit were remodeled in 1833. There are no choir stalls but immediately in front of the pulpit is a box in which sat the precentor with his tuning fork to give the pitch for hymns sung without instrumental accompaniment. The slave gallery runs around three sides of the room. There is no chimney; when stoves were used the stovepipes passed through the ceiling and loft to the roof.
Weekly services were discontinued in 1861, but have recently been revived during the summer beginning with the first Sunday in June (Clover Sunday), the important annual occasion at the church. Then the rolling farmland and soft green marsh is at its best and the clover fields are in full bloom. Also in bloom then is nearly a mile of pink rambler-roses stretching along the whitewashed highway fences from the church northward along the dual highway. Between the morning and afternoon services many visitors spread picnic dinners on the lawn under the ancient cedars.
The Presbyterian influence, emanating from both the first and the present church, was felt for miles around. Congregations in St. Georges, Middletown, Port Penn, and Odessa are all offshoots of Old Drawyers.
When in 1777 the British were advancing toward Washington's
camp near Stanton, Dr. Thomas Read, first pastor of the new church, drew maps that enabled the Americans to evacuate the section and avoid fighting until the Battle of Brandywine.
ODESSA, 16.2 m. (52 alt., 385 pop.), important enough in the past to have several of the finest old brick houses in the State, now has almost no activity except a cannery, a bank, and the office of a small fire insurance company. Travel no longer uses broad Main St., the former King's Highway — where grass now grows between rows of multilated trees — but cuts straight across farmland.
From 1721 a toll bridge over the Appoquinimink Creek was operated here by a son of Capt. Edmund Cantwell, to whom in 1664 the English had granted the confiscated lands of Alexander d'Hinoyossa, director of the Dutch settlement of New Amstel (New Castle). For 134 years the place, steadily rising in importance, was called Cantwell's Bridge. From all the country around, even from Maryland — over Augustine Hermann's “Old Man's Road” — came more and more wheat, corn, tobacco, and other produce to be shipped on vessels down the creek to Delaware Bay and thence to distant ports. Tanneries produced large quantities of leather and made their owners rich. Fine houses were built from fortunes that shrewd Quakers managed to preserve throughout revolution and bad times.
By 1825 Cantwell's Bridge was a bustling market center. Large granaries along the wharves were constantly being filled, immediately to be emptied into vessels whose masts bristled along the waterfront. From 1820 to 1840 the shipments of grain amounted to 400,000 bushels annually. Agricultural fairs drew crowds from three States. Teamsters roistered at the hotel while balls and soirées were held in paneled drawing rooms, and young gentlemen raced their carriages and sleighs up and down the street. The value of town lots boomed, and the south side of Main St. showed more and more comfortable houses — as contrasted with the vacant north side, the property of a Scot named Osborne who had unaccountably left town and disappeared. In 1817 the State hungrily seized this land and sold it off to hungrier buyers.
In 1855 came the collapse of the grain trade. The line of the Delaware R.R. was moving down the State, and it was proposed to carry it through Cantwell's Bridge. Fearing for the shipping in the creek, the merchants and vessel owners told the railroad company to keep out. The line was built through Middletown, three miles westward,
and in spite of the efforts of the local leaders, shipping was ruined. Even the hurried changing of the town's name to Odessa, after the Russian grain port on the Black Sea, could not bring back the sloops and schooners to the wharves at the foot of the hill. About the same time the supply of good oak tanbark ran out and the Corbit tanneries shut down. The town was not yet dead, however, for the Civil War temporarily boomed all the little agricultural centers. Today Main St., broad and grass-grown with the fine old houses at the lower end, is usually deserted.
The David Wilson House (open Tues. and Sat., 9-12, 1:30-4:30), S. side of Main St. near 2nd, is a two-story dwelling built about 1769 by Robert May and Co. of London. It contains the Mary Corbit Warner Museum and the Corbit Library; the house and museum were incorporated in 1923.
The engaged columns of the classic doorway are characteristic of May-built houses. The Corbit Library of 9,000 volumes fills the beautiful drawing room and overflows into a rear room added in 1936. Established in 1856 at the Odessa Public School by Dr. James F. Corbit, the library has been endowed by members of the family; as a public library it receives support from the State as well. It was moved to this house in 1924.
The structure is finely paneled throughout. From the hall a handsome stairway rises to the second floor where the two front rooms contain many family heirlooms and objects collected in foreign countries. Among these are several old chairs of odd design and decoration and a sugar-and-tea box of mahogany, shaped like a coffin and dating from 1800 or earlier.
Castle William (private), corner Main and 2nd Sts. has since 1773 been the “great house” of Cantwell's Bridge and Odessa, and is a fine example of Georgian architecture. When it was built by Robert May and Co. for William Corbit, grandson of a Quaker settler, it commanded a clear view down the hill to the Appoquinimink and beyond.
Though the original two-and-a-half story structure with low two-story wings remains, the lines of the mass have been marred by the addition of a Victorian bay window on the north end, and enclosed back porch and some frame excrescences on the roof of the south wing. The house is large and solid, and the decoration inside and out illustrates the best English and American craftsmanship of
the day. For 150 years a succession of Corbits, Quakers all, lived here and amassed fortunes and married into the first families of the countryside. The kitchens and quarters were always full of Negroes who were as proud of the family's position as was the family itself.
The entrance is elaborate, with engaged columns, pediment, and delicate fanlight. The cornices and dormer windows carry extensive detail work and carving, and on the façade above the first floor windows is a belt-course of stone. The roof is hipped and has a captain's walk with a balustrade reminiscent of the Chinese Chippendale in design.
The well-preserved interior is spacious, the rooms well-proportioned. The doorways have dog-eared corners and broken pediments. The reception room on the second floor, marred by the bay window added on one end, has a ceiling 10¾ feet high and walls paneled from floor to ceiling. Fluted pilasters rise on both sides of the mantel to a beautifully carved cornice.
The Friends Meeting House, S. side of Main St., well back from the street, next to a field, is a plain brick structure about 20 feet square, with a pitched roof and pent eaves across the gable end. The windows have white shutters in which the boards run diagonally.
The little meeting house was built in 1783 when the Duck Creek Meeting (see SMYRNA, below) came to this place as a more convenient place of worship. In 1828 there was a division in the sect, the followers of Elias Hicks separating themselves from the conservative members, who became known as Orthodox Friends. The insurgent Hicksites gained control of this meeting, whereupon the conservative members quit it in disgust. The meeting never prospered again and attendance was small; for years one lone old Hicksite, John Alston, would walk stiffy up the street every First Day, enter the meeting house, sit for a time in silent meditation, come out, and walk stiffly down the street again. After his death about 1880 the doors were permanently closed.
In Delaware the Hicksites early caught the abolition fever of the Pennsylvania Quakers, and the meeting house here was a station of the Underground Railroad. Braving the rage of the slaveholding countryside and even the disfavor of some of the Orthodox Friends, they hid runaway slaves from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia in the loft of the little building, bringing them food until it seemed safe to send them on their way north.
Left from the traffic light in Odessa, down Main St. and across the causeway, to Fairview, 1 m. (L), also known as the Elias Moore house, built in 1773 by Robert May and Co. The Georgian style is similar to that of the other brick houses built by that firm in the vicinity.
The Duncan Beard House, 1.7 m. (R), a small ramshackle frame building, was built soon after 1767 by Duncan Beard, a Scottish clockmaker, who before his death in 1797 made some of the finest grandfather clocks produced in America. He also made metal articles, including gun locks for the convention that met in New Castle on Aug. 27, 1776, to adopt a constitution for the new State of Delaware.
Fifteen of Beard's grandfather clocks are known to be in existence, graceful in proportion, most of them still good timekeepers, and each bearing Beard's name at the top, with the additional word “Appoquinimink,” an early name for Odessa. The brass faces are unusually elaborate. Beard was a member of the first Masonic organization in Delaware, which was established at Cantwell's Bridge in 1765, and a member of Drawyers Church (see above).
For nearly 3 miles S. of Odessa the boulevard swings away from old King's Highway, which went through the village and curved to the eastward. Various other bends in the old road between Odessa and Dover were eliminated when the paved highway was built in accordance with Coleman du Pont's maxim: “A straight road is the shortest distance between two places.”
At 16.4 m. is a marker, recalling the treaty of peace made near the creek in 1661 between Philip Calvert, Lord Baltimore, the Governor of Maryland, and a local chief named Pinna. About that time started the long struggle between Pennsylvania and Maryland for possession of the lands along the Delaware. After the coming of William Penn in 1682 the controversies grew more bitter. An English court of arbitration decided in Penn's favor, taking into consideration the Dutch settlement at Cape Henlopen in 1631, which invalidated Lord Baltimore's claim to the territory; Calvert's charter had given him rights to lands “hitherto uncultivated.” It was not until 1765 that the western Maryland-Delaware Line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.
At 16.7 m. the road crosses Appoquinimink Creek near its headwaters. Though Delaware Bay is only four miles east as the crow flies, the creek meanders about eight miles before reaching it. The Appoquinimink (Ind., place whence the village is seen) marshes here are noted places for black duck and railbird shooting.
BLACKBIRD, 22 m. (45 pop.), a hamlet that was a stagecoach stop on the King's Highway, grew up around a mill at the head
of Blackbird Creek. The name is believed to have been originally Blackbeard, for Edward Teach, a notorious pirate of the early 18th century, who, according to tradition, used the lower creek as a harbor and its banks as a cache for booty. There is no record of any having been found, despite much digging.
At 27.2 m. the road crosses Duck Creek, the boundary between New Castle and Kent Counties, which is a tidal stream flowing crookedly seven miles east to Delaware Bay. Prior to 1820 its waters entered the bay by wandering 13 miles to the south and flowing into Little Duck Creek.
SMYRNA, 27.8 m. (1,958 pop.), formerly Duck Creek Cross Roads, was named in 1806 for a leading seaport of Asiatic Turkey. Except for its name, the town is thoroughly American, from the clutter of filling stations and truckmen's lunchrooms bordering US 13 — which by-passes the center of the town — to the charming old center lying W. of the boulevard.
Here as at Odessa the King's Highway, later the State Road, was the thoroughfare along which the village grew up. Smyrna, like Odessa, suffered from the collapse of shipping in the 1850's, but held its place as an agricultural center; the population increased to 2,455 in 1890. The decline was gradual from then until 1920, after which there was a slight increase.
When Smyrna reached its peak of shipping activity it was the most important port between Wilmington and Lewes. From the wharves at Smyrna Landing, a mile down Duck Creek, vessels set off for northern ports with grain, lumber, tanbark, and other produce of a region extending westward into Maryland. Tanneries, shipyards, limekilns, and fruit-drying plants flourished, and merchants prospered on the returns from their peach orchards as well as from their trade. Like Odessa, Smyrna feared the railroad and forbade its coming through the town, with like result.
The brick Enoch Spruance House (private), S. side of Commerce St. between US 13 and Main St., is still owned and occupied by the descendants of the original owners. The west section, built before 1791, held what was for a time the only State bank between Wilmington and Dover; on Thursdays, when the directors met, customers would come from distant points to do business. The two-story extension with dormers, and the two porches were added later. The caps and keystone of the first floor windows are of wood, after the
Delaware custom of the time. The house contains much of the original woodwork and hardware and many family heirlooms. Among other treasured articles are candle molds, a flax carder, a long-handled waffle iron, and a number of samplers.
The former bank-room is now the parlor — many down-State houses still have parlors. Hung on hand-made hinges, the door to this room is very heavy and has a huge lock. In the sitting room — still called that in Delaware — is a Duncan Beard grandfather clock (see ODESSA above) with an attachment for discovering the hour in the dark; when a string inside is pulled, the clock repeats the last hour struck. The Franklin stove in the hall was skeptically bought in Philadelphia by Pressley and Enoch Spruance, merchants of Smyrna, who doubted that those black stones called coal would really burn in it, as guaranteed.
The Abraham Pierce House, opposite the Spruance house, is a small brick structure of unknown age, though its brickwork and gambrel roof place the date of its construction around the middle of the 18th century. To the right of the doorway and porch is a large window with 15 lights in each sash.
The Lockwood House, W. side of Main St., S. of Commerce, is a long two-story brick building said to have been used as a barracks for militia during the War of 1812.
The Cummins House (private), E. side of Main St., N. of Mt. Vernon St., is a massive but plain brick house that is suggestive of the size of the fortunes made here in the grain and mercantile business of the early 19th century. It was built by John Cummins (1777-1833), who at 21 became a partner in the leading store, soon bought out the owner, and also went into the grain trade. Within 20 years he had become the leading grain merchant in Delaware and had made Smyrna second only to Wilmington as a grain port. From Delaware, and a large part of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, came many wagonloads of grain to be carried in his vessels to Wilmington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston; returning, his schooners brought manufactured goods and supplies, which were placed in his warehouses, whence his wagons set out for towns and crossroads stores of two States.
A few feet from the south end of the house is a small square brick building covered with gray flaking paint; this was the office of the merchant, and is a survivor of days when nearly every prosperous
merchant, lawyer, and doctor in the State had his sanctum in a separate little building near his home, where many pipe-smoking or tobacco-chewing afternoons were spent with congenial callers.
The yellow-painted Presley Spruance House, on Main St. just N. of the Cummins house, is another substantial brick dwelling; it was erected about the same time as the Cummins house.
The John Bassett Moore High School, S. side of South St. between US 13 and Delaware St., completed 1936, is typical of the modern consolidated schools in Delaware; it was named in honor of a native of Smyrna, John Bassett Moore (1860- ), member of the Hague Tribunal and first American judge on the Permanent Court of International Justice. In the study hall are four murals painted in 1936 by members of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration for Delaware.
Right from Commerce St. on Main St., an asphalt road, to the hamlet of DUCK CREEK, 1 m., formerly Salisbury, which was the first settlement on upper Duck Creek. The group of small frame and brick houses, mostly in a picturesque state of dilapidation, is all that remains of the village laid out before 1718. Except for a few gravestones nothing remains to mark the sites of the Quaker meeting house and of the Church of England chapel established here by the early planters.
Lake Como, 28.2 m., (R) is a mill pond named, no one knows why, for the beautiful lake in the Italian Alps. Boats can be hired for bass and pike fishing.
The State Welfare Home (R), 28.5 m. (visiting hours, 1-4, Sun. and Wed.), a prominent group of brick buildings in Colonial style, was opened in 1933 to take the place of the almshouses in the three counties of Delaware.
Planned to permit the addition of more buildings as need arises, the plant cost $590,000 as developed up to 1937. Late in 1936 there were 372 “guests” averaging 61 years of age, though the home was equipped to care for only 263. Thirty-eight percent were Negroes, for whom certain floors are reserved; maintenance per capita averages $1 a day. The Welfare Home, supported by the three counties, is administered by the State Old Age Welfare Commission, set up by the legislature in 1931. The Commission also administers the Old Age Pension Fund authorized at the same time.
In 1929 Alfred I. du Pont, powder maker and financier, after seeing a pension bill defeated in the legislature, set up a fund from
CASTLE WILLIAM (1773), ODESSA, DELAWAREBELMONT HALL, NEAR SMYRNA, DELAWARE
which pensions were paid to 1,100 persons more than 63 years old who had no means of livelihood. He studied European pension systems and in 1931 presented to the legislature the bill that was passed to provide for pensions and the welfare home. In 1937 the Delaware system was approved under the Federal Social Security Act, and an equal Federal appropriation now doubles the funds and the number of persons benefitted. Instead of about 1,500 who previously received the pension, the total is now about 3,000. Monthly pensions paid to persons with homes to live in average $10 each.
At an early time the paupers of Delaware were forced to wear red flannel letters on their right arms; “PN,” “PK” or “PS” denoting paupers of New Castle, Kent or Sussex Counties. They were bound out to persons who would take them. After the Revolution the county almshouses were established.
The interiors of the main structure, the Medical Center, and of other buildings, are so decorated as to suggest an institution as little as possible. Walls are in warm colors, bright curtains hang at the windows; fireplaces and furniture give an air of pleasant comfort. In the Medical Center are the administrative offices, hospital facilities, living quarters for some white and Negro guests, and rooms for special purposes. To the rear of this building is the Guest Pavilion, housing 140 white men and containing a living room where church services and motion picture shows are held. In summer the shows are held outdoors. Other buildings hold various maintenance units. The grounds stretching along Lake Como comprise 56 acres. Massena and du Pont of Wilmington were the architects.
An activity of the management is the administration of “outside relief” with funds from the State and the counties. No cash is dispensed but orders are issued for such necessities as food, fuel, and rent, on the recommendation of local public or private agencies. Obstetrical facilities at the home serve destitute women.
Belmont Hall (private), 28.6 m. (L), set well back from the road on a large lawn densely shaded by trees, stands on a large grant of land that was known as Pearman's Choice. In summer the heavy foliage almost hides from view the broad front of the brick house and its handsome doorway surmounted by a pediment whose cornice extends across the façade. The roof, not pitched to the front and rear as usual but sloping to the narrow ends, is topped by a flat deck or captain's walk, with a white balustrade. In a Victorian
day the brick walls and frame trim were painted brown, and a front porch and bay window were added. After a fire in 1920 damaged the upper part of the structure, the home was restored to an appearance approximating that of its early years. The house contains many family heirlooms. The woodwork, most of it old, shows fine craftsmanship and much of the hardware bears the stamp of British manufacturers.
The two parallel wings are said to have been built about 1684. The main section with gabled front was built in 1773 by Thomas Collins, high sheriff of Kent County in 1767 and President of Delaware State 1786-1789, who, when the Revolution broke out, organized and fitted out at his own expense a brigade of militia that gave him almost as much trouble as the Tories he wished to subdue. A battalion of these rustics sent in 1777 to support Washington at Morristown, N. J., no sooner arrived there, after having spent four weeks on the way, than they asked to be allowed to go home. General Washington wrote a bitter letter to Colonel Collins, who was able to make them remain for active service. Collins fortified his grounds with a stockade and kept a sentry on the roof. In the drawing-room fireplace, bullets were molded by women of the neighborhood.
The farm has attained note in recent years for the culture of very early asparagus of high quality.
The large front section of Woodlawn, 28.9 m. (L), with a handsome portico having fluted columns, was added about 1859 to the Colonial brick house that became the rear of the mansion. The house is in poor condition.
Garrison's Lake, 32.5 m. (R), contains bass and pike. In the fishing season boats are usually available at farms bordering the shore. Though most Delaware mill ponds present a clear expanse of water, some, like this one, contain many snags just below the surface, making hazardous the use of canoes or other light boats.
At 33.6 m. is the junction with State 42.
Right on this road is CHESWOLD, 0.5 m. (211 pop.), a village that has grown up since the building of the railroad in 1856; until 1888 it was called Moorton for a landowner, James S. Moore. A distillery for making apple and pear brandy is in this center of a fruit-growing section. Apple orchards cover thousands of acres and pear and peach orchards are also extensive.
A group of people locally called Moors has lived in the vicinity of Cheswold since Colonial days. Of unknown origin, they have skins varying from nearly white to dark yellow. Most of them are farmers, owning land. Generally quiet
and industrious, they live by themselves, associating little with the whites and considering themselves superior to the Negroes. The public school attended by their children is classed as a Negro school but black children go elsewhere. The clan has its own church.
The State College for Colored Students, 37 m. (R), a group of large brick buildings at the end of a long paved lane, was opened in 1892 after passage of the Morrill Act, which provided land-grant endowments for colleges throughout the country. By allotment on the basis of population, the Negro college receives one-fifth of the annual appropriation for the State, and the University of Delaware, at Newark, the rest. Funds are appropriated by the State for maintenance. The State erected the college buildings, aided by gifts of Pierre S. du Pont through the Delaware School Auxiliary.
The college is divided into two departments: a college, the only one for Negroes in the State, and a high school. Degrees conferred by the college include B.A. and B.S. in the School of Arts and Science, and B.S. degrees in education, home economics, agriculture and the industrial arts. In 1936-1937 the enrollment (coeducational) was 244, with 85 in the college and 159 in the high school.
The buildings stand on a 200-acre tract, 160 acres of which are used in the teaching of agriculture, 20 acres are woodland, and 15 acres are used for the campus. There is a large dairy farm with a herd of cattle and modern equipment. Soldiers’ Field, for athletics, covers five acres.
Buildings include Loockerman Hall, the brick homestead built by Nicholas Loockerman about 1740, which has been remodeled and enlarged as a women's dormitory; the Library, containing 4,000 volumes; the Trades Building, containing class rooms and laboratories; Delaware Hall, the academic and administration building, auditorium and gymnasium, erected in 1928 at a cost of $125,000; the Practice School of the Department of Teacher Training; and Conrad Hall, containing the Home Economics Department with a model apartment as a laboratory.
Silver Lake, 38.2 m., is a State sanctuary for waterfowl and other wildlife.
Dover, 39 m. (20 alt., 4,800 pop.) (See DEL. GUIDE).
Railroad Station. Pennsylvania R.R., W. end of Loockerman St.
Accommodations. Hotels, tourist homes.
Annual Dover Day, usually a Saturday in May; fee, $1, covers tour of historic structures.
US 13 passes through Dover on Governor's Ave., on which there is little of interest. State St., paralleling US 13 to the E., goes through the heart of the town.
Dover is the capital of Delaware, the seat of Kent County, the trading center of a fertile farming region, and the second largest town in the State. Pleasant tree-shaded streets are bordered by many comfortable Victorian dwellings and a few scattered ones of Colonial age and charm. Architectural eyesores are fewer than in most Peninsula towns of similar size. The evident prosperity of Dover results from the presence of the State Government, the legal activity of a county seat, the rural trade that jams Loockerman St. on Saturday nights, and the large chicken-and-plum-pudding packing plant, which began to operate in the 1850's.
Projected by William Penn as a county seat in 1683, Dover was laid out in 1717; in 1722 a brick courthouse was erected on the east side of the Green. The town became the State capital in 1777, when the Three Lower Counties, formerly a part of Pennsylvania, became independent of the parent colony and assumed statehood.
As in other State capitals, but more notably here because of the town's small size, there is always a buzzing of political gossip and strategy in every law office and on every street corner. In election year the hum of this beehive rises in a high-pitched crescendo heightened by the traditional warfare between Wilmington leaders and “the down-state crowd” — the Kent and Sussex inhabitants being by nature antagonistic toward almost anything coming from the city. When the legislature meets in biennial session this warfare is intensified, with party lines often breaking down, and the session prolonged by weeks of debate and maneuvering. All this is enjoyed more or less by the lawmakers and the constituency, though there are occasional protests.
One of the most important activities of Dover is the granting of corporation charters and the collection of fees and franchise taxes. The corporation laws of Delaware include the following provisions: “The stockholders and directors may, however, hold their meetings and have an office or offices outside of this State. . . . As to corporations incorporated on or after April 1, 1929, shares of capital stock without par value . . . may be issued by the corporation from time to time for such considerations as may be fixed . . . by the Board of Directors thereof, unless in the Certificate of Incorporation the
power to fix such consideration shall be reserved to the stockholders . . . ; . . . and a majority of them (Directors) shall constitute a quorum . . . unless the by-laws shall provide that a different number shall constitute a quorum, which in no case shall be less than one third of the total number . . . nor less than two directors.”
About one fifth of all the active United States corporations listed in Moody's Manual were chartered in Dover. In 1936 the revenue from corporation taxes and fees amounted to $369,000, supplemented by the sum of $2,715,000 in franchise taxes. The latter go entirely to maintain the public schools of the State; that year it supplied more than 70 percent of the total school fund. From time to time attempts are made to raise the corporation revenue and make national industry pay the whole cost of Delaware's schools; but these attempts are usually vigorously resisted by Delaware industry.
The Green is the heart of the old town. Flanked by public buildings and by solid, self-assured private houses of various styles and periods, this small elm-shaded area has an atmosphere compounded of many elements — old brickwork in mellow texture, legends of ghosts; memories of governors, judges, legislators, court-day crowds, soldiers assembling for the wars, mass meetings, torchlight processions, delegates of the Confederacy coming to plead for Delaware's support as a slave State, the disarming of a group of hot-blooded young Secessionists; wistaria in bloom; fish peddlers from bay villages; Negro butlers, janitors and washerwomen gossiping in the shade; farmers from St. Jones Neck speaking a dialect as different in idiom and intonation from Wilmington speech as can possibly be heard in the same language — all part of the Green, past and present.
The Old State House, E. side of the Green, built in 1792 on the site of the early courthouse, remodeled to suit Victorian taste in 1874, restored in 1910 and enlarged by a south wing in 1921, was the seat of the legislature until 1933 when the new Legislative Hall was completed. Until 1873 it was also the County Building.
The restoration of 1910 gave the old building what was presumably its original aspect of post-Colonial beauty, which in 1802 led the author of a guidebook to remark: “On the east side of the parade in Dover is an elegant State House built of brick. It gives an air of grandeur to the town.” This two-and-a-half story section has a classic doorway under a Palladian window, and a gambrel roof with a three-part octagonal cupola. The south wing, which may be torn
down in the near future, is in the Greek Revival style, with tall columns in front.
In this old building, Delaware in 1787 ratified the Federal Constitution, becoming the first State to enter the Union, and here took place many other dramatic episodes in the history of the State.
The building is now used mainly for the offices of the Motor Vehicle Dept. On the first floor are portraits of many Governors of Delaware, Chief Justices and U. S. Senators. In the basement is the office of the Public Archives Commission, with a display of documents important in the State's history, including those of the original patent from King Charles II to his brother James, Duke of York, in 1682, and of subsequent grants from York to William Penn. On the second floor are three murals of historic scenes painted by Stanley M. Arthurs, a pupil of Howard Pyle.
The brick Kent County Courthouse, S. side of the Green, was built in 1874 and remodeled in Colonial style in 1918.
The Ridgely House (open on Dover Day), N. side of the Green, built 1728 of brick laid in Flemish bond and since altered and restored, was erected by Thomas Parke. Since 1764 it has been owned by the Ridgely family, long prominent in the State. The house contains many heirlooms, much fine woodwork, and has a very fine garden.
The Legislative Hall, E. of the Green on a new plaza, a large structure of Colonial design, was completed in 1933 to hold the two houses of the legislature, the Governor's offices, and the office of the Secretary of State.
Woodburn (open on Dover Day), King's Highway and Pennsylvania Ave., a notable example of late 18th century architecture, is surrounded by old trees, one of them a tulip poplar 16 feet in girth. Woodwork and paneling throughout the house are very fine. The great hall is 41 feet long. The house has a ghost, a little man in wig and knee-breeches, said to have appeared at various times.
In the yard of the County Jail, Water and New Sts., stands one of the three whipping posts in Delaware. Each county has one. Whippings take place at unannounced times, usually on Saturday mornings, and are public by law. The yard is separated from the street only by a wire fence.
Camden, 42.4 m. (464 pop.), formerly Mifflin's Cross Roads, a Quaker settlement founded in 1783 when Daniel Mifflin laid out
building lots on a tract called Piccadilly, is a quiet little village in a fruit-growing countryside. It has a number of old, plain, dignified brick houses.
Before the coming of the railroad, the town attained some commercial importance through the use of the wharves at nearby Forest Landing and Lebanon, on St. James Creek. Regular boat service was maintained with Philadelphia and New York and quantities of cordwood, staves, grain, and Spanish-oak bark were shipped by local merchants to the cities. The railroad, coming through nearby Wyoming, brought prosperity to Camden by expanding the market for the farm products of the region.
The Cooper House, a gray-painted brick dwelling (L), near the northern entrance to Camden, dates from 1782. It contains hand-carved paneling of pine, including one completely-paneled wall, and semi-circular cupboards, placed on both sides of the fireplaces; the doors have hand-wrought hinges and large locks.
This house was a station on the Underground Railroad, a hiding place for Negroes going north; they were sheltered in a small, bunklined room above the kitchen. This room was reached by means of a ladder and entered through a small opening in a ceiling; a round window near the peak of the roof provided light and air. Later owners sealed the opening and bricked in the window. There is a story that a tunnel led to the adjoining house, which dated from about the same period.
Almost opposite the Cooper House is the Daniel Mifflin House (R), with tan-painted brick and yellow trim, which was built about 1796. Warner Mifflin, a brother of Daniel, was one of the first men in America to free his slaves unconditionally. There is a fanlight over the front door, and the interior contains much hand-carved paneling. The old white-oak joists of the house have the bark still on them and are clamped with wooden pins.
On Commerce St. (L) is the Friends’ Meeting House (meeting every First Day, 10:30 a.m.), a plain little two-story, gambrel-roofed brick structure with two dormers on each side. A marker near the peak in front bears the date 1805. The Camden Meeting is the only one in lower Delaware, and one of five in the State.
Only the front wall of the building is laid in Flemish-bond. The fine recessed double doors are framed by an architrave that extends beyond the wall, an unusual feature in Delaware buildings of the
time in which it was erected. Just under the peak is a little fanlight. The dormer windows belong to the original structure, as part of the interior finish. On the second floor are old desks and equipment left there in 1882 when the room was abandoned by the school long maintained by the Friends.
Some of the grave markers in the adjoining cemetery are taller than the usual very low stones of Quaker burial grounds. Upkeep of both meeting house and cemetery is guaranteed by a trust fund.
At 45.9 m. is the junction with a paved road.
Right on this road is WOODSIDE, 0.7 m. (140 pop.), which became a fruit and grain shipping center coincident with the building of the railroad.
At 48.1 m. is the junction with a paved road.
1. Right on this road is VIOLA, 0.7 m. (104 pop.), laid out in 1856 when the railroad opened a station. It is situated on a grant known as Golden Thicket, taken up by William Shores in 1681.
2. Left on this road is CANTERBURY, 0.2 m. (30 pop.), once an important horse-changing station on the stage line down the Peninsula. The place was presumably named for Canterbury in England.
At 50.6 m. (L) is a marker indicating the farm formerly known as Burberry's Berry where lived Capt. Jonathan Caldwell, of Col. John Haslet's regiment in the Revolution. Caldwell's men carried with them gamecocks from a celebrated “blue hen” strain developed in the county and noted for fighting ability. The Delaware soldiers were known far and wide as the “Blue Hen's Chickens.”
At 56.5 m. is the junction with State 14.
Right on this road is HARRINGTON, 0.5 m. (1,812 pop.), a sprawling town that started as a railroad junction for the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia branch of the Delaware R.R. Railroad traffic has decreased in recent years, but the town has nevertheless managed to survive as a rural trading center. In the town are two of the numerous shirt factories that since 1930 moved from New York to lower-Peninsula towns to take advantage of the section's low wages and freedom from hour-regulation and labor agitation. Harrington is the center of 14 school districts and has a city manager.
At 57.4 m. (R) is the entrance to the Kent and Sussex Fairgrounds (fair last week in July and early days of Aug.). At the fair are the usual produce and livestock exhibits and sideshows, and displays by manufacturers of farm implements and machinery. The half-mile track is known throughout the East and nearby South for its harness racing. Thursday of fair week is Governor's Day, when the Governor
and his staff and hundreds of big and little politicians watch the races and hobnob with each other. Automobile racing is the customary feature of the last day of the fair, always a Saturday.
The Tharp House, 60.2 m. (R), built about 1830 by William Tharp, later (1847-1851) Governor of Delaware, is part brick and part frame, ivied and mellow beneath old trees. Here in one house in southern Kent County is seen the blending of the brick construction of middle Delaware with the wooden construction typical of Sussex County to the south.
At 60.3 m. is the junction with a paved road.
Right on this road is FARMINGTON, 0.3 m. (117 pop.), first called Flatiron when in 1855 the railroad built a station at a crossroads. Three years later a post office was established here. In the 1880's the hamlet had a population of 300 and prosperous canning and fruit-evaporating plants.
In this flat and unprepossessing region, near no large town or navigable water, there flourished for 10 years (1868-1878) a school called Farmington Academy that turned out many boys who later had high reputations.
At 62.8 m. a stone marker (R) indicates the boundary between Kent and Sussex Counties, a division of some significance.
This is the transitional region between the gently rolling land and hardwood groves of middle Delaware and the flat, sandy terrain stretching southward to Cape Charles. South of this point the woods are predominantly of loblolly pine. Freshwater swamps contain not so much swamp maple as black and sweet gum, white cedar and bald cypress; mistletoe in gray-green bunches attaches itself to the tops of the gums. Holly grows everywhere beneath the tall pines, sometimes reaching a height of 50 feet.
Groundhogs — called woodchucks in the northern States — which are plentiful in the upper part of Delaware, do not exist south of this point; skunks, however, have lately been extending their range southward a few miles every year. Turkey-buzzards are very numerous; when the sun comes out after a heavy rain, they are often seen drying themselves, perched on fence posts with wings outstretched and motionless.
Gray foxes are almost as numerous as red ones, and annoy fox hounds by diving like rabbits into brush piles instead of running in the open. All Sussex was formerly a gunners’ paradise, but a traditional disregard of game laws and the increase of predators have greatly reduced the numbers of bobwhite — here called both
“pa'tridges” and “quail,” but usually just “birds” — and of rabbits, squirrels, and woodcock. Coon hunting and fox hunting by night are twin sports to which Sussex countians are passionately devoted.
Nearly all the white inhabitants of Sussex are of old English stock. Names such as Burton, Warrington or Ellingsworth are met everywhere. Whether residents of towns or not, all have the agricultural viewpoint. Except when near illicit whiskey stills in swamps, they are friendly and excessively hospitable to strangers. In one meal farm hospitality may proffer fried chicken, fried pork, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, cole slaw, a thick damp cornpone, milk, coffee, preserves, pickles, turnip greens, pie, cake, and toothpicks. If there are several men in the family the women wait on them before sitting down themselves.
Surviving such a meal, the stranger sits back and tries to understand the conversation, which in rhythm, intonation and phrasing is apt to be so different from any he has ever heard as to be incomprehensible. Words, some of them relics of Anglo-Saxon days, are run together. When, after dinner, the man of the house takes his shoes off, lights his pipe and turns to give his sons directions on the evening's work, he is apt to say, “Mung-ya go to the pound and fodder them mules”; “mung-ya” means somebody. In southwestern Sussex, it may also mean two or more persons, as in “Mung-ya comin’ to church tonight?”, meaning “Are you and your family coming to church?” (In eastern Sussex it would be “you folks.”) The expression “you all” is heard more often in the conversation of persons living in towns than among the farming people.
A shock of fodder is a “stook,” a pimple a “pipjinny.” Narrow is pronounced “norry”, and sparrow “sporry.” Yet the same speaker, who may have gone to school only three winters in his life, may say, “Hit was so dark I couldn't quite discern you.”
In his own house on his own land there is no one more at ease in the presence of a stranger than the Sussex countian. Behind his composure, as behind his independence of mind, his stubbornness and his love of fun and laughter, is his evident feeling of equality with any white man under the sun. He may politely defer to someone he thinks knows more about something than he does, and above all he respects a smart lawyer; but he feels easy and comfortable in knowing more about farming than the lawyer does.
The architecture of old houses in Sussex County is very different
from that found in middle and upper Delaware. The sandy soil did not provide much material for brickmaking, and most of the surviving Colonial houses are frame, generally of small or medium size, the main section having two-and-a-half stories; there is usually a wing, in this part of the county placed on the rear but in eastern Sussex placed on the end. Small houses, such as Negro cabins, often have two front doors, one to the kitchen and the other to the “sittin’ room.” Most of the new houses both in town and country are without distinction, having been copied from pictures discovered in the ubiquitous lumberyard catalogs.
Contrasting with New Castle County's wheat-growing and dairying, Sussex agriculture produces truck — a term having nothing to do with the motortruck that now carries most of the farm produce to northern markets over this and connecting highways. In Delaware, garden truck has always meant the vegetables and small fruits that were grown in the truck patch. Long noted for its sweet potatoes, the county also produces great quantities of tomatoes, asparagus, strawberries, cucumbers, cantaloups, and watermelons; broccoli is being grown increasingly. Orchards cover thousands of acres. Another commercial activity of the region is egg production and the raising of broiler chickens. From early spring, when asparagus is harvested, to the frosty fall, when “Delaware sweets” are dug up, the loaded trucks rumble north to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and even to Boston. The progress of the spring up the Peninsula is accurately charted by the passage first of Virginia trucks, then trucks from the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland, then the Delaware trucks. Sussex County's climate is tempered by the near-by ocean and Chesapeake Bay.
BRIDGEVILLE, 69.3 m. (987 pop.), is an important canning and shipping center, booming along without pause from April asparagus to November pumpkins. Large apple and peach orchards nearby bear fruit sold at premium prices in the cities. The town is one of the largest cantaloup-shipping points of the Peninsula; strawberries are exported in huge quantities.
Right on Market St., across the railroad tracks, is the Auction Yard (R), an open field where all summer auctions of produce are held; bidders walk about between the loaded trucks, wagons, and old sedans, making offers to the owners.
In the Methodist Churchyard, N. end of Williams St., is the
Grave of William Cannon (1809-1865), Governor of Delaware (1863-1865). Governor Cannon served in a period when feeling ran high, especially in lower Delaware, between the Union and Confederate sympathizers. He was threatened with impeachment because of his sending troops to the polls allegedly to intimidate voters during the election of 1862.
At 70.4 m. is the junction with a side road.
Left on this road to a large Apple Orchard, 3.6 m., a mile and a half long and a quarter mile wide; it contains 60,000 trees (in bloom in late April or early May). At the height of the picking season (late Aug. and early Sept.), there are scores of black and white pickers on the plantation — men, women and children — some of whom live in barracks on the property. Apples are of several varieties and subjected to inspection for size and quality. A day's picking may run to 3,500 bushels. A normal year's crop is about 200,000 bushels, valued at $100,000 in recent years.
Hearn's Pond, 74 m., contains bass and pike. Boats are available in the fishing season.
Lawrence (R), 74.4 m., a large white two-story house with a pedimented portico having square columns, and with small wings on the sides, was built about 1840 by Charles Wright. It has extensive grounds.
At 76.7 m. is the northern junction with State 20.
Right on this road is RELIANCE, 5.5 m., a hamlet on the Maryland-Delaware Line. A few feet W. of the line, in Maryland, is what was formerly Patty Cannon's Tavern, in the early 19th century the headquarters of Patty Cannon, kidnaper of free Negroes. Until her death in 1829 in jail while awaiting trial for murder of a slave dealer and two Negro children, Patty Cannon and her ruffian son-in-law, Joe Johnson, made a business of seizing free Negroes and holding them in her attic dungeon for sale to dealers. The captives were taken down the nearby Nanticoke River to Chesapeake Bay and thence usually to Gulf ports, whence they were sold to planters in the new cotton country of the Southwest. Patty prided herself on her strength, and it is said she would wrestle any man who cared to challenge her, and throw him. Though in 1793 kidnaping was made a crime punishable by whipping and the cropping of the ears, Patty operated without fear because the free Negro had no friends and juries balked at imposing the penalties. Another protection to her was the ease with which she could evade arrest by stepping across the State Line or the line between two Maryland counties that met there. Both States were her hunting grounds. The name of the boundary hamlet at the time was Johnson's Cross Roads, later changed to Reliance for respectability's sake.
SEAFORD, 76.8 m. (25 alt., 2,469 pop.), is at the head of navigation on the deep Nanticoke River, 40 miles from its mouth
in lower Chesapeake Bay. It is a busy town of varied industries including the manufacture of baskets and other containers for fruits and vegetables; fertilizers are produced and fruit and vegetables canned on a large scale.
As one of the two Delaware towns on navigable Chesapeake Bay estuaries, Seaford is similar to the many towns on the Eastern Shore of Maryland that have largely depended upon shipping and on the seafood of the bay for food and income. Though now a declining activity, the shucking and packing of oysters is still carried on here from September to May. In the 1870's dozens of little rake-masted schooners of 500 bushels capacity made weekly trips down to the oyster beds of the lower Chesapeake. These vessels have all disappeared from the river, and oysters are now hauled overland by truck from wharves on Delaware Bay. Seaford also shipped large quantities of shad in the days when thousands of these fine food fish swam up the river to spawn in fresh water. Although in recent years the decreased numbers of shad in the bay have met an increased barricade of pound nets at the mouth of the river, small numbers of shad and rockfish make their way up to this point and are taken below the town.
Boatbuilding was another industry of early Seaford, as it was at one time or another in every town on a navigable stream of the Peninsula; today there is one small yard building pleasure boats. Until long after the coming of the railroad there was regular steamer service for passengers and freight between Seaford and Baltimore. Though Baltimore is only 80 miles NW. of Seaford as the crow flies, the voyage of 40 miles down the river and 100 miles up the bay took from 16 to 19 hours. From 1825 to 1855 a line of vessels between Norfolk, Va., and Seaford (120 m.) connected with stages to Dona Landing near Dover (42 m.); whence another line of boats ran to Philadelphia (80 m.). This water-and-land route between North and South was no longer used after the railroad was built.
Laid out in 1799 as Hooper's Landing, the town was soon called Seaford, presumably after Seaford in Sussex Co., England, whence came many of the early settlers.
Seaford preserves the memory of Patty Cannon more than do other towns that came within that outlaw's domain. It is said that when she was finally captured she was brought here and arraigned before a magistrate who committed her to Georgetown jail. The town crier,
calling the hours, bellowed “Three o'clock and Pat Cannon's taken!”
Another memorable event in Seaford's history occurred the day after the election of 1831, when a rumor spread that the Negroes were rising to massacre the whites. Terrorized women gathered up children and possessions and whipped up their teams on roads leading north while their husbands armed themselves for the battle. Not until many hours had passed did the scare subside. The slaves of Delaware and Maryland, unarmed, unorganized, and peaceful, had never thought of such a wild project.
The Civil War caused a sharp division between the Union sympathizers and the ruling class, the slaveholders. The Union people were more numerous, however, and it was dangerous to express adherence to the South. When a minister one Sunday refused to offer prayers for the United States, he was evicted from his pulpit by force.
With other Sussex communities, Seaford clings to some of the old customs. Rug-weaving and quilting parties are frequent during the winter months. Older men still make their own ax, hoe and shovel handles. Most small boats and skiffs are made by local craftsmen, some of whom are old shipwrights. For a month before Christmas many of the poorer families of the town keep pace with their country relatives in the making of holly wreaths for sale to northern markets; in the evenings the whole family gathers around the kitchen stove and chats as holly twigs and berries are wired to hand-made wooden hoops. The making of holly wreaths is a big business throughout the county, as it is in the Maryland and Virginia counties to the south.
The brick Hooper House, behind a dwelling at Arch and High Sts., was built by one of the Hoopers who laid out the village in 1799. The remaining part of the structure is used as a garage and for storage purposes.
At 77.2 m. is the southern junction with State 20.
Left on this road is CONCORD, 3 m. (150 pop.), a hamlet in a state of picturesque decay by a mill pond at the headwaters of the Nanticoke River. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when there were several bog-iron furnaces nearby, the place saw high prosperity.
For years the smelting of bog ore was widespread in Sussex County and in Worcester County, Md. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were invested in the business. Pine Grove, Lightfoot's and Douglass’ furnaces, near here were prosperous producers until the use of richer ores elsewhere brought ruin to the local industry.
Delmarva Camp, 81.1 m. (L), is the scene of the largest white camp meeting held in Delaware. (First two weeks in Aug.; hotel and “tent” accommodations.)
Delmarva Camp is an example of the modernization, externally, of the old-time camp meetings popular on the Peninsula since the time of Asbury and other fervent dissenters of the 18th century. Formerly the meetings were held in a pine and hardwood grove, illuminated at night by pine knots on six foot stands; today they are held in a tabernacle — a shed holding rows of benches and a rostrum — and the grounds are lighted by electric lights. The earlier “tent” — small frame cabins with open fronts — have mostly been replaced by newer and more comfortable ones, about 60 in all. Services, held every evening, are amplified and broadcast to remote corners of the grounds. There are no services during the day.
Religious fervor during the evening services is likely to burst out in “Amen, brother,” “Praise the Lord!” and other shouts no less heartfelt than in past times, though criticism is voiced concerning the way the young folks go off and drink beer while the preaching is going on. After service there is promenading and visiting until one by one the lights in the tents go out and the camp slumbers.
Before the day of the automobile, farm families would come to stay the full two weeks. It was their annual opportunity to enjoy religion and sociability, to relax, and to make love. Nowadays everybody comes in a car, and many come only in the evening for the services, which are attended by larger numbers than in the past.
The entrance is beneath the arch displaying the name of the camp. A fee is charged for “protected” parking — to prevent young people from using dark back seats for love making. Each “tent” has a front room without a front wall, another room behind it, and a kitchen shed in the rear. Above are dressing and sleeping rooms. Many families still cook their meals in their tents, but both in the tents and at the hotel the cooks have had vast experience in preparing corn and beans, fried cymlin's (squash), chicken potpie and other dishes native to the Peninsula, which are topped off with huckleberry pie, cantaloups, watermelons, or peaches and cream.
LAUREL, 83.3 m. (2,277 pop.), laid out in 1802 on the banks of Broad Creek, was named for the laurel bushes growing thick along the stream. Thousands of crates of cucumbers and cantaloups are shipped annually from here by truck and rail, as well as by water, the
town being at the head of navigation. Canning and the manufacture of fertilizer, and of boxes, crates and baskets, made largely from gum wood, are the chief activities.
The town is built on a tract known as Bachelor's Delight, part of 3,000 acres set aside in 1711 by the assembly at Annapolis — this part of Delaware was then claimed by Maryland — for the use of the Nanticoke Indians living on the lower Eastern Shore. Within 50 years, however, nearly all had left the reservation and gone up the bay into western Pennsylvania; afterwards from time to time members of the tribe would return in war canoes to dig up their dead, and then leave as silently as they had come.
The Auction Block (9-4 daily), 8th St. near Central Ave., starts its sales season about May 15 with strawberries and continues operations into the fall.
The block itself is a large frame structure with two driveways into which farmers guide their produce-laden vehicles. In the long lines are trucks of all sizes, carts, buggies, wagons, many motor cars filled to the roofs, sometimes a privately-owned school bus, and even what was once a hearse. Drivers range from bright young white farmers to bent old Negroes.
Little time is wasted in the selling process, especially if the line is a mile or so long. A truck or wagon halts under the shed just long enough for the bidders to lift a lid and nod to the auctioneer who is crying the sale. When a deal is made the seller is given a voucher negotiable at Laurel banks. In 1936 shipments of cucumbers alone sold through the block exceeded 90,000 bushels. The sales of cantaloup in one day amounted to $7,000.
The Collins House, at the northern end of town on Delaware Ave., with a white columned portico and gallery, was the home of Nathaniel Mitchell, Governor of Delaware 1805-1808. The house was built after his retirement. The erection of other houses has marred the vista to the creek at the foot of the slope.
Records Pond (boats available), also in the northern end of town, contains bass and pike. Lover's Lane, part of the pond, is a nearly straight stretch of water two miles long, where young couples like to drift among the waterlilies between the wooded shores.
At the traffic light is the junction with State 24.
Left from Laurel on this street to the junction with a dirt road, 2.1 m.; L. here to Old Christ Episcopal Church, Broad Creek Hundred, 2.6 m. (R),
THE STATE HOUSE, DOVER, DELAWARENEAR DOVER, DELAWARE
SAWMILL NEAR SALISBURY, MARYLAND
TEACKLE MANSION, PRINCESS ANN, MARYLAND
on the pine-wooded shore of Chipman's Pond. (Open twice yearly: all-day meeting on a Sun. in May with sermon at 2:30, and a rogation service on the 3rd Sunday in Sept., 2:30.)
Christ Church was erected in 1771 upon ground that until 1765 had been claimed by Maryland. For some years after the settlement of the boundary the church was, however, a chapel of ease in Stepney Parish of somerset County, Md. The plain building has never been altered and, except for the window sashes, has never been painted. Because of the lasting qualities of the fine-grained, resinous heartpine of which it was constructed, inside and out, it remains today in almost perfect condition, a notable example of Colonial church architecture. The roof has been renewed from time to time, and the two front doors replace those of earlier times.
Inside, the light from the many-paned, arched windows falls upon the rich brown patina of the ancient woodwork, box pews, and paneling, beneath an arched ceiling. There is no formal altar, merely a plain table within a railing and a wooden cross above. High on one side of the room is the pulpit with a canopy above it. A slave gallery extends above the entrance.
The church possesses two pewter alms basins and a pewter paten bearing the name of the maker, Gleason; it also has two old silver chalices with ebony bases. A Bible said to have been presented by George III's queen in 1777 has disappeared. Parish records of 1792 list a membership of 476 adults, white and black, including 109 communicants. The rise of Methodism in the 19th century made such inroads on the congregation that regular services ceased in 1850. The church is in the care of the rector of St. Philip's Church, Laurel.
DELMAR, 90.5 m. (2,018 pop.; 838 in Del.), on the Maryland Line has two mayors, two town councils and two school systems. State St., the principal business thoroughfare, follows the Delaware-Maryland boundary. Formerly almost wholly dependent upon the railroad shops for its existence, Delmar has become a trading center and shipping point of some importance.
When the Delaware R.R. reached here in 1859, the spot was a wilderness of pine forest. Later the road was carried down to Cape Charles by the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk R.R., and a village grew up around the junction. In 1918 the whole line between Wilmington and Cape Charles was taken over by the Pennsylvania R.R. which called it the Delmarva Division.
The Delaware-Maryland boundary here was surveyed in 1750-1751 by John Watson and William Parsons for Pennsylvania and by John Emory and Thomas Jones for Maryland, who ran it from the Atlantic Ocean 35 miles westward to the center of the Peninsula. In 1764 Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon started from this western point and ran the other Delaware-Maryland boundary northward 100 miles to Pennsylvania, and thence westward across the mountains
toward the Ohio River. This boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland symbolically divided the free from the slave States just before the Civil War. Delaware was a slave State.
Left on State St., which becomes the Line Road, to the junction with an improved road, 0.8 m.; L. here to the Barn of E. Guy Hastings, 1 m., in the loft of which old-time square dances are often held on Friday nights during the fall and winter months. (Visitors welcome either as dancers or spectators; many offer contributions for music.) The place is in no sense a roadhouse, and nothing is sold. Mr. and Mrs. Hastings hold the dances as community affairs because of their interest in keeping up the old customs, and often call the figures themselves.
MARYLANDDelaware Line — Salisbury — Pocomoke City — Virginia Line, 40.8 m. US 13.
Delmarva Division of Pennsylvania R.R. roughly parallels route.
Greyhound and Great Eastern busses follow the route.
Paved roadbed. Hotels in larger towns, tourist homes and camps along route.
Section 4. Delaware Line to Virginia Line, 40.8 m. US 13
In Maryland US 13 crosses an area where the flora and fauna belong to both the North and the South. Like the rest of the Eastern Shore, this region is low, level, and very fertile; farms are for the most part small but intensively cultivated. Strawberries, cantaloups, sweet potatoes, small fruits, and other vegetables and berries are the chief products. Each December the woodlands yield quantities of holly and laurel for shipment to the large cities. Loblolly pines and cedar also grow in abundance.
Many early Marylanders, belonging to the strain that sprinkled the map of the United States with such place names as Tombstone, Santa Claus, and Bowlegs, gave names to their grants that were more descriptive than orthodox. Among these names, some of which belong to the Eastern Shore, were Want Weather, Penny Come Quick, Hard Bargain, Aha the Cow Pasture, and Bachelor's Delight. On these grants are still standing a number of fine old houses, most of whose owners admit visitors interested in history or architecture provided they call at convenient hours.
US 13 crosses the Maryland Line in DELMAR, 0 m., at State St.
Leonard's Mill (R), 2.5 m., operated by water power for more than a hundred years, is still grinding grain for flour as well as feed for livestock.
At 5.5 m. is a junction with a macadamized road.
Left on this road is Salisbury Airport, 0.3 m., where licensed mechanics, pilots, and planes are avilable at all times. This well-drained flying field has adequate runways.
SALISBURY, 7 m. (10,997 pop.) (see MD. GUIDE).
Although Salisbury, seat of Wicomico County, was founded in 1732, it has very few old buildings because fires in 1860 and 1886 destroyed almost every building in town. Its streets, however, have never been straightened and widened; they still wander crookedly
about in the four sections of town created by the two branches of the Wicomico River, giving the place an old-fashioned air that belies its importance as one of the leading ports and market towns of the Eastern Shore. It ranks second in the list of Maryland ports; each year the river bears cargoes worth approximately a total of $10,000,000 to and from this point. While always a center of some importance its major growth has come since 1900, the population more than doubling in forty years. Though many of the homes are comparatively new they have an old-fashioned air of comfort, created in part by broad lawns and carefully tended gardens.
On October 10th, 1707, a large tract of land in this county was granted to Thomas Pemberton of lower Delaware, and to William Whittington of Maryland. Pemberton later acquired another tract to the north of it that was called Pemberton's Good Will (see below). Col. Isaac Handy, son of Samuel Handy who had arrived from England about 1664, acquired land in the Pemberton grant and built a wharf at the forks, where a little settlement known as Handy's Landing grew up. This was included in the tract laid out by the Assembly as the town of Salisbury in 1732.
The newly created town was named for a city in Wiltshire, England, a county from which many of the settlers came. Because of the isolation of this part of the Eastern Shore from main traffic lanes, English customs persisted here long after they had disappeared from other places settled by the English. It is only a few decades since the annual street fair at Whitsuntide was abandoned and since the town crier ceased to walk the streets.
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War the allegiance of Salisburians was divided. After the local militia had joined the Continental Army, Tory activity became so pronounced that an appeal for troops was made to the State Assembly to keep them in control, and then to the Continental Congress. In response to the latter petition, Gen. William Smallwood arrived on February 19, 1777, with a company and broke up the groups of active Royalists, imprisoning some and enlisting others in the service of the Colonies.
Union troops were stationed here for most of the Civil War period, and from this place detachments were sent into Delaware and Virginia to disarm and disband embryonic secessionist organizations. These troops were also used to guard the telegraph line down the peninsula, which for some time was the only means of communication
between Washington and Union forces in Virginia; messages had to be relayed by boat across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It is said that this line carried to Washington the first news of Lee's surrender. In a cemetery on Commerce St. are graves of 53 unidentified soldiers who were victims of the so-called “black measles” epidemic that swept the camp.
Poplar Hill, 119 Elizabeth St., having survived two fires, is the oldest structure today on Pemberton's Good Will tract. The two-and-a-half story frame building, erected in 1795 for Maj. Levin Handy, a relative of Col. Isaac Handy, contains much fine handcarved woodwork. There is a Palladian window over the entrance portico.
The Wicomico Presbyterian Church, 100 block, Broad St., has the records of its first congregation, which dated from 1753; about 1830 its congregation merged with that of the Rock-A-Walkin organized by Francis Makemie in 1684 at Upper Ferry (see below).
John B. Parsons Home for the Aged, NW. corner of Bush and High Sts., was founded by the late Philadelphia traction magnate, a native of this county, in tribute to his mother. He also created a $600,000 endowment fund.
The Wicomico State Game Farm (R), on Lake St. at the edge of town, propagates quail and pheasants for restocking Maryland woodlands. The Municipal Park, E. Main St., is a 63-acre tract of reclaimed and developed swampland, serving both as a recreational center and as a low-level reservoir for the city's water supply. On Camden Ave. (US 13) at the southern end of the town is (L) the State Teachers College, opened in 1925 and completed in 1933 as one of the four teacher-training institutions.
At 9.4 m. the highway crosses Tonytank Creek in TONYTANK, which bears the name of one of the original land grants in this region. (The road here has three successive right-angle turns and should be followed with caution.) Many years ago when this mile-long tributary of the Wicomico was navigable, the village site was the thriving headquarters of a large trade carried on with the West Indies and elsewhere. The commercial value of the creek passed with the deepening of the river to Salisbury.
A dam was built in the little stream to provide power for the old Grist Mill that is still standing and, until recently, was used to grind flour for man and feed for livestock.
Palatial Tonytank Manor (R), with its huge Doric portico, was erected in the early part of the 19th century; it has an attractive setting and beautiful gardens.
At 10.3 m. is a junction with a concrete road.
1. Left on this road is FRUITLAND, 0.8 m. (600 est. pop.), formerly a crossroads settlement called Forktown. After it began to grow with the arrival of the railroad in 1867, its present name was selected by majority vote, and following a recommendation by the postmaster; the minority had wanted to call it Phoenix. The village has a vegetable cannery, two shirt factories, and a large lumber mill.
2. Right on this paved road is SHAD POINT, 1.3 m. (125 pop.), on the south bank of the Wicomico; here shad fishing was an important activity for many years. Cherry Hill, a handsome residence built before 1757, belonged to the Somers and Gunby families for more than a century. Though the structure has been much remodeled and enlarged, it contains the broad fireplaces, the winding staircase, the handhewn interior trim and the heart-pine flooring of the old house. The grounds are now landscaped and include a private golf course.
At 10.9 m. are tourists’ cabins (R) at the junction with a paved road that is a 6-mile alternate to US 13.
Right on this alternate at a junction with a macadamized road is ALLEN, 3.8 m. (110 pop.), a hamlet where farmers sell their products to shippers at a cooperative auction block.
Right from Allen on the macadamized road 2.6 m. to an entrance lane (L) leading to the Paul Jones House, visible from the road. The small brick structure, erected on the bank of the Wicomico Creek in 1733, has a gambrel roof, dormer windows, and excellent interior paneling and carved woodwork. The interlocking diamond pattern on the north wall is noteworthy. James Jones, a native of Monmouthshire, Wales, patented his plantation as Jones’ Hole. He had first settled in Northampton, Virginia, where, being a Quaker, he was placed in sheriff's custody for “moveing in ye court in an irrevent manner with his hatt on his head” and refusing to pay church levies. The year after he settled here he was appointed one of the commissioners and a justice of the newly established Somerset County. In 1672, when George Fox was making a tour of the Eastern Shore, the great Quaker organizer held at least one meeting at the Jones’ home — a meeting Fox described in his journal as a “large and glorious” gathering.
On the macadamized road at 3.5 m. is the junction with a dirt road (L) leading 1 m. to Reading Ferry across Wicomico Creek. The flat-bottomed raft-like boat, with room for two automobiles, is similar to two others on nearby Wicomico River. At 3.6 m. the macadamized road ends; straight ahead on the dirt road at 4.3 m. from Allen is the entrance to Chase House. The Reverend Thomas Chase was residing here in 1741 when his son, Samuel, later a signer of the Declaration of Independence and noted jurist, was born. Upon this fact was based the assertion, later refuted, that the signer was born here (see below). An elongated frame structure with dormer windows, the house contains much of the original paneling and woodwork.
On the southern edge of Allen, at 4.2 m., the alternate route to US 13 crosses Passerdyke Creek. Near the bridge (R) are the remains of bridge abutments constructed in 1835 for what was to have been one of Maryland's first railroads. On June 3, 1835, the Maryland Assembly enacted the so-called Eight-Million-Dollar Bill providing funds for the construction of six connecting railroads, including the Eastern Shore Railroad from Elkton to the site of Crisfield. Rejoicing over passage of the bill found expression in public meetings, the ringing of church bells, salutes with cannon and fireworks, and a generous display of flags. Much of the right-of-way for this road was graded and bridge abutments were constructed before it was realized that the program was too ambitious for the State's resources. During the financial panic of 1837 the projects were abandoned, never to be revived.
At 5.2 m. is the entrance (R) to Brentwood, visible from the highway. The brick part of this imposing structure was built in 1738. The hand-carved mantels, built-in corner cupboards, paneling, hand wrought nails, and the H-hinges have been preserved. The original builders of the house constructed a cave for some unknown purpose, it is entered from the house by a stairway, has a 15-foot ceiling and is 10 feet in width. In 1806 the estate was known as Adam's Adventure, and later as End of Strife.
At 7.1 m. is the junction with US 13.
At 14 m. on US 13 is EDEN, a hamlet near which was conducted the Eden School, which until 1796 gave instruction to sons of prominent families in Maryland and Virginia.
At 16.7 m. is LORETTO, a busy farm-produce shipping point until the development of motortruck transportation. Here is the junction (R) with the short alternate route (see above).
At 19.7 m. is the junction with a paved road.
Right on this road at 3.5 m. is Waggaman Cut Farm (R), now the county poor farm, with a structure whose glazed brick walls date from the 17th century. The interior woodwork — stairs, doors, windows, and floors — were all hand hewn from native oak. The house at one time contained much paneling, but nearly all has been removed. Three Waggaman brothers fled from England during the Cromwell Protectorate, two of them becoming citizens of Jamestown, and the third the owner of this property. The brothers held annual family reunions here, talking over old times and comparing notes on agriculture and political news while their daughters, on vacations from school in England, displayed the latest in English and Continental styles.
Diagonally across the highway from the Waggaman house in Hackland (open), now a tenanted farm. This tract was granted to Levin Denwood in 1670. His residence here on Monie Creek was designated by the court as a Quaker meeting house and to it were attracted many leaders of the Religious Society of Friends, including its founder, George Fox in 1672, Thomas Chalkley in 1698, and Thomas Story three years later. Denwood was one of a committee of ten Quakers appointed in 1682 to select a site for the Third Haven Friends’ Meeting House in Talbot County, a structure still standing in Easton. In 1711 he donated an acre
of land, about a mile north of Hackland, as a site for one of the first Friends’ meeting houses in this region. The only present-day reminder of Denwood's tenancy is a small brick outbuilding said to have been erected before his death in 1725.
At 5.4 m. the paved road ends at a junction with a shell road; R. on this and L. at 7.1 m. on the Reading Ferry (dirt) Rd. to the entrance lane, at 7.3 m., to the probable Site of the Birthplace of Samuel Chase (1741-1811), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later a Justice (1796-1811) of the United States Supreme Court. The house, now destroyed, was on the south bank of the Wicomico River near the mouth of Dashiell's Creek and belonged to Chase's maternal grandfather. The question of where Chase was born was a matter of dispute for many decades but recent research seems to establish the assertion that his mother was staying in her father's home at the time of her confinement. Two years later Samuel's father became rector of St. Paul's P. E. Church in Baltimore; young Samuel read law in Annapolis before establishing an office for himself in Baltimore. He died in Baltimore on June 19, 1811.
PRINCESS ANNE, 20.5 m. (975 pop.), the seat of Somerset County, is the market town for a rich agricultural area and has a few industrial plants nearly all of which serve farming needs; these include a large gristmill, a lumber mill, a box and basket factory, and two vegetable canneries. When the town was laid out in 1733, the surveyor received 400 pounds of tobacco for his labors. Some structures erected soon after the town's establishment stand along the wide, tree-shaded streets, side by side with those of more recent construction.
Along US 13 at the northern end of town is (R) the Manokin Presbyterian Church, erected in 1765 by one of the six congregations in this region organized prior to 1708 by Francis Makemie. The ancient walls are now ivy-covered and shadowed by spreading trees.
Near the center of town, on the main street (US 13), is (R) the Washington Hotel, a three-story frame structure that has served travelers for nearly two centuries. The inn has dormers and outside double chimneys; though it was modernized in 1906 its early appearance has been fairly well retained. Like other hostelries of Eastern Shore county seats, this old place was a social center and frequently slaves and other property changed hands over its gaming tables.
Teackle Mansion, at the western end of Prince William St., is an austere brick structure. The two-and-a-half story central part, narrow and standing on a high foundation, is approached by a broad stoop; unusually long two-story pavilions having much lower
floor levels and a parapet connect it with gabled wings. The gable pediment of the central section is notable for its unusually steep pitch; the generous proportions of this pediment somewhat minimize the scale of the structure as a whole. The house provided the setting for George Alfred Townsend's novel, The Entailed Hat, a story of antebellum days.
East Glen, at the eastern end of Prince William St., erected in Colonial times, has carved mantels and woodwork exhibiting fine craftsmanship.
At the corner of US 13 and Washington Ave. is a Boxwood Garden laid out in 1844 and providing a charming example of smallscale landscaping of the period.
Opposite the garden, on Washington Ave., is Crisfield House, so large that it has been divided into two dwellings. This was the home of John W. Crisfield (1806-1897), a lawyer long influential in Eastern Shore affairs. He served in Congress as a Whig (1847-1849) and (1861-1863) as a Union Republican; he was a member of the peace conference hastily called in 1861 to attempt to stave off the Civil War. A leading spirit in the building of the Eastern Shore R.R., he became its president.
Part of the walls and gallery of St. Andrew’s P. E. Church, built in 1770 on the corner of Washington Ave. and Church St., formed part of the chapel built the same year as a chapel of ease of Somerset Parish organized in 1692. The communion silver acquired in 1719 is still used.
At 22.5 m. is (R) the Chase House so called because it is one of the three places claimed to be the birthplace of Samuel Chase. When it was erected in 1713 it was a small frame structure with brick ends; it has been extensively enlarged and remodeled. A likeness of the early house is engraved on the silver service of the battleship Maryland.
KING'S CREEK, 23.3 m. (15 pop.), is at the junction of a branch railroad.
Just S. of the hamlet, at 23.5 m., is the junction with a dirt road laid out in 1708 by order of the County Court, but now a private road.
Right on this road 100 yards is (R) a short, evergreen-lined lane leading to Beverly Farm; the house burned in November 1937. Its construction was begun in 1786 but ten years were required for its completion; all the materials for it were
laboriously prepared on the estate, bricks were made, oyster shells were burned for lime, and the timbers were felled and hewn by hand. It was a two-and-a-half story hip-roof structure with dormers, and the pedimented entrance was set in a two-story bay window in the center of the façade.
This house entered into one of the many schemes to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte from St. Helena Island. In 1803, while waiting an opportunity to return to the scene of Bonaparte triumphs, Jerome Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, had married Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore; when he was able to return to Europe two years later he had the marriage annulled to further his dynastic ambitions. In spite of this act he retained the admiring friendship of many Americans, among them Nehemiah King, master of Beverly Farm. When Napoleon was finally confined to St. Helena various American admirers of the family, including the mayor of New Orleans, hatched a plot to rescue him. Funds were collected for the building of a fast sloop, plans of the island and its fortifications were studied, and the details of the attempt were carefully rehearsed. The plan was to hide Napoleon in a secret room at remote Beverly until the chase for him should subside and it should be safe to carry him to New Orleans. Before the sloop could set sail word came of Napoleon's death.
At 24.1 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road at 2.5 m. is the Site of Washington Academy (R), a boarding school founded in 1767 and attended by the sons of well-to-do planters. A report of the trustees in 1784 showed an enrollment of 80 students and a curriculum that included oratory, moral and natural philosophy, mathematics, geography, history, Latin, and Greek.
An early resident tutor of the academy was Luther Martin, who was the first Attorney General of Maryland, serving from 1778 to 1805. A member of the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787, he opposed the Constitution as written and refused to sign it. His alliance with Federalists brought him into frequent clashes with Thomas Jefferson, who in 1807 referred to him as the “Federal bulldog.” Martin's ability was best demonstrated by his part in the successful defense of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase during the impeachment trial before the U. S. Senate in 1804-1805, and in the trial of Aaron Burr in 1807 for treason. Improvident throughout his brilliant career, Martin in later years became penniless. He served again as Attorney General of Maryland from 1818 to 1822, when he resigned. In that year the Maryland Legislature passed a resolution requiring every lawyer in the State to pay an annual license of five dollars to be handed over to trustees appointed “for the appropriation of the proceeds raised by virtue of this resolution to the use of Luther Martin.” He was born in New Brunswick, N. J., on February 9, 1748, and died at Burr's home in New York on July 10, 1826.
The house of Clifton, 4 m., on one of the few slight elevations in the county, commands an excellent view of Manokin River, and its lawn slopes down to the water's edge. The house is of moderate size and was built by Randolph Revell in 1700. The estate of 1,500 acres was granted by Lord Baltimore in 1665. On Revell's tract was laid out, in 1668, the county seat and port of entry, to be known as Somerset Town. At low tide foundation stones of the first courthouse can be seen at the edge of the river.
Both Maryland and Virginia made extensive grants to the settlers who began to arrive in this section of the Eastern Shore in 1658. Each claimed the territory; the point at issue, involving an area of some 1,500 square miles, was whether Watkins Point (one of the extremities of the Maryland Province defined in Lord Baltimore's charter) was at the mouth of the Pocomoke River or of the Wicomico River. To enforce Virginia's claim, Col. Edmund Scarburgh, Surveyor General and Treasurer of Virginia, accompanied by 40 horsemen, left Accomac County on a mission to exact from the settlers an oath of allegiance to Virginia. Arriving in Somerset County October 11, 1663, he met with passive resistance from leaders of the settlements, on whose doors he “placed the broad arrow of confiscation” and returned to Virginia to report to the Assembly. After long conferences between representatives of Maryland and Virginia, Lord Baltimore's claim was accepted, and the boundary was fixed approximately as it exists today. Scarburgh's report, replete with sarcasm, throws some light upon the early inhabitants of the area.
At 27.4 m. (R) is the Green Hill Picnic Area, a shaded woodland with rustic tables. Here also stands a forest fire-lookout tower.
COSTEN STATION, 31 m. (L), is an active shipping point for loblolly pine timbers used as mine props.
At 31.5 m. is the junction with a shell road.
Left on this road to a junction with a dirt road; R. on the first cross-road to Ivy Hill, 4 m., the second house R. This two-and-a-half story, L-shaped, brick structure with dormers was built in 1720 by Thomas Hayward. Much of the paneling of its twelve rooms has been removed. The house, its patterned brick walls partly covered with old ivy, is set among trees, some of which antedate the building. Thomas Hayward was a member of a committee sent to England to buy materials for Coventry Parish Church; for 70 consecutive years (1723-1793) he and his son, Thomas, Jr., held the office of Somerset County clerk.
At 33 m. is the junction with the dirt road marked Rehobeth.
Right on this road, which bears constantly L., to the lane at 4.3 m. leading to the Site of Col. William Stevens' Home. Stevens was one of the most prominent men in Maryland Eastern Shore history, serving as the first representative from Somerset County in the Provincial Assembly, later as a member of the Governor's council, and then as Deputy Colonial Governor. Although he was a member of the Church of England his home was used freely as a gathering place by members of various religious sects, including the Quakers; in 1680 he forwarded to the Presbytery of Leggan, Ireland, a request for a minister; in response the Reverend Francis Makemie arrived here in 1683, residing for a time in the
Stevens home. From here he made trips up and down the Eastern Shore and established six congregations, among them the Rehoboth Church, regarded as the mother-church of American Presbyterianism. Stevens’ house disappeared long ago but a cellar excavation marks the site; near it is the walled family burial lot, containing Stevens’ grave.
Rehoboth Presbyterian Church, 5.8 m., is in REHOBETH VILLAGE on the Pocomoke River. The word Rehoboth (Heb., there is room), was applied by Colonel Stevens to his plantation of 1,000 acres, surveyed in 1665. The name of the village has been corrupted to Rehobeth by the Post Office Department.
The present edifice, erected in 1706, is the oldest Presbyterian Church still in religious use in the United States and as such is being restored and protected by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. It is a simple, rectangular, brick structure without a steeple or belfry but has a gallery. Left of the graveyard surrounding three sides of the church is a small building of somewhat similar design erected in recent years as a recreational center.
Diagonally across the village road from the church are the Ruins of Coventry Parish P. E. Church, erected in 1786 and closed in 1900, though services are still held there periodically. The outline of the first structure in this spot, built in 1695 and smaller than its successor, is indicated by stones alongside the later building. In the churchyard are graves of many of the earliest settlers in the country.
At 34.4 m. is the junction with the marked, concrete-paved Dividing Creek Rd.
Left on this road to a junction, at 5 m., with a dirt lane; R. a short distance on this to Cellar House, a two-and-a-half story house built shortly before 1700 on the north shore of Pocomoke River. It was so named because an underground passage runs from its cellar to the river. There are no mantels above the fireplaces, some of which are built in the corners of the large wainscoted rooms. Another striking feature is the off-plumb spacing of the windows; one, smaller than the others, is placed in the south gable end at the very peak of the roof, affording a view down the river from the highest part of the house. It is said to have been a station on the Underground Railroad by which slaves were smuggled from southern to northern States. The original tract contained 2,300 acres, but now has only 700.
On Dividing Creek Rd. at 5.4 m. (L) is the Betsy Townsend House, approached by a short lane. This is another oddly designed Colonial home, believed to date from the earliest settlement of this region. The story-and-a-half brick structure was formerly surrounded by large boxwood gardens. In two of the high-ceiled rooms are ovate corner fireplaces. In one room an inside hall was built. On the opposite side of the same room is a secret chamber the same width as the hall, and built flush with the fireplace, so that its existence would not be suspected. Until 1818 the place was owned by the Cottingham family, whose progenitor was one of the first settlers.
At 7.2 m. a short lane (R) leads to Chuckatuck, an old frame structure visible from the road. This stands on a thousand-acre tract patented in 1665 by Robert Pitt. The building is badly in need of repair; the paneling was sold to Samuel
D. Riddle for his Long Island home. Everything that went into the construction of the house was made by hand — nails, laths, weatherboarding, hingers, and interior wood finishing. Huge wooden pegs were fashioned to hold the heavier timbers. William Bacon, of Baconthorpe, Suffolk, England, and his half-brother, Anthony Bacon, of Cyfartha County, Wales, acquired Chuckatuck in the middle of the 18th century. For many years thereafter the place was noted for its hospitality. A granddaughter of Anthony married Griffith Jones, who constructed the old iron-smelting furnace now in ruins a few miles north.
South of Dividing Creek Rd. US 13 passes between extensive fields devoted chiefly to the raising of Irish potatoes; the first crop is harvested in summer, the second in early fall.
The highway crosses the Pocomoke (Ind., black water) River.
POCOMOKE CITY, 35 m. (2,609 pop.), usually called merely Pocomoke, is the largest town in Worcester County; it has been an agricultural shipping point since the beginning, first being called Meeting House Landing, then, about 1700, Warehouse Landing. It became New Town in 1780 and so remained until 1878. In spite of its age it has almost no old structures, fires in 1888, 1892, and 1922 having destroyed them. Streets, except Main St. which US 13 follows, are narrow but trim, and the houses have the comfortable air that goes with the steady prosperity of a market town.
Right from Pocomoke City on Second St., which at 2 m. becomes a dirt road that leads to Beverly, 2.5 m., by the Pocomoke River. Previous to 1937 this property had been in the possession of the Dennis family since 1669 but construction of the present somewhat elaborate house began in 1774. It has beautifully carved paneling and mantels and, on the river front, a stoop with unusual wrought-iron handrails and arch.
At 40.3 m. (R) is the Pitts Creek Presbyterian Church, standing in the small woodland clearing since the first quarter of the 19th century. It is a simple frame structure with a slave gallery; it succeeded two others on the site. When the congregation was organized is unknown but there was a church here in 1735; it is believed that the group was one of the six founded between 1683 and 1707 by Francis Makemie, Makemie himself having referred to a “Pocomoke congregation.” Madame Anne Holden, a daughter of the Scottish divine, was a member and gave two communion cups and one hundred pounds sterling to the society. As the area near the landing on the Pocomoke became more thickly settled a branch congregation was organized in what is now Pocomoke City and attendance here gradually dwindled. The church was saved from abandonment by
the interest of the daughter-congregation; the two are now served by the same pastor and board of trustees.
US 13 crosses the Virginia Line at 40.8 m. A few feet L. of this point on a side road is a Marriage Tree. In early days many youths of the lower end of the peninsula crossed the State Line to be married in Maryland, thus avoiding the more rigid age requirements of their own State. Obliging clergymen would perform the ceremony under one of the large trees near the border.
In the woods 10 feet from this tree is a Maryland-Virginia Boundary Marker, grooved in the center to define the line to the fraction of an inch.
VIRGINIAMaryland Line — Cape Charles — Norfolk — North Carolina Line, 82.2 m. US 13, US 17.
Pennsylvania R.R. parallels route between Maryland Line and Cape Charles. Inter-State and local bus lines use route; two ferries operate between Cape Charles and Norfolk.
Concrete and macadam surfaced roadbed.
Accommodations of various kinds available at short intervals.
Admission to old homes: Owners of few, if any, homes in this area have established formal conditions of admission for strangers; the ancient standards of hospitality are still operative and any visitor is welcomed. Those desiring to visit the old places should be careful not to abuse this courtesy; calls should be made at reasonable hours, preferably in mid-afternoon, and should not be prolonged. Grounds should not be used for picnicking and should not be invaded without the permission of the owners.
Section 5. Maryland Line to Norfolk, 60.6 m. US 13
Between the Maryland Line and Cape Charles US 13 traverses the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the southern end of the narrow peninsula lying between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay.
The terrain is level but abundantly wooded and broken with streams and inlets creating scenes of quiet charm. A chain of islands, including Chincoteague, Assateague, Wallops, Metomkin, Cedar, Parramore, Hog, Cobb, Ship Shoal, Mockhorn, Smith and Fishermans, forms a protective barrier against the violence of the ocean. The bays and inlets behind these islands provide safe anchorage for small vessels, a factor that early drew settlers to the area. These sheltered waters hold the fish that are one of the principal sources of Eastern Shore income today.
The Eastern Shore is a highly cultivated region used chiefly for truck farming. The principal industries are closely related to the agriculture; among them are the manufacture of fruit and vegetable containers and of fertilizers, the canning of fruits and vegetables, and the production of lumber.
The lower peninsula was called Accawmacke (other-side-place) by the Indians and in the early years of settlement the Crown addressed messages: “To our faithful subjects of ye Colonie of Virginia and ye Kingdom of Accawmacke.” The area was settled in 1614 — thus becoming the third territory permanently occupied by Europeans in what is now the United States — when a small group was
sent from Jamestown to obtain salt by boiling sea water. The Eastern Shore of Virginia was made into Northampton County in 1634, but the old name was revived — as Accomac — for the northern county in 1662 when the first county was subdivided. Throughout the 17th century inhabitants of the Eastern Shore were strongly in favor of having it established as an independent colony and the General Assembly often recognized the strength of the movement by adding a phrase to acts emphasizing that laws passed applied to the Eastern Shore as well as to the mainland.
Several types of houses peculiar to the region are seen along the route.
In the early period of settlement the homes were story-and-a-half frame structures with dormers and with brick ends in which the chimneys were incorporated. A little later many of the more prosperous planters and traders built large brick houses of a very formal type, though others adhered to the earlier one with the addition of another story and porches. Much later the “big house, little house, colonnade and kitchen” style of structure was evolved, growing with the prosperity and size of the family. Usually the first unit was what was later called the “little house”; the next unit was usually larger and became the “big house”; the final unit, if it had not been built at the same time as the first, was a kitchen, which was connected with the “big house” by a passageway known as the colonnade. In general, such houses are found on the farms back from the water. A building common in the fishing communities is the two-story, gableroofed structure, forming a T. In the center of the cross bar is a dormer; the main entrance is below it, and there are commonly two lesser entrances, one in the angle of the T, the other in the gable end of the stem.
The Maryland-Virginia Line, 0 m., though the subject of several disputes and near-conflicts with arms, was not as well marked a few years ago as it is today. About 1908 a candidate for Virginia's House of Delegates, while canvassing voters, treated the customers in a small Maryland eating house five miles above the boundary before he learned he was out of the State.
At 1.6 m. is NEW CHURCH (50 pop.), named for a Colonial church that once stood here.
Left from New Church on Co. 709 is HORNTOWN, 3.9 m., a small village established in Colonial times and so named because its fish peddlers blew horns
TYPICAL EARLY EASTERN SHORE HOMEMOUNT CUSTIS, Virginia EASTERN SHORE
to advertise their wares. Although it is one of the old communities of the Eastern Shore, it has only two old houses. In the center of the village is one of these, Shepherds’ Inn (open), a former coaching tavern that was built prior to 1731. The wide boards of the floor, the H- and L-hinges, the cedar woodwork, and the original shingles under the eaves of the modern porch attest the age of the building. Colonial Horntown was a trading place for the people of Chincoteague Island (see below), before the island was connected with the mainland by bridge and roads. Then the journey from the island to Horntown was such that even shoes were purchased by a proxy and fitted by means of sticks cut to the measure of the purchaser's feet. According to a local story, a Chincoteague islander once asked to see a pair of shoes for himself, then cancelled his order because he had forgotten his “measuring sticks.”
Welbourne, built by Drummond Welbourne in 1811, is now in ruins. The house has no roof, the rotted woodwork fills the inside of the shell of brick walls. The arched brick arcade on the northeast corner of the building and the graceful slope of the roof, as indicated by the walls’ outline, give hint of the former beauty of the home.
Left from the village on Co. 679; at 5 m. is a junction with a dirt road; R. here 0.7 m. to Corbin Hall, or Chincoteague Farm, with a Georgian mansion built by Samuel Welbourne in 1725 of locally burned brick and remodeled about 1787 by George Corbin. The sandy loam of the farm slopes down in front of the house to Chincoteague Bay, on the other side of which, about 4 miles away, are the white-painted houses of Chincoteague Island, forming a dotted line along the shore.
North of the house are the graves of the Corbin family. Those of Col. Coventon Corbin and Barbary, his wife, are marked with upright slabs; the death date of the former is 1778 and of the latter, 1756. Corbin, the first owner of the estate, raised a troop of cavalry for the Revolution.
The house is remarkably well preserved, with fine white painted interior paneling still intact. The hall is L-shaped, with the stairway in the toe of the L. The archway at the angle of the L is flanked with fluted columns. Each of the rooms opening from the hall is paneled on the side containing the fireplace. In the basement of the house is a slave prison; there is a complete brick drainage system constructed with the house. The structure was renovated in 1895, a slate roof and west vestibule being added. This is one of the formal homes built by planters whose fortunes outgrew the primitive story-and-a-half cottage.
At 2.8 m. are (R) the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which runs almost without a curve for 65 miles between this point and the one where a slight curve carries the line into the town of Cape Charles. In 1887 the railroad was built down the peninsula as the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad, meeting ferries from Norfolk across the bay. The initials of the railroad, NYP&N, gave rise to the local name of “Nip and N.” In the years before the establishment of the railroad, mail was carried from town to town by stage, usually a horse-drawn cart.
At 4 m. is CHINCOTEAGUE CROSSROADS.
Left from the Chincoteague Crossroads on State 175, which crosses marshes and inlets on a series of bridges and causeways to CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, 9.8 m. (2,130 pop.). The inhabitants here gain livelihoods by fishing commercially and by catering to tourists — chiefly sportsmen who come to fish (guides and equipment available). Until the bridges and causeways were built in recent years, some of the islanders had never visited a mainland town.
The commercial wharves are near the highway along the Chincoteague Bay side of the island; the frame houses set on brick pillars are scattered along the shore and the road running down the island. The local importance of fishing is evident in the fences made of discarded fishnets, in the boats being built or repaired in the house yards, and in the figures of speech used by everyone. The weekday dress of the men consists of blue overalls and pea-jackets, with hipboots when needed — an outfit that identifies the man who lives on the water as much as does his mahogany-colored skin. Fishing goes on the year round, clams, crabs and oysters being the most important catches. Chincoteague oysters are notable for their size and flavor.
Various devices are used in this area for commercial fishing; of first importance is the pound-net, or weir — locally called “ware”. This is placed for the season in water 25 to 40 feet deep. Large power boats go to the nets daily to empty them, sometimes collecting several hundred bushels from a net at one time; the catch is usually placed in small boats that are towed. (Visitors can travel with the men to the grounds by arrangement.) Gill nets were formerly used widely for commercial fishing; because these could be operated by one man in his own boat, each man was in business for himself. The fish running against the nets push their heads through and become entangled behind the gills. Gill-net fishing is less used today because the introduction of the large pound-net, the depletion of the fish in the shallow waters, and the competition from places farther south have made their use unprofitable.
Haul-net fishing — in which many hundred yards of seine are dragged in an arc, encircling fish on the inshore feeding grounds — is also practiced here, though seldom by the natives, who realize that the feeding places are destroyed when the aquatic grasses are scraped away by the nets.
The laws of Virginia prohibit fishing with a purse net pulled behind a power boat. Though punishable by a fine of several hundred dollars and a jail sentence, this illegal trawling nevertheless persists. Because the nets are pulled at night by boats without lights, it is difficult to discover the offenders, though occasionally a trawler is caught and the owner convicted. Public opinion regards this practice very much as it regarded bootlegging during prohibition years.
Seed or small oysters are brought here from natural beds and put down on bottoms rented from the State. These seed oysters, separated and uncrowded in favorable waters, grow to market size in a year; in two years they are of prime size.
The hazards of having nets torn by early spring ice and storms, boats damaged in easterly blows, and of oysters being covered with silt and débris carried by storm-driven waters, are unimportant to sportsmen but to the fishermen they are disasters. The freshly caught sea food is sold at the commercial fish wharves to buyers for northern markets, the prices being fixed by the wholesale markets, generally in Philadelphia.
Sport fishing for channel bass in the surf along the seacoast of the Eastern Shore is increasingly popular.
There are wild ponies on this island and the neighboring Assateague; these animals, which are stunted horses rather than ponies, have hips like those of cows but are taller and more graceful than Shetlands. Annual Penning Day (usually July 30th) is an important local event drawing a large number of visitors, who enjoy watching the corralling, the branding of foals, and the sales; many of the visitors buy colts, which are the size of large dogs, and carry them off in the rear of their automobiles. Commercial amusement devices are set up for the day and the island has a carnival air.
The origin of these animals is obscure but all stories agree that they are the descendants of strays or of horses abandoned in Colonial times; the peculiarities they have developed are probably the result of their diet of marsh grass. A more romantic story of their origin is that they were left here by Spanish pirates who maintained headquarters for a time along the inlets. The most plausible explanation of the presence of the animals is that the early planters, to avoid the expense of fencing pastures, turned their horses loose to graze. A law passed in 1670 announced that: “Whereas the act for fences doth not sufficiently provide remedy for damages done by unrully horses breaking into corne fields,” it was enacted “that the owner shall be, and hereby is required and enjoyned to take some effectual courses for restrayning them from trespassing their neighbors, from the 20th of July till the last of October in every yeare, it being much fitter rich men who have the benefit of such horses should provide for their restraint than the poore enjoyned to the impossibility of every (very) high fences; and if any horse or horses shall at any tyme breake into any corne field, the ffence being ffowre foote and halfe high, then the owner of such horse or horses, upon proof of the damage, shall pay for the first tresspasse single damages and for every trespasse after double damages to the party greived.”
The stunting of domestic horses by the fare of marsh grass seems to have been noted early, for a law designed to improve the breed was passed in 1686.
The first known sale of a horse from the mainland to anyone on the Eastern Shore was made on January 30, 1643, when George Ludlow of the mainland conveyed a horse to Col. Argall Yeardley. In 1649 there were only about 300 horses in the entire Colony of Virginia.
On October 25, 1662, Chincoteague Island was granted to Capt. William Whittington by Wachawampe, Emperor of the Gingo Teagues (Chincoteagues); subsequently it was granted to Daniel Jennifer, on May 27, 1677, and to Thomas Clayton on April 26, 1684. Each of these Indian grants was declared faulty in title. Finally, on April 29, 1692, the island was patented by William Kendall and John Robins — during the reign of William and Mary. Wachawampe's will, dated January 26, 1656, leaving his kingdom to his daughters, is on file in Eastville. About 1700 some Quakers made an unsuccessful attempt to set up a colony on the island.
ASSATEAGUE ISLAND, separated by a narrow inlet from Chincoteague, is a long thin strip of uninhabited land bordering on the ocean; it has one of the finest sand beaches on the coast of the peninsula. Plans are being made to bridge the inlet and develop the island as a summer resort. Wild ponies roam this island just as they do Chincoteague (See above).
TEMPERANCEVILLE, 7.6 m. (140 pop.), is a small town that was settled by the Quakers. Most of them, however, moved to Maryland or Pennsylvania about 1657 to avoid the stringent laws passed against them.
They were accused of defying the laws, of uttering blasphemy, and, among other things, of calling God “a foolish old man.” The preamble of an Act of the Virginia General Assembly of 1660 describes the Quakers as “an unreasonable and turbulent sort of people, . . . who contrary to the law do dayly gather . . . unlawfull Assemblies and congregations of people, teaching and publishing lies, miracles, false visions, prophecies and doctrines, which have influence upon the communities of men both eccleseasticall and civil, endeavouring . . . thereby to destroy religion, laws, communities, and all bonds of civil societie, leaving it arbitrarie to everie vaine and vitious person whether men shall be safe, laws eatablished, offenders punished, and Governours rule.” The law enacted then provided that “no master or commander of any shipp or other vessell do bring into this collonie any person or persons called Quakers under the penalty of one hundred pounds sterling, . . . that noe person shall entertain any of the Quakers, . . . nor permit in or near his house any Assemblies of Quakers in like penalty of one hundred pounds sterling, that commissioners and officers are hereby required . . . as they will answer the contrary at their perill, to take notice of this act to see it fully effected and executed.”
On September 12, 1663, the sheriff of Lower Norfolk County reported to the House of Burgess that John Porter, a member of the House from that county, “was loving to the Quakers and stood well affected towards them, and had been at their meetings, and was so far an anabaptist as to be against the baptising of children.” Porter, when questioned regarding the charges, “confessed himself to . . . be well affected to the Quakers, but conceived his being at their meetings could not be proved.” The “oaths of allegiance and supremacy” were then tendered him, and, when he refused to take them he was expelled from the House.
The town is modern in appearance; the adjoining railroad station, MAKEMIE PARK, was named for Francis Makemie. (See below and SECTION 4.) It is said that Temperanceville was named for a Mr. Temperance, who owned a plantation nearby; despite its name, it had during prohibition more than the usual number of bootleggers.
Right from Temperanceville on State 288, which becomes Co. 695, to a junction with a little-used lane marked by a sign, 5.5 m.; R. here 100 yards to the Makemie Monument, a pedestal surmounted with a stone figure of Francis Makemie. The monument, enclosed by an iron fence, was unveiled by the American Historical Society of Philadelphia on May 14, 1908.
The monument stands in a reserved area of about an acre that includes the Makemie family graveyard marked by a brick pyramid.
Makemie, born near Ramelton, Ireland, came to this country in 1683, going first to William Stevens’ home in Rehobeth, Md. (see SECTION 4), and later moving to Onancock, Virginia, where he married Naomi Anderson, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and acquired much property. He made a fortune in his own right in the West India trade. Arrested for preaching without a license and taken to Williamsburg, he pleaded his cause in such a manner that later he was granted a license to preach, and his home was officially recognized as a place of worship. Makemie died in 1708. The inscription on the monument credits him with founding organized Presbyterianism in 1706.
West of the Makemie Monument, Co. 695 is on a causeway crossing large marshes and small inlets. At 10.8 m. are windmills scattered over the grassy marshland to pump fresh water for the beef cattle pastured here.
At 12 m. the road passes from the causeway onto the firm land of low-lying SAXIS ISLAND with a settlement of about 100 houses near the little wharves on the bay front. Saxis Island, in Chesapeake Bay, is like the other fishing communities of the Eastern Shore. The people are employed in the sea-food industry.
At 11.1 m. on US 13 is MAPPSVILLE (105 pop.).
Left from Mappsville on Co. 689 to a three-way fork, 1.3 m.; extreme L. here on Co. 679 to a junction with Co. 689 at 1.6 m.; R. on Co. 689 to the entrance (L) of Wharton Place 2.7 m., which has a square brick house with a hip roof surmounted by a widow's walk without a railing.
One of the Colonial owners of the estate was John Wharton, who acquired it from Daniel Wharton in exchange for 150 acres of land and 4,000 pounds of tobacco. John Wharton, according to tradition, was one of those who evaded the payment of high import taxes on goods from Holland and other foreign countries by smuggling. It is believed that he had tunnels connecting the house with the river and stable, and depressions in the lawn, such as might have been created by the collapse of tunnels, seem to give backing to the story. The house walls, at the points where the depressions near them, have also sunk slightly, creating fissures. The downstairs rooms of the house are all wooden paneled except the drawing-room, which was possibly silk-hung in the past. The marble mantels are carved with Biblical and patriotic subjects, including the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Sacrifice of Isaac.
Smuggling was common throughout the Colonies, and the man who was able to do it successfully did not suffer in his neighbors’ esteem. On the whole the Eastern Shore temper was much more conservative than that of the mainland, and the stories of piracy and smuggling provide the few lawless notes in its history.
South of Mappsville are large well-cultivated farms on which
sweet and Irish potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, corn, peas, lima beans, string beans, and turnips are grown. In former years many farmers raised only potatoes as their money crop. But the decline in potato prices that accompanied the depression has subsequently stimulated the cultivation of other crops. During the marketing season of 1936, farmers in this area picketed the highways in an effort to enforce organized selling of crops to maintain prices.
Tenant houses, in groups of two to five, are along the highway and the edges of the fields. Whole families of tenants work during harvest time, the women and children “graveling” potatoes or picking fruit or beans, while the men load and carry the produce from the fields, using two-wheeled carts, locally called “tumble carts.” Balanced by a wooden saddle attached to the shafts, the carts are easily unloaded; the high wheels are well adapted to use on uneven ground.
The pine woods bordering the highway have a park-like trimness because, in order to add organic matter to the sandy soil, the farmers of the area spread pine needles at the bottoms of the trenches before planting potatoes; these needles are raked from the ground in the groves.
PASTORIA, 18.3 m. (50 pop.), is a small scattered collection of houses. Mount Wharton (R), an old frame structure with a brick gable, is opposite a gasoline station. It was owned by John Wharton, the reputed smuggler. The house is a good example of the story-and-a-half type popular throughout Virginia in early times. The smallness of the dormer windows and the steep pitch of the roof, not duplicated in modern construction, make it easy to identify these older houses; the peculiar features are the result of a not too subtle effort to avoid a tax levied on houses of two stories, and to avoid or reduce the tax on window areas.
Col. John Donelson, the father of Rachel, who became Mrs. Andrew Jackson, lived in this neighborhood before 1766. Although Rachel was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and her parents moved to Tennessee when she was about twelve years old, she was familiar with Accomac County through the stories told by her mother.
Right from Pastoria on State 176 is PARKSLEY, 2.2 m. (800 pop.), a modern railroad shipping point for Eastern Shore produce. Four factories here can fruits and vegetables raised in the section. The modern homes are evidence of the prosperity of the district. The first residents of the town, which was settled when the railroad was laid here, were people from other States.
At 20.8 m. is a junction with Co. 662.
Left on this road to Mount Custis, 3.6 m. The first house on the site was built by John Michael, who came from Holland about 1640. His daughter married John Custis III, for whom the present house is named. From time to time additions have been made, the last in comparatively recent years, when the place became a club.
The building is of unusual design — there are actually three separate frame houses; two of them have two-and-a-half stories; the third is a story-and-a-half cottage with dormers. These are placed one behind the other and connected by two-story wings. The story-and-a-half unit was probably built early in the 18th century. Furniture, silver, glass, and portraits from this home were left to the University of Virginia by Mrs. Evelyn Bayley Tiffany. Legend has it that the ghost of a harmless little old lady lingers about the home, terrifying servants and making the hair stand up on dogs’ backs.
At 21.4 m. is a junction with Co. 652.
Left on this road to a private lane at 2.5 m.; R. here 0.5 m. to Bowman's Folly, one of the more elaborate homes on the Eastern Shore. The two-and-a-half story frame structure with brick gable ends has a wing and attached servants’ quarters. The corbelled cornice is unusually fine in scale and detail; the motif is repeated on a more delicate scale on the cornice of the one-story gabled porch. The columns and balustrade of this deep porch, which is on a high brick foundation arched at the sides, are crude replacements. The Palladian windows and the dormers also show fine craftsmanship.
The clumps of towering pines that formerly shaded this entrance lane were for many years landmarks used by ships along the coast; they were the single remaining stand of first-growth timber in the region and were cut down only when their owner was in serious financial difficulties. As fate would have it, the very year of their sale oysters harvested from beds on this estate soared in price and yielded the proprietor a small fortune that came just too late to save his trees.
The present house, the second on the site, was built for the Revolutionary general, John Cropper, whose ancestor, also named John Cropper, had married Edmund Bowman's daughter. The general's grave is on the estate. Edmund Bowman considered his migration to Virginia a folly when his only son died here of “slow fever” in 1660 while he was building the first house on this site; and, therefore, he gave to the house the name still borne by its successor.
General Cropper, while at home on leave, was surprised on February 12, 1779, by a raiding party from the British-Bermudian sloop Thistle Tender, which had come up Folly Creek, a deep inlet of the sea that reaches the foot of the lawn. The raiders surrounded Bowman's Folly, broke into the general's bedroom, smashed the furniture, and treated his wife roughly. Cropper, in his underclothes, surprised two drunken guards, escaped, and went for aid. With a companion and only three rifles, he returned. Near the house his comrade deserted. Cropper held his ground, fired his weapons in quick succession, and shouted, “Come on, my braves.” The British fled, thinking he had brought many defenders. Cropper found his wife and daughter locked in an outhouse and the main house planted
with gunpowder. While he saved his family and home, the invaders stole his plate, jewelry, and 30 slaves.
An excerpt from General Cropper's will throws light upon his character: “I, John Cropper of Accomack County, being impressed with the belief that all men are by nature free and independent and that the holding of man in a state of slavery is unjust and oppressive, have manumitted, set free and discharged all the people of colour in my possession whom I have heretofore held in bondage whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my name this 31st day of December, 1794.”
Portraits of General Cropper and his wife, painted by Charles Willson Peale, are in the National Gallery in Washington, D. C.
ACCOMAC, 21.6 m. (41 alt., 700 pop.), is the seat of Accomac County. Until the Colony was reorganized in 1634 (see above), representatives in the General Assembly were elected from such political units as the “necks of land”, “the other side of the water”, “Archer's Hope”, “Hogg Island”, and “Martin's Hundreds” (see SECTION 3). Although in 1655 the General Assembly divided the Eastern Shore into two counties, these were not formally named or the boundary officially defined till 1662. Then a commission composed of Col. Edmund Scarburgh and Colonel Waters fixed the present dividing line along Occahannoc Creek.
Scarburgh, who had been speaker of the House of Burgesses and was one of the notables of his day in Virginia, was a bold, aggressive and unscrupulous man, feared alike by Indians and white men. Charged with piracy and debt, he had fled from the Eastern Shore sometime before 1653; in that year he had been disabled from holding office by the Governor and council and there had been a warrant issued for his arrest. In 1654 he had returned, and in March 1655 had been pardoned by the General Assembly. He played an important part in Virginia history till his death during a smallpox epidemic in 1671.
That the line drawn in 1662 was not satisfactory to all the inhabitants of the Eastern Shore is made evident by the following protest:
“Whereas our country som yeares since was, contrary to our expectation, divided into two counties to our great detriment and Loss, notwithstanding ye great advantage of Coll. Scarborough (whom) you made and procured to ye county of Accomack agnt (with) Leutnt Coll. Waters, his ffellow Burgess; ye premises dewly considered, desire (as we humbly conceive) but Reasonable, that our County may be answerably Inlarges (enlarged) as theirs.”
This was one of 17 “grievances” set forth in a paper, signed by
eight persons, and sent to the General Assembly in 1676. Among the others were:
“That ye act concerning paying for killing of Wolves, Bears, Wilde Cats & Crows, or ye Like, may be Repealed, since no man but will, for his own good & security, Indeavour to ye utmost to destroy all possably he can.
“That any housekeepers may have a coppy at any time of ye clerk of ye Lists of Tithables, and by ye s'd clerk attested, paying Reasonably for same.
“That no person may be sett Tax ffree but by a full board, and not by any magistrate's particular favor to ye great oppression of other poore persons.
“That no Drink may be sold within a mile of ye Courthouse at any of ye court sitting days, Considering ye Detaction of time and ye Rudeness of people where Drink is sold at courts, neglecting theire business, spending and wasting theire Estates, abusing themselves and Authority, Quarrelling, and fighting with all Imagenary Illconveniences, and evill concequences thereby accruing.
“That no ordinary, or petty Tipling house, may be allowed in our county; a means to keep young freeman and others from Running into Maryland.
“That ye Indians of ye Eastern Shore in Virginia may be obliged to kill a certaine Number of wolves yearly, having a dayly opportunity by Ranging ye woods; for such Satisfaction as may be though fitt without ye profit of particular men.
“That no Sheriff may officiate two yeares together.
“That courts may be kept more duly according to Act of Assembly, without often Ressuringment at pleasure, without apparent just cause of ye great charge & detriment of ye People, as allso sitting at ye apoynted hours; ye contrary forcing people, Especially in Winter, to Return home, to committ their business unto others Loss and Dissatisfaction, or else expose themselves to trouble and be Bourthensome to their Neighbour's house, which possable may be prevented by early sitting.
“That we may have Liberty to appeale, in any Dubious case, though depending upon a far smaller value than Three Thousand pounds of Tobacco, which would not heretofore be permitted.”
The court of the newly separated county was held first at Occahannock House, Scarburgh's home, and subsequently at Cole's
Tavern in Pungoteague, at Wise's Plantation, and at Onancock. In 1786 the present site was selected as being nearest the center of population. At first the settlement was known as Drummondtown, being property of the Drummond family.
The Courthouse, in the center of town facing a small open square, is a modern structure built about 1900; around it is a rambling line of picturesque old frame law offices.
The Clerk's Office, adjoining the courthouse, was built in 1887, and has an addition constructed in 1935 as an unemployment relief project.
The Jail, across the street to the N., was built in 1909, replacing the old jail erected in 1787. The first jail, or bridewell, had a high wall around it and in the corner of its yard was the Debtor's Prison; this little structure, still standing and entirely covered with Virginia creeper, is now used as a library.
In 1778 Elijah Baker, early Baptist evangelist, was imprisoned in this county for preaching without a license. Not satisfied with having him arrested, a body of men kidnaped and set him aboard a vessel bound for Europe, instructing and probably bribing the captain to set him down at some place “from which he could not return to the Eastern Shore.” Such was Baker's eloquence that he persuaded his keepers aboard the ship to set him ashore again, and he continued his evangelical work. A memorial to him is in the yard of the Baptist Church.
Southwest of the courthouse square stands Allen House, a Colonial brick-end home.
At the end of the street, facing the courthouse, is the Drummond House, a massive brick structure with the usual connected servicewing. The house was built about 1750 by George Drummond, who deeded it at once to his son.
A block S. on the same street is the Episcopal Rectory, another Colonial home, almost a duplicate of the Drummond House, but built a few years later.
At the dead end of this street is a junction with Co. 609; L. two blocks is the entrance lane, running through a grove of trees imported from South America, to Roseland, a rambling, early 19th-century structure in three sections, with separate staircases, but linked by low connecting pavilions.
At the junction of Co. 609 and US 13, facing the State highway,
stands (L) Rural Hill, a clapboarded mansion of the 18th century.
Right from the courthouse, on the Greenbush Rd., to GREENBUSH, 2 m. At 3 m. is a fork; L. here to Drummond's Mill, 3.5 m., built in the 17th century by Richard Drummond.
By the mill is the junction with a dirt road.
1. Left here 1 m. to Hill Farm, the country home of Richard Drummond; the house was built about 1685.
2. Right at the mill fork 2 m. to Clayton Place, an early Colonial home. Justiceville, 2.5 m., is on one of the numerous farms owned by Col. Edmund Scarburgh.
TASLEY, 24.3 m. (250 pop.), is the railroad station for both Accomac and Onancock.
Right from Tasley on State 178 is ONANCOCK (Ind., the foggy place), 1.4 m. (1,240 pop.), one of the largest storage points on the Virginia Eastern Shore for oil and gasoline, which are brought in by boat and distributed in tank trucks.
Onancock was an Indian village when, in 1621, John Pory was a guest of Ekeeks, King of the Onancocks. At the feast the visitors were introduced to oysters and “batata” or potatoes. After burning his mouth on hot potatoes, Master Pory said, “I would not give a farthing for a shipload.” In 1680, in accordance with the Act of Cohabitation passed in that year, the people of the county were requested to buy this site for a “port of entry” through which all taxable commodities should pass. Onancock became the county seat in the year it was created, though court did not meet there until 1683 or 1684. It remained the county seat until 1786. During the Revolution it was the headquarters of General Cropper's troops. The Onancock home of Francis Makemie (see above) was licensed by law about 1699 as a place of worship, one of the earliest recognized homes of Presbyterianism in America.
The Kerr (pronounced car) Place (R) is a dignified two-story brick mansion built in 1779 by John Shepard of Scotland. The central section, which is gabled, extends forward. The pedimented, fanlighted entrance is attractive. The walls of the drawing room were originally papered with life-size pictures of one of the Caesars. From the ceiling still hangs a chandelier, a duplicate of that in the Governor's Palace at Williamsburg.
In the town square is a small granite Obelisk to Capt. John Bagwell, noted Indian fighter.
On a side street facing the square stands (R) Scott Hall, moved a few years ago from its original site, half a block W. According to a tradition that has little support, in the chimney of this house Sir William Berkeley, Royal Governor of Virginia, hid the treasures he had taken with him when he fled from Jamestown after his second defeat during Bacon's Rebellion. Scott Hall, like other Colonial homes, is said to be haunted; some ghostly power under certain conditions causes three doors of a room in the house to open at once.
At Scott Hall is a monument commemorating Captain Whaley and the Battle of the Barges, which took place November 30, 1782; in this battle Whaley lost his life.
During the Revolution the Eastern Shore suffered much from the raids of British privateers, who were in reality pirates taking advantage of the war to plunder. Col. John Cropper, commander on the Eastern Shore, assembled the “Virginia naval forces” in Chesapeake Bay to attack these marauders; the engagement was called the Battle of the Barges because of the crude craft used by the Virginians.
Opposite the town, on the other side of the Onancock River, is Cokesbury, the early 19th-century home of the Poulsons. In the yard is a cork tree brought from Spain in 1848.
TANGIER ISLAND (1,225 pop.) is in Chesapeake Bay, 12 m. from the Mainland. (Reached by private boats from Onancock, by limited ferry service from Crisfield, Md.) The inhabitants of this island have in the past had little communication with the mainland and there is a 17th-century flavor to their speech and customs. The two-and-a-half story frame houses stand behind neat picket-fences on uppaved streets 10 feet wide; formerly the front yards were the family grave-yards but a public cemetery is now used. Transportation needs are met by pushcarts, wheel-barrows and bicycles.
Many of the youngsters of Tangier paddle about in rowboats and operate primitive sailboats with as much ease as children of the mainland display in riding skooters.
When he explored Chesapeake Bay, in 1608, Capt. John Smith found Tangier Island inhabited by Indians of the Pocomoke tribe. He named it and nearby Watt Island for Dr. Walter Russell, the physician who accompanied him on the exploration. On Smith's map of 1612 both are clearly marked “Russels Iles.” Griffith's map (1794) shows them as the Tangier Islands. In 1670 during the reign of Charles II, Tangier was granted to Ambrose White. In 1686 John Crockett, his eight sons, and their families settled on the island; one-third of the island's present population bears this name. Many other families are named Park or Lewis.
The islanders are principally Methodists; the churches hold several services each Sunday, few members missing any of them. Crime is rare. Tangier legal proceedings are brought to court on the mainland. Some years ago a portable jail was brought to the island to be used when weather would not permit the transportation of a prisoner by boat, but the islanders considered the jail an insult and threw it into the bay.
A doctor is retained through subscriptions paid annually by each family. During unusually cold weather in the winters of 1934-35 and 1935-36 the bay froze and transportation to the mainland was suspended; medical supplies were soon exhausted. During these periods Army airplanes from Langley Field near Hampton, Virginia, dropped supplies to the Tangier people.
During the War of 1812 the British used Tangier as a base for operation in the bay. The inhabitants were placed under martial law, though allowed the freedom of the island. Once, the night before an attack was to be made, the island men scuttled their own boats to prevent their being used by the British. From this base Washington was burned, Alexandria was captured, and Baltimore and Fort McHenry were bombarded. The failure of the British attack on Baltimore, the islanders believed, was brought about by the prayers of their Methodist minister, the Reverend Joshua Thomas. The British admiral, Cockburn, it is said, asked
the minister to bless the men about to depart for battle. Mr. Thomas, complying with the request, comforted the British soldiers by declaring that God had directed him to say that they would meet with defeat in shelling Baltimore, for they were enlisted in an unjust and unrighteous cause. He added that until the conclusion of the battle he would not cease to pray for their defeat.
George Alfred Townsend in his book, The Entailed Hat, says that on Tangier Island, the British trained regiments of Negroes who were, with few exceptions, Maryland runaways; because of their proximity to Quaker settlements, Maryland slaves were in a constant state of unrest.
ONLEY, 25.6 (476 pop.), is the headquarters of the Eastern Shore Produce Exchange, one of the oldest cooperative marketing agencies in the State. The town takes its name from the former home of Henry A. Wise, the only Governor of Virginia to come from the Eastern Shore.
KELLER, 31.3 m. (300 pop.), is a railroad shipping point.
1. Left from Keller on State 180 to a lane at 1 m., leading into the Keller Fairgrounds, where the Keller Agricultural Show has been held annually for more than 55 years. The annual Potato Blossom Festival (near end of May), held here to publicize the principal crop of the area, centers about the crowning of a young girl as queen of the white blossoms.
Along State 180 are scattered a number of the typical story-and-a-half houses with dromers. At a turn of the road, 1.9 m., is (L) a small one that is believed to be the oldest in the area; it is in poor condition.
WACHAPRAGUE, 5 m. (675 pop.), is on the site of the Indian town of the Machipungoes, where rawrenoke (roanoke) or an inferior wampum used as money by the Indians was made from oyster shells. According to Capt. John Smith, these Indians lived like kings. The modern town, where fishing is carried on commercially, is also a well known base for sport fishing. The comparatively large hotel here also provides accommodations on Cedar Island, several miles away by boat. Fishing is done both in the inlet and in the ocean surf.
2. Right from Keller on State 180 is PUNGOTEAGUE, 3 m. (150 pop.), the seat of Accomac County for 15 years after the county's formation in 1662-63. The court met at the tavern of John Cole, which was torn down in the last decade. In 1665 the first theatrical performance in America was presented in this town; the play was Ye Bare and Ye Cubb. Self-appointed censors had the players brought before the court, which was sitting in the tavern, and they were told to repeat their performance. The company was acquitted of the charge of immorality and the complainants were fined. Court days in Virginia, until very recent years, were social occasions with people arriving from all over the country. Farmers traded horses and livestock, and there were all manner of things for sale, including books and the wares of the inevitable patent medicine men.
Cole, in order to keep the court-day trade, offered to furnish bricks and woodwork for a new courthouse, but the county seat was moved to Onancock. Berkeley used the tavern as headquarters when he attempted to raise troops to suppress
Bacon's Rebellion. The home of Henry Reade nearby was a hospital for Berkeley's defeated forces.
On May 30, 1814, the British admiral, Cockburn, landed on Pungoteague Creek with 500 marines and fought the Eastern Shore militia under Major Finney. Cockburn, fearing capture, retired to Tangier Island.
Right from Pungoteague 0.3 m. on State 178 to St. George's Church (open 10 to 5), a simple rectangular brick building that is the remnant of an elaborate structure erected in the 18th century. It had three wings rounded on the inside, suggesting the local name “Ace of Clubs Church.” During the Civil War it was used by Union forces as a stable. The two transepts were so badly damaged that when the church was restored they were taken down and the bricks used to restore the part that remains.
Although the church records have been destroyed, the church preserves an early Bible and prayer book and possesses and uses on special occasions the communion service presented to Accomac Parish by Queen Anne of England.
The Reverend Thomas Teackle, sometimes facetiously referred to as “King Scarburgh's Archbishop”, was the first rector of Accomac Parish and served all the churches within the parish from 1652 to 1694. Scarburgh accused his Anglican friend of trying to poison him and steal his wife; but the evidence was insufficient to be heard in court.
PAINTER, 33.8 m. (200 pop.), is a modern railroad shipping town and supply center for truck farmers.
Left from Painter on State 182 is QUINBY, 4.6 m. (199 pop.). Right from Quinby 0.5 m., passing the post office, to Warwick, the home of Arthur Upshur who named it for his wife's native shire in England. The original brick unit, now incorporated in a story-and-a-half house, was built in 1672 as the seat of 2,000 acres of land granted to Lt. William Kendall by “Pyony, King of the Machipungoes”, for “four good coats.” Kendall's wife, Rachel, was bitten by a fox near the well and developed hydrophobia. She is supposed, according to one story, to have been smothered between two feather beds to save her from the agonizing death of rabies, for which there was then no prophylactic. In all probability, as one version of the story admits, she was not purposely smothered. It was a custom in early times to place violent patients between two feather beds to hold them without injury. The blood from her wound, according to a superstition, reappears annually on the well stone, now used as a doorstep. The house is at present (1936) the home of Mrs. Martensen, daughter of Anna Held, the French actress.
At 36.8 m. is a junction with State 181.
Right on State 181 to the junction with State 178, 0.7 m.; R. on State 178 to an intersection with Co. 613, 2.7 m.; L. on Co. 613 to a junction with Co. 611, 5.3 m.; L. on Co. 611 to Hedra Cottage, 6.1 m., a double house on the north bank of Occahannock Creek. This was the seat, successively, of three Col. Edmund Scarburghs — father, son, and grandson. Hedra Cottage may have been the “Occahannock House” from which the second Col. Edmund Scarburgh fled about 1653 when charges of piracy and debt had been lodged against him.
EXMORE, 38.1 m. (37 alt., 700 pop.), is an important shipping point on the peninsula.
Left from Exmore on State 183 is WILLIS WHARF (467 pop.), 1.5 m. (boats to Hog Island), one of the largest sea-food packing and shipping points on the Eastern Shore. Cargoes of iced sea food are sent by water from here to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, while other shipments are made by rail from Exmore. Fertilizer is manufactured here from fish unsuited for market. Oyster shells from the shucking plants are used in making lime, and are also ground for road surfacing and agricultural uses. Willis Wharf is typical of the fishing communities on the peninsula but has had greater commercial development. Just off the main street, in the center of the village, is (R) the white-painted story-and-a-half farmhouse of the Willis homestead, upon whose acres the village was built.
Southeast of Willis Wharf 8 m., across Hog Island Bay, is Hog Island, a narrow strip of land, the east side of which has a 9-mile beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The island has a fishing community of about 300 people. Isolated, except for boat connections with Willis Wharf, the island people, like those on Chincoteague, Saxis, and Tangier Islands, have retained many of the customs of their forefathers. Hog Island is one of the few places in Virginia and the country where gasoline is sold legally without a State tax. Because the beaches are used as roads, nature has eliminated the expense of road building, for which the tax is collected elsewhere.
NASSAWADOX, 42.4 m. (1,000 pop.), is believed to have been settled by Quakers in 1657. William Robinson, a Quaker, entered the Colony about 1656 and was promptly arrested on the complaint of the Anglican churchmen. He was eventually released and was able to aid fellow Quakers to escape the vengeance of the Established Church, pretending to help them leave the Colony. Actually he landed the dissenters on Nassawadox Creek, west of the present Nassawadox, where Levin Denwood provided them with a log-cabin meeting house. Quakers were ruthlessly prosecuted until 1699 when the Virginia Assembly passed an act of toleration in keeping with the British Act of 1688-9. About that time George Brickhouse willed the Friends an acre of land around the meeting house, and Mrs. Judith Patrick bequeathed them 30 shillings for repairing the building. The Quakers were never very cordially treated; most of those who attempted to settle there later moved to Maryland or Pennsylvania.
Left from Nassawadox on Co. 608 is Brownsville, 1.4 m., a stately brick home built on the site of an Indian village. The present structure, built in 1806, is the third on the site. The second house, moved to make way for the new one, is used by tenants. The land was granted in 1635 to John Brown, a friend of William Penn, for the establishment of a Quaker meeting house, an undertaking in which he does not seem to have been successful. Though Quakers, the family was well
received and eventually intermarried with established families, notably the Upshurs.
At 45.6 m. is the small settlement of BIRDSNEST.
Right from Birdsnest on Co. 620 to Co. 618, 0.7 m.; R. to Co. 619, 1.6 m.; L. on Co. 619 to Hungar's Church (R), 3 m., in the fork at the junction with Co. 622. The ivy-covered bricks of the walls of this rectangular structure, which was built in 1751 to replace an earlier frame church, are laid in Flemish bond and have weathered to soft pink and dull blue. The lines of the building are so simple that the effect would be severe had the architect been less skillful. Twin entrances and a long central window, placed above and between the doors, are similar in form and detail, creating a striking motif; the arched doorways with raised panel doors and traceried semi-circular transoms are sharply accented by white key and impost blocks. There are four long, small-paned windows along each side with louvred shutters divided into upper and lower leaves. The roof, with its wide overhang at the gable ends and notched barge boards, is, no doubt, a replacement.
After the Revolution, which caused many of the clergy of the Church of England to leave the country and resulted in the disestablishment of the Church, public indifference and hostility were such that this church, like many others, suffered heavily from depredations. The organ, it is said, was dismantled, the pipes being melted down for the manufacture of weights for fishing nets. When the building was restored in 1850, the wall at one end, which had been demolished, was re-erected some distance behind the former one, shortening the church. The vestments presented to the parish by Queen Anne are preserved in the clerk's office at Eastville.
The two parishes of Northampton County were combined on April 21, 1691, because this county, “one of the smallest in the colony, doth consist of a small number of tithables, and is divided into two parishes, by reason whereof the inhabitants . . . are soe burdened that they are not able to maintain a minister in each . . .” Reverend William Cotton, a relative of Cotton Mather of New England, was the second rector of Hungar's parish.
At 4.3 m. on Co. 619 is a triangular junction; R. here 0.7 m. on a marked road to Chatham (R), built by Maj. Scarborough Pitts about 1820. The brick mansion is of simple Georgian design, with a small colonnaded porch.
On Co. 619 is Glebe, 5.7 m. (R), a steep-roofed, story-and-a-half brick cottage with oddly irregular gable windows, built in 1745 on property given to Hungar's Parish through the will of Stephen Charlton, a vestry-man of Hungar's Parish, who had been a Massachusetts Puritan. He helped to protect the peninsula against the Indian uprising of 1644, which resulted in a ghastly massacre on the mainland. When Charlton died, he left one-third of his large farm to his widow, one-third to his daughter Bridget, and one-third to his daughter Elizabeth, with the provision that if the daughters died without issue the estate should go to Hungar's Parish. Elizabeth Charlton, at the age of 12 married a man named Getterings, and died soon afterward. The widower attempted to break the will, claiming the estate for himself, but without success, the interests of the parish being defended by Edmund Scarburgh. The older daughter, Bridget, married
ENTRANCE OF BOWMAN'S FOLLY, VirginiaA TANGIER ISLAND SCOOTER
HUNGAR'S CHURCH, Virginia
VAUCLOSE, Virginia
Captain Foxcroft and lived to an old age. When she died without heirs the entire estate went to the parish and remained church property till 1840.
In 1745 the vestry asked the General Assembly for permission to sell 87 acres of land in order to invest the money from the sale in slaves to work the 1,600-acre Charlton plantation. The General Assembly granted the authority and also enacted: “That the vestry of the said parish of Hungars, for the time being, shall be, and are hereby impowered and required, to build, upon the said sixteen hundred acres of land, such glebe house, and other necessary houses and conveniences, upon the same, for the use of the minister or incumbent of the said parish, as are and ought by law to be built and made upon glebe lands, any law, custom, or usage, to the contrary, notwithstanding.”
Vaucluse, 3.3 m., is a long white clapboarded structure with brick gabled ends, a long ell, and two pedimented entrance porches; it was built about 1784 by Littleton Upshur, son of Arthur Upshur IV of Warwick, and father of Abel P. Upshur. On the lawn are unusually large pecan trees. Vaucluse was for many years the home of Abel Parker Upshur, judge of the General Court of Virginia, Secretary of the Navy from 1841 to 1843, and U. S. Secretary of State in 1843-4, having been appointed to complete Daniel Webster's unexpired term. Upshur and two others were killed when a gun exploded aboard the Princeton while they and others were inspecting the vessels with President Tyler. Tyler narrowly escaped death.
At 51.3 m. is a junction with Co. 630.
Left on this road is Kendall Grove, 1.5 m., home of the Kendalls; it was built in 1796 on the site of an earlier house built by Col. William Kendall, who participated in Bacon's Rebellion, but was punished only with a fine.
Disgusted with Berkeley's slaughter of the participants in the rebellion, the King had sent three commissioners to Virginia with a proclamation authorizing pardoning of all rebels who would take the oath of obedience and give security for their good behavior. Colonel Kendall appeared before the court held at Berkeley's home, Green Spring, March 3, 1677, and took the prescribed oath. According to the records he himself suggested the fine. “Itt being evident that Coll. Wm. Kandall hath uttered divers scandalous and mutinous words tending to the dishonor of the right honourable the governor; but that said Coll. Kendall submitting himselfe, and offering fifty pounds sterling as a fine for his soe great crime; and the right honourable governour desiring the court to pass the same into order, they have therefore thought fit and doe order that he pay the said somme upon demand to the right honourable the governour, which he willingly submits to, and hath accordingly performed the same.”
The curving collonade, 60 feet long, which links the main body of the huge white frame house to the service wing, is notable. Also of interest is the cornice, the carving of which required a year's work. The stars on it are symbolic of the new Republic.
At 51.8 m. is a junction with Co. 630.
Right on this road 2.8 m. to HUNGAR'S WHARF at the mouth of Mattawoman Creek. This creek provided a harbor for the ships of John Kendall, a
trader with the West Indies. On one of these ships, Stephen Girard, who was to become the Philadelphia financier and philanthropist, came to this country as a cabin boy. Kendall's home, called Wilsonia, was in the neighborhood; the house has been destroyed. Tradition has it that Girard worked on the Kendall boats for a number of years. When his boat was at this end of the trip, Girard played cards with his employer so successfully that his winnings became the basis of his fortune. Kendall lost all his holdings, including his home. Girard did not dispossess his former employer but sold the property. The new owner instituted proceedings to force the Kendalls to leave. Two of Kendall's daughters confronted the sheriff with a goose gun every time he came to serve the papers. Possession of the home was finally gained while the family was visiting a neighbor's home. Girard was born in France on May 24, 1750, and died in Philadelphia on December 26, 1831. He founded Girard College; by his direction “no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatever” is allowed to “hold or exercise any station or duty” in the college, or is permitted on the premises as a visitor.
EASTVILLE, 52.8 m. (37 alt., 387 pop.), a prosperous village that is the trade center for many farmers, is the seat of Northampton County. Christ Church (R) was built about 1826 to replace the Magathy Bay Church. The communion service was given to the congregation in 1741 by John Custis IV.
Adjoining the church grounds S. is Covington (or Coventon), a home occupied by Federal troops during the Civil War. The soldiers’ names, carved on the bedroom doors, are still legible.
In the center of the village on a square is the delightful little Northampton County Courthouse, erected in 1799 and containing continuous court records from 1632 to the present, the longest series in the country. The small brick story-and-a-half structure with steep-pitched roof, stands on a high brick foundation; the slightly recessed, arched entrance, framed with brickwork, occupies a third of the façade, quite dwarfing the three windows that flank and top it. The eight-paneled door is surmounted by a fanlight and flanked by slender columns and sidelights. The first county courthouse was built in 1664 at Town's Field; the seat was transferred to this town in 1680. When the present courthouse — the fifth — was built, the Fourth Courthouse (R), erected in 1731, was leased to a Mr. Nottingham for $1 a year, the lease to run as long as the new roof, which he put on, should last. Mr. Nottingham soaked his shingles in linseed oil, causing the lease to run well into the present century, to the benefit of his heirs.
In 1632 the citizens of Accawmacke, as well as those of the other “remote parts” who had previously been inconvenienced by the irregularity
of the commissioner's courts, were allowed to have county courts monthly to try civil cases not involving more than one hundred pounds of tobacco and criminal cases not involving jeopardy of life and limb. They were no longer to send all court records to Jamestown but were to make, retain, and preserve their own records. The power of the court was invested in a command and commissioners, who were also “to doe and execute whatever a Justice of the Peace . . . may doe.” Later the jurisdiction of the local courts was expanded to include cases involving larger amounts and in 1661 the number of commissioners was set at eight. Records of an examination by a jury of inquest in 1656 reveal a verdict based on the “ordeal of touch”, a medieval test in which the accused was made to touch the body of the murdered person. The dead man's wounds were supposed to bleed afresh if touched by his murderer. William Custis, suspected of murdering Paul Rynners, was cleared when the jury announced: “We have viewed the body of Paul Rynnuse . . . and have caused Wm. Custis to touch the face and stroke the body of the said Paul Rynnuse which he willingly did. But no sign did appear unto us of question in the law.”
Taylor Tavern, now called Eastville Inn, (R) S. of the court-house, has been a public house since pre-Revolutionary times. It has been remodeled and enlarged.
Left from the courthouse square in Eastville on State 185 to Ingleside, 0.5 m. (R), a brick house painted cream-yellow with frame wings of the same color, the birthplace of Francis Hopkinson Smith, author, artist, and engineer. The wallpaper of the lower hall, showing Egyptian scenes, was hung when the house was built about 1810.
At 0.8 m. State 185 becomes Co. 631; on Co. 631 is Pocahontas Farm, 1.2 m., site of the main village of the Gingaskin Indians, one of the largest tribes on the Eastern Shore. Survivors of the tribe were found in the neighborhood as late as 1860.
The house now standing on the farm is said to have been built in 1816 by one John Segar. During the Civil War Federal General Lockwood, having established his headquarters here, shipped the library of some 20,000 volumes to Old Point Comfort for safekeeping. At the close of the war General Butler made an inventory of the books and returned the collection to its owner. Not a volume, it is said, was lost or injured.
At 2.5 m. on Co. 631 is Linden, a plain story-and-a-half brick house that is probably 250 years old.
Cessford (R), at the southern edge of Eastville, is an imposing brick mansion, two and a half stories high, with a service wing. It
was built in 1815 by Dr. John Kerr and named for the seat of the Scottish clan of Kerr. During the Civil War it was occupied by General Lockwood, in charge of the army of occupation. An order, now hanging on a wall of the house, and signed by Abraham Lincoln, instructs the soldiers to leave the house in the condition in which they found it.
At 53.2 m. is a junction with Co. 634.
Right on this road 1.5 m. to a private dirt road leading (L) to Old Castle, built reputedly by John Stratton, who gave aid to Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion, and turned over to the Governor one of his vessels, which was later wrecked.
Directly opposite is Elkington, built about 1800 by a member of the Savage family. It is named for Ann Elkington, first wife of Capt. John Savage, Burgess for Northampton 1666-67. The home has fine early furnishings. The old wallpaper, depicting a stag hunt, has been retouched with water colors. The house is a curiosity because of its many additions and penthouses on various levels.
White Cliff, 2.5 m. on Co. 634, was built shortly after the Revolution by the Wilkins family. The white frame house, with its massive central unit and rambling wings, is remarkably well preserved; large windows, unusual at the time of construction, hand-carved mantels, and woodwork are notable features.
On a promontory W. of this point stood the home of Thomas Savage, one of the first white settlers on the Eastern Shore. In 1608, when only thirteen, Savage came to Virginia with the Christopher Newport expedition. The same year he was given to Powhatan by Captain Newport in exchange for Namotacke, an Indian youth.
Powhatan became so fond of young Savage — whom he called “Newport” — that Powhatan's brother, Opechancanough, became jealous; so Powhatan sent Savage to live with Debedeavon, the chief of the Eastern Shore Indians. In 1633 “King” Debedeavon said that he “had given that neck of land from Wissaponson Creek to Hungar's Creek” to Gov. George Yeardley, and the “south side of Wissaponson to his son, Thomas Newport”. This was the seat of the Savage family through many generations. John Savage, who married Ann Elkington, was the son of Thomas Savage. Savage having learned the Indian language, was able to render the Colony much service as an interpreter. On one occasion, after he became a resident of the Eastern Shore, he was sent to Opechancanough's village, now West Point, to effect the release of a captive, and, when some difficulty arose, he and three others offered to fight 13 of the Indians at once; the Indians declined the invitation.
“King” Debedeavon resided near this place and thus was described by Captain John Smith on the occasion of the latter's exploration of the Eastern Shore in 1608: “this King was the comliest, most proper, civill Salvage we incountered.”
Hannah Tyng, who became Thomas Savage's wife, was given a grant of 50 acres by the Colony for having defrayed her own expenses from England.
At 54.5 m. is a junction with an unmarked side road.
Right on this road is Eyreville, 1.5 m., a country manor house, originally
named Newport for Sir Christopher Newport. The construction of the large brick house required 10 years; the place was lost and won three times in gambling by Severn Eyre, one of its owners. The dates 1798, 1800, and 1803 are on the chimney bricks.
At 55.9 m. is Cobb's Station crossroads.
Right on a dirt road is Eyre Hall, 1.5 m., another home of the gambling Severn Eyre. The large clapboarded structure, with numerous wings and a Dutch roof, was built in 1804. This was the center of the Eyre estate, which extended across the peninsula between the bay and the ocean. The old wallpaper, depicting scenes from Lalla Rookh, is well preserved.
At 57.6 m. is a junction with Co. 639. Near the junction is one of the largest canneries on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Right on Co. 639 to a junction with Co. 640, 0.9 m.; L. on Co. 640 to Secretary's Plantation, 1.8 m., so called because it was part of public lands under the jurisdiction of the office of Secretary of the Colony, and because the central government at Jamestown, in 1620, under a special plan, sponsored a settlement on the public lands here; they called it Accawmacke Plantation. Their purpose was to have this peninsula furnish commodities, particularly salt, that could not be procured at Jamestown or in that vicinity.
The Governor and Council directed that “Mr. Pory, the Secretary, and his successors in that place (office) should have five hundred acres of land belonging to that Office,” that “twenty Tenants” should be “planted thereupon, whereof Tenn” should be sent then and “Tenn the next yeare”; and that “the Secretary then, from henceforward, should receive no fees for himself,” because he was to have the quitrents and the purchase price from any land sold.
The persistent notion of the central government, from the beginning, was that settlements should be in towns, and they were satisfied to have only one town in a large area; but the Virginia colonists wanted to be independent, each on his own acres and having his own waterfront.
Later, in order to encourage the residents to live in the settlement of Accawmacke Plantation and not spread out, the “tenants” were actually paid to continue to live here. “Certain fees were allowed for the employment and maintenance of tenants at Accawmack,” say the records.
At 58.2 m. is a junction with State 186.
Left on this road to Stratton Manor, 0.5 m. (R), set back in a grove of trees. This excellent example of an early story-and-a-half brick-end house, built in 1694 by Benjamin Stratton, has unusually broad outside chimneys. The house was restored in 1764.
At 4.4 m. on State 186 is a junction with Co. 645; R. on this road 0.9 m. to junction with Co. 644; R. at the fork on Co. 644, a dirt road, to the Custis Tomb, 2.5 m. The tomb (R) is in a small enclosure that was once part of Arlington; a house was built here by John Custis II prior to 1660. No part of the house remains, and the site is in question. Arlington estate near Washington, D. C., was built by George Washington Parke Custis, who named it for his ancestor's home
here. Berkeley sought refuge during Bacon's Rebellion at the original Arlington. From this house the governor launched his surprise attack on Bland and Carver, two of Bacon's adherents sent to capture Berkeley. Col. Philip Ludwell, a loyalist, with the aid of Captain Larramore, who betrayed Bland, seized the two rebels and their boats. Berkeley promptly hanged Carver and later, when he was again in power, executed the popular and powerful Bland.
The Eastern Shore played a negative part in Bacon's Rebellion. Although in June 1676 the people of the peninsula had prepared the Northampton Grievances, which, with the exception of one clause, were ignored by the Jamestown government, the majority remained passively loyal to Sir William Berkeley, the Royal Governor, throughout the rebellion that followed. Most of the people, having had no trouble with the Indians for many years, were not interested in Bacon's cause and could not appreciate the feelings of the settlers on the western mainland, who were constantly in fear of the Indians and wanted better governmental protection. Moreover, by virtue of their position on the peninsula they were able to evade the navigation laws that bore so heavily on the rest of Virginia.
The tombs of John Custis II and John Custis IV are in the enclosure. That of John Custis IV bears this inscription:
“Under this Marble Tomb lies ye Body of the Honorable John Custis Esqr. of the City of Williamsburg and Parish of Bruton Formerly of Hungars Parish and the Eastern Shore of Virginia and County of Northampton the Place of his Nativity Aged 71 years and Yet liv'd but Seven Years which was the space of time He kept a Batchelers house at Arlington on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.”
This epitaph, written by Custis, was the result of a bitter quarrel with his wife, Frances, the daughter of Daniel Parke, Governor of the Leeward Islands. Young John had been the gay blade of Virginia, and his lady the reigning belle. After their marriage these self-willed people found it impossible to get along together; since an open break was impossible they chose to address each other only through a slave, Pompey, who would stand before them repeating each sentence they uttered. Then, one day, Colonel John sent an invitation through the servant for his wife to take the air in his carriage. She accepted the invitation. Her husband helped her to her seat without speaking and then silently turned the carriage and drove straight ahead into the bay. Mrs. Custis restrained her desires to question and protest until the water was above the floorboards; then, no intermediary being present, she addressed him directly: “Where are you going, Colonel Custis?” “To hell, madam,” he replied. “Then drive on,” she answered. “Any place is preferable to Arlington.”
He then turned his carriage around and drove home. Glancing at his wife, he remarked, “Madam, I don't think you'd be afraid of the devil himself.” “No, John, I've lived with you too long,” murmured his lady.
This incident apparently cleared the air because after signing an agreement in court settling property differences, the two came to a better understanding and
had several children. But Colonel John had the last word; he ordered it inscribed on his tombstone.
On Co. 644 near the Custis tombs is the Site of Magothy (pronounced Magotty) Bay Church, the second built on the Eastern Shore. The Reverend William Cotton was the rector in 1637, a date established by a court record made when three men testified that they “heard Henry Charlton saye that if he had Wm. Cotton (the minister) without the church yeard, he would have kickt him over the pallysadoes, calling of him, black catted (coated) raskall.” Cotton, though in charge of an Anglican church, was puritanical in his ideas, and not popular among these Cavalier settlers.
South of the junction with Co. 645, at 11.2 m. on State 186, is Kiptopeke, with a large modern clapboarded house. Kiptopeke is the former Hallet Plantation, owned by Commander Hallet, who brought mahogany trees from Central America, planting them here and distributing them among his friends. These trees are still seen on various grounds throughout the lower part of the peninsula.
East of the tip of the peninsula is SMITH ISLAND. Capt. John Smith in June 1608 left the Jamestown settlement to explore Chesapeake Bay. He touched this island, which was “called Smith Island after our Captaines name”, and at Cape Charles met two Indians who directed him to “Accahawacke,” home of their chief. He was hospitably received and then cruised along the bay shore to the Pocomoke River. This was not the first recorded visit to the Eastern Shore by white men. The Italian navigator, Giovanni da Verrazzano, sent by Francis I of France to seek a passage to the Pacific, landed in 1524 on the coast of North Carolina, then proceeded northward, passed the Virginia Capes without noticing them, landed on the Eastern Shore peninsula, sailed northward, and entered the Hudson and later the Penobscot in a futile search for the passage.
The second known visitor to the Eastern Shore, Bartholomew Gilbert, son of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, landed here in July 1602 after visiting New England. Gilbert was killed, but his company reached England. Another visitor of about the same year seems to have been Bartholomew Gosnold.
Capt. Samuel Argall visited the Eastern Shore in 1613; and the next year Governor Dale sent 20 men, under Lieutenant Craddock, to this peninsula to make salt by boiling down the sea water, and to catch fish for the people on the mainland. They settled along what is now called Old Plantation Creek, and at a place they called “Dale's Gift.” They established the salt works on Smith Island.
The task assigned to the first salt makers was not envied, their residence, on the far-away peninsula, being looked on as the equivalent of exile. But they found that in the sandy soil corn, vegetables, and many varieties of fruit would grow in abundance; that fish and shell-fish of every sort abounded in the ocean, bay, and inlets; that wild fowl, of many kinds — from wild geese to the tiny teal — swarmed in the marshes along the coast; that game, furred and feathered, could be had for the shooting; that the climate, made residence here delightful; and that the Indians, unlike those on the mainland, were friendly. The exiles, pitied at first, were soon envied by the James River settlers.
CAPE CHARLES, 60.6 m. (8 alt., 2,527 pop.) is the railroad terminal and the largest town on the Virginia part of the peninsula
(Chesapeake Co. ferries to Norfolk via Old Point Comfort, cars $3-$4; passengers 75¢; Virginia Co. ferries to Little Creek, cars $2.50-$3, passengers 75¢). Although north of the cape, the town is named for Cape Charles.
When Federal troops were landed here during the Civil War the men of Northampton, thinking there was to be a battle, armed themselves with axes, hatchets, fowling pieces, and pitchforks, only to find that no fighting was contemplated. This false alarm has been called the Battle of Three Ponds. Early in the war the area was occupied by Federal forces, President Lincoln and his Cabinet fearing that the Confederacy might use the peninsula for a base as the British, during the War of 1812, had used Tangier Island in capturing Alexandria and Washington. Though Brig. Gen. H. H. Lockwood, who commanded the Federal forces on the Eastern Shore, established friendly relations with the civilian population, the people of Accomac and Northampton Counties were Confederate sympathizers; those men who enlisted joined the Confederate forces.
Leaving Cape Charles, the Chesapeake Company ferry swings into the Chesapeake Bay and heads SW. The Cape Charles City Harbor is revealed as a small indentation in the shoreline protected on the N. by a riprap breakwater; the shore of the lower tip of the peninsula (L) appears as an unbroken line of white sand beach backed by blue-green pines.
Always present in the harbor are tugs that haul barges loaded with railroad cars between the railroad terminals here and those at Norfolk.
The Jamestown colonists, who sailed into the Chesapeake in three small boats under Capt. Christopher Newport, on April 26, 1607, named the lower tip of the Eastern Shore (L) Cape Charles, and the point of land (R) on the other side of the bay, where they went ashore, Cape Henry, for the two princes of the House of Stuart.
The northern channel into the bay is close to Cape Charles. Separating this entrance from the southern channel is a bar normally under the surface of the water. At times, according to the tide and wind, the waves break in surf over the shallow area.
The Norfolk ferry makes a short stop (visitors may alight and continue to Norfolk on the next ferry) at OLD POINT COMFORT (see VA. GUIDE). Here is FORT MONROE, constructed between 1819 and 1841. During the Civil War it was used as a prison by the Federal forces. Here, after the war, Jefferson Davis was imprisoned.
Behind the fort are barracks of a U. S. Army coast artillery post.
After leaving Old Point Comfort, the ferry continues across Hampton Roads, one of the world's finest harbors. Up the shore from Old Point Comfort is (R) an unbroken line of houses comprising the towns of PHOEBUS and HAMPTON and the city of NEWPORT NEWS (see VA. GUIDE), which merge into an almost continuous city.
In Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, was fought the first battle between two iron-clads — the Monitor and the Merrimac. The latter — a former Federal vessel that the Confederates had raised, converted into an iron-clad, and renamed Virginia — had sunk the Federal vessels Congress and Cumberland on the preceding day at the mouth of the James River. On March 9th the Merrimac-Virginia, commanded by Catesby ap R. Jones approached the Federal's Minnesota beside which the Monitor, commanded by Lieut. John L. Worden, had anchored during the night. In the ensuing battle the Minnesota was set on fire; but after three hours of heavy bombardment, during which neither of the iron-clads could gain a victory, the Merrimac left Norfolk and the Monitor returned to Fort Monroe.
Fort Wool is on an island constructed of rock in the center of the harbor (L). This site was once the dumping place for ships’ ballast. The first fort was originally called Ripraps (a name still often used), and later Fort Calhoun. During the Civil War prisoners were confined in the fort. Robert E. Lee, as a second lieutenant and an assistant to Capt. Andres Talcott, aided in building the fort in 1834. After the Civil War it was named Fort Wool for the Union general, John Ellis Wool, who captured Norfolk in the early part of the war. During the World War submarine nets were stretched across the harbor from this point.
Across Hampton Roads the point of land (L) is WILLOUGHBY SPIT, where ferries running between Old Point Comfort and Norfolk land. At Willoughby is a cottage settlement of waterfront homes. The United States Naval Operating Base, just beyond Willoughby Spit, is one of the principal defense units on the Atlantic coast; it covers 821 acres of land. The Grain Elevator and Deep Water Terminal, built by the city of Norfolk and leased to the Norfolk & Western Railroad, are next to the Navy station; nearby is a Standard Oil Company Storage Base.
The large piers beyond are the Norfolk Tidewater Terminals,
a part of the plant built during the World War as an Army supply base at a cost of $40,000,000. The terminal is used by large vessels. On CRANEY ISLAND (R) is a fortification that played an important part in the defense of Norfolk during the War of 1812. After the Civil War ammunition was stored there; later it became a quarantine station. In 1919 the island was enlarged from 17 to 320 acres with material pumped from the harbor channel. The quarantine station was maintained, and a part of the island was leased to the U. S. Shipping Board as a site for oil storage tanks. The tanks, 20 of 55,000-gallon capacity each, are leased for bulk storage of liquids, principally molasses.
The Coal Piers (L) of the Norfolk & Western R.R. are also export merchandise piers. The Deep Water Terminals (R) are used by the Southern and Atlantic Coast Line R.Rs. FORT Norfolk (L) dates from the Revolutionary War, but is now obsolete. The Cape Charles ferry berths between the Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Co. Piers and the Norfolk Warehouse Corporation Piers, the latter used for storing cotton.
The ferries of the Virginia Ferry Corporation operate between Cape Charles and Little Creek, landing at a ferry slip adjoining railroad freight tracks.
Section 6. Norfolk to North Carolina Line, 21.6 m. US 17
Norfolk, 0 m. (11-12 alt., 129,710 pop.) (see VA. GUIDE).
Railroad Stations. Southern Ry., foot of Jackson St.; Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. and Pennsylvania R.R., ferry at foot of Brooke Ave.; Seaboard Air Line Ry., ferry at foot of Commercial Place; Norfolk & Western Ry., Virginian Ry., and Norfolk & Southern R.R., Union Station, 1200 E. Main St.
Accommodations. All types.
Points of Interest. St. Paul's Church, Milhado House, Sams House, Museum of Arts and Science, Myers House, and others.
Straight ahead from the ferry landing on Brooke Ave. to Granby St.; R. on Granby to Main St.; L. on Main to Commercial Pl.; R. to Norfolk-Portsmouth Ferry, 0.6 m.
An alternate route avoiding the ferry to Portsmouth is on Brooke Ave.; R. on Boush St.; L. on City Hall Ave.; L. on Church to Brambleton Ave.; R. on Brambleton which becomes US 460; straight ahead on US 460 to its junction with US 17.
PORTSMOUTH, 1 m. (11-12 alt., 45,704 pop.) (see VA. GUIDE).
Points of Interest. Navy Yard, Marine Barracks, Naval Hospital, and others.
From the Portsmouth side of the Norfolk-Portsmouth ferry straight ahead on High St. to Elm St., 2 m.; L. on this street to the junction with US 17 (L).
From the urban district of Portsmouth US 17 goes through a truck-farm region.
DEEP CREEK, 7.4 m., is a small settlement on the edge of the DISMAL SWAMP area. The town flourished when it was a stage-coach stop on the road between Norfolk and Elizabeth City, N. C., and the principal shipping point for the vast Dismal Swamp lumbering enterprises.
The Dismal Swamp is a 750-square-mile wilderness of swampland covered with trees and other vegetation. Through the centuries trees have fallen and, with other plants, have formed a tangled layer in a mass of organic material. The wood of these trees, though not easily obtained, makes unusually fine shingles. The mass in which the logs are buried is reaching the peat stage. Forest fires, in the swamp, burning the soil to the depth of several feet, frequently continue for weeks. This mass has raised the surface of the swamp to a higher point near the center.
The Dismal Swamp was described by Col. William Byrd of Virginia, a member of the expedition that in 1728 surveyed the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina. In his History of the Dividing Line Byrd wrote; “Since the surveyors had enter'd the Dismal, they had laid eyes on no living creature; neither bird nor beast, insect nor reptile came in view. Doubtless, the eternal shade that broods over this mighty bog, and hinders the sunbeams from blessing the ground, makes it an uncomfortable habitation for anything that has life. Not so much as a Zealand frog cou'd endure so aguish a situation. It had one beauty, however, that delighted the eye, tho’ at the expense of all other senses: the moisture of the soil preserves a continual verdure, and makes every plant an evergreen, but at the same time the foul damps ascend without ceasing, corrupt the air, and render it unfit for respiration. Not even a turkey-buzzard will venture to fly over it.”
In the village of Deep Creek, the DISMAL SWAMP CANAL is
crossed. This canal, extending from the southern branch of the Elizabeth River to the sounds of eastern North Carolina, was built to afford transportation between Norfolk and Elizabeth City, N. C., and also as a shipping route for lumber from the swamp. A company to cut the canal was chartered by Virginia and North Carolina; the U. S. Government was a stockholder, and George Washington and Patrick Henry subscribed to the enterprise. The canal was eventually constructed by private subscription. Although the first boat passed through the canal in 1822, the canal was not completed until 1828.
Between Deep Creek, a tidal branch of the Elizabeth River, and the waters of the canal are locks, necessary because of the difference between the levels of the swamp area and the sea. The canal water is amber-colored; it is impregnated with organic matter from the multitude of juniper logs buried in the swamp for centuries. In years past, before the development of refrigeration on boats, the water of the swamp was highly valued for drinking purposes on ships, because it remained fresh for a long time.
South of Deep Creek the highway parallels the canal (L), which skirts the eastern edge of the swamp. At intervals are farms on reclaimed ground.
The Old Stone House, now a tea-room, at 18 m., was built about a century ago as the home of the superintendent of the locks of the canal. The post office here, called WALLACETOWN, was named for William Wallace, who was a superintendent of the locks. During two generations the house served as commissary for the lumber trade of the swamp.
At ARBUCKLE'S LANDING, 19.8 m. (boats equipped with out-board motors and guides to Lake Drummond available here and in the neighborhood; $1 per person, $3 minimum), the Feeder Ditch (R) enters the canal. Across the canal, near the feeder ditch mouth, is the U. S. Engineers Station for the administration of the Government-controlled sections of the swamp.
Right along the ditch, which is about 15 feet wide and at right angles to the canal, in the heart of Dismal Swamp, to the locks of LAKE DRUMMOND, 3 m., named for William Drummond, first Governor of North Carolina, who was hanged in 1677 by Berkeley for his share in Bacon's Rebellion; Drummond was said to have discovered the lake while on a hunting trip.
The forest growth of juniper, cypress, gum, maple, poplar, ash, and oak is dense and continuous along the ditch; the undergrowth is filled with flowering water plants. The lake is on top of this elevation, much like the bottom of an
inverted saucer. It has an altitude of 22 feet, while the outer edges of the swamp are but a few feet above sea level. On an exploration trip in the swamp George Washington noticed that water ran continually from the lake, despite the fact that it had no inlets. Water is thought to enter the lake from the bottom and to rise because of the downward pressure of the matted swamp deposit.
The lake is five miles long, rimmed with stumps of giant trees, and surrounded by a thick forest. Its clear waters resemble brown ink.
Many kinds of game — including bear, wildcat, and smaller animals — are available in season to hunters. Fresh-water fish in fair quantities are in the lake and other waters of the swamp. Both hunting and fishing are subject to regulations of the Federal Government, which controls the greater part of the area.
The swamp, a place of mystery, has inspired many legends. Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, visited the area in 1803 and wrote The Lake of the Dismal Swamp, a poem based on the local legend of a young man who became mentally deranged when his sweetheart died, and who imagined she was not dead but in the swamp. The poem describes his wanderings in search of the sweetheart who had
“. . . gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp,Where all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,She paddles her white canoe.”The highway runs beside the canal with a continuous view of the jungle-like growth of the swamp (R). US 17 crosses the North Carolina Line at 21.6 m.
NORTH CAROLINA
Virginia Line — Elizabeth City — Edenton — Williamston — Washington — New Bern — Wilmington — South Carolina Line, 285 m. US 17.
Norfolk Southern R.R. roughly parallels route between Virginia Line and Edenton, and closely between Washington and New Bern; Atlantic Coast Line R.R. parallels route between New Bern and Wilmington.
Paved roadbed; hotels in cities and larger towns; tourist accommodations between towns, infrequent.
Section 7. Virginia Line to Williamstown, 87 m. US 17
Running through the ancient Albemarle region, US 17 winds between level stretches of truck farms, penetrates dense swamps, and skirts the great indentations of coastal sounds and broad estuaries. The country is a favorite resort of hunters.
It was developed under the Lords Proprietors (1663-1729) and the English Crown (1729-76). One of the terrors of Colonial days was the raids by pirates who found the remote lands along the sounds and rivers afforded them many refuges.
For a long period the counties north of Albemarle Sound were referred to as the Lost Provinces because of the difficulty of communicating with them. Members of the Legislature from the extreme eastern county of Dare had to take a long and tedious journey in order to reach the State capital, crossing no less than three toll bridges. There were no hard-surfaced highways in the entire section until 1920; the first was a nine-foot brick pavement between Elizabeth City and the farm community of Weeksville. To open up the isolated sections, the State has purchased the toll bridges, abolishing the charges, and has built a network of modern highways tied together across the numerous inland waters by bridges, causeways, and ferries.
Most of the people of Albemarle take pride in their descent from the early settlers, many tracing their American ancestry back to the 17th century. Some of the towns give the impression that their people live largely in the past; other communities are frankly new and modern, concerned with little more than the busy and absorbing present.
Where there are no incorporated towns, local affairs are under control of the county officials, and the county seats are the centers of trade and culture.
In North Carolina, as in Virginia, US 17 runs through the Great Dismal Swamp, which covers parts of Currituck, Camden, Pasquotank, and Gates Counties. Game is still plentiful in the swamp, especially in the almost inaccessible Coldwater Ditch section, where bear, deer, opossum, and raccoon are found. The swamp is also a haven for many kinds of birds, among them the rare ivory-billed woodpecker. In summer, the canal bank by the highway is a mass of honey-suckle, reeds, and myrtle, with scarlet trumpet flowers here and there.
Fire and ax have made ruthless attacks on the Great Dismal Swamp without materially altering it, and, though many of its acres have been claimed for farm lands, what remains is still for the most part a wilderness. Lumber companies own most of the present swamp area, maintaining a number of sawmills along the borders.
It has immense areas of inferior hardwood that are as worthless as the acres of scorched standing timber. In scattered clearings are beds of peat that have in some places burned down to a depth of eight or ten feet. After a fire in 1923 had destroyed 150 square miles of timber in the swamp, peat land continued to burn until 1926. Lightning, the spark from a log train, or the carelessness of a smoker, can start a fire that will burn for months.
Despite the stories of the unhealthfulness of the area, early travelers reported that slaves, cutting shingles and living in the swamp, had good health. Runaways often took refuge here, earning food by working in the lumber camps, whose owners were willing to ignore the illegal status of the Negroes. Stories of ghosts, savages, moonshiners, and desperate fugitives, poisonous plants, and stealthy serpents, formerly kept all but the most intrepid from penetrating the swamp. Treacherous quicksands are, however, the most serious danger to the unwary explorer.
On the Virginia-North Carolina Line, 0 m., is the Site of Halfway House, about which many stories are still told. Built about 1800, half in North Carolina and half in Virginia, the house was a stagecoach stop on the route between Edenton, N. C., and Washington, D. C., where passengers took refreshments or broke their journeys and the stage secured fresh horses. It is said that there was a bar around which much gambling went on, and that the place was notorious as a dueling ground and a refuge. Fugitives from Virginia rested as contentedly on the North Carolina side as did North Carolina
fugitives on the Virginia side. An unsupported legend is that Edgar Allen Poe wrote the Raven while staying here.
SOUTH MILLS, 8 m. (8 alt., 404 pop.), derived its name from an old mill at the southern end of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal; it was formerly called Old Lebanon. A 120-foot drawbridge crosses the canal near the locks. South Mills is known as the Gretna Green of this section, because of the encouragement given to eloping couples by local justices of the peace. In the yard of one of these magistrates is an electrically-lighted sign which at night guides couples to the “marrying squire.”
Left from South Mills on State 343 to SAWYERS’ LANE BATTLEFIELD, 3 m., the scene of a skirmish fought on April 19, 1862. A body of Federals had landed at Elizabeth city and part of them, under Colonel Hawkins, had pushed forward to surprise and intercept Confederate troops who were about to leave for Norfolk, Va. The Federals’ plans were betrayed by a guide and the Confederates assailed them at this point, but were flanked, and hastily withdrew. After a gunboat drove the Southerners out of the woods along the riverbank, Hawkins made a charge; although this was repulsed, the Confederates were defeated.
At 19 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on the dirt road to the Old Brick House (open), 0.7 m., somewhat mis-named because only the end walls are brick. The bricks in the chimney at one end of the house bear the date 1700. There is a persistent tradition that this old structure on the banks of the Pasquotank River was a haunt of the pirate Blackbeard. At the foot of the steps formerly rested a circular slab of stone, probably an old mill wheel, bearing the initials “E.T.” and the date 1709; the initials were supposed to stand for Edward Thatch, or Teach, both of which are given as the pirate's real name. It is probable, however, that he did not enter this region until about 1716.
The interior formerly contained fine paneling and richly carved mantels. A wide entrance hall, paneled to the ceiling, opened into a drawing room. It is said that in this room were, formerly, closets on each side of the fireplace, leading to a mysterious passageway connecting the basement and the riverbank. Another legend about the Old Brick House declares that it was built by an Englishman of noble birth, who wished to hide his daughter from a lover whom the family considered unsuitable. The lover followed his lady, fought a duel for her, and was killed. It is asserted that there are everlasting bloodstains on the floor of the house.
The probable truth is that the house was built by the eldest son of the English Lord Murden, who sent a colony under his son to settle in the New World. Young Murden brought with him the brick, stone, carved mantel, and paneling used in the structure. The secret closets were possibly hiding places for family valuables. The large basement was provided with stalls where the horses were kept when the plantation was in danger of attack. The property descended to Nancy Murden whose will is recorded in the courthouse in Elizabeth City.
BEACH AT KIPTOPEKE, VirginiaA LIBELOUS BRITISH CARTOON OF THE EDENTON TEA PARTY
Today there is nothing about the interior of the Old Brick House to suggest a romantic past, but the exterior of the sturdy old building is much as it was 200 years ago, and its setting on the banks of the Pasquotank is beautiful.
ELIZABETH CITY, 22 m. (8 alt., 10,037 pop.).
Accommodations. Modern hotels, tourist homes, and boarding houses.
Elizabeth City, the largest community in the Albemarle section, is the only town built on the banks of the 40-mile-long Pasquotank River. Situated in a wide bend of the stream at the “narrows,” it is a popular point from which to reach the duck-hunting country of Currituck, the big game in the recesses of the Great Dismal Swamp, vacation spots along the sounds and the sea, and the sport fishing areas off the banks.
Concentrated in three blocks along Main Street between the river and the public square is the business district. The wholesale houses on Water Street, which runs close to the river, are large, this being the market town of a rich vegetable-growing area. In season heavily laden trucks roll day and night through the streets to the railroad sidings. The town also sends out large quantities of fish, being the main shipping point for northeastern fishing industry.
The courthouse green and the Federal building's barberry-hedged lawn make a double square, separated by the slim column of the Confederate Monument. This broad park, shaded by great trees set informally, is flanked on three sides by residences with yards containing elms, oaks, maples, silver beeches, and pecan trees, which add to the generous expanse of shade.
Pasquotank Harbor, in the bend of Pasquotank River several miles above the point where it empties into Albemarle Sound, attracts, in winter, many Northern pleasure craft because of its fresh water, free from barnacles and shipworms. The harbor is the home port of freight boats, tugs, barges, “bugeyes,” and catboats, also of powered pleasure cruisers and auxiliary sailing yachts. The original mothboat, Jumping Juniper, was built at the Elizabeth City Shipyard, and this type of craft is numerous in the harbor.
A bridge arches high over the river, lifting its draw-span for trim yacht and sturdy tug alike. Opposite the foot of Main Street, at the narrowest point in the harbor, just below the bridge, are the gleaming storage tanks of an oil company across on Machelhe Island. Cotton, hosiery, and lumber mills are on the outer edges of the town
near the railroad tracks, as are the mill sections where the cotton workers live.
The first large vessel to visit the area, that of Captain Whittly, came in the winter of 1664, entering the inland waters through Roanoke Inlet, long since closed. As early as 1666 settlers from the Bermuda Islands established themselves along the Pasquotank River.
The cutting of the Dismal Swamp Canal led to the settlement of the town. The present city is on what was the Narrows Plantation, owned by Adam and Elizabeth Tooley. Settlers attracted by the swamp timber, excellent for making staves, shingles, and ship parts, arrived in numbers. First called the Town of Narrows, the place was chartered in 1793 as the Town of Reading in honor of a prominent early settler, but in the following year the name was changed to Town of Elizabeth to honor Elizabeth Tooley, or Queen Elizabeth. As confusion resulted between this and the Elizabeth Town in Tyrell County, in 1801 these communities became respectively Elizabeth City and Columbia.
The town has long been the port of entry for the Albemarle Customs District but the foreign trade is now negligible. It has been the seat of Pasquotank County since 1799. The Federal occupation of Elizabeth City, in April 1863, was a “grand, gloomy, and peculiar time.” The name of Elliott Street is a reminder of the period, it having been given to honor the young Confederate officer, Gilbert Elliott, who built the Confederate ram Albemarle.
The Judge Walter L. Small Home (private), NW. corner of Colonial Ave. and Pool St., overlooks the courthouse green. The hand-carved woodwork, wainscoted rooms, heart-pine floors, the furnishings, the tall fluted columns, and double porches are characteristic of the period in which the structure was erected (1800). The Nash Home (private) at the NW. corner of Colonial Ave. and Martin St., was built as the home of Benjamin Albertson, a Quaker in the Revolutionary period. Big outside chimneys and many-paned windows are evidences of its age.
The old Charles House (private), now divided into apartments, 710 Colonial Ave., was built about 1800 and has an unusual staircase, a hand-carved mantel, and old brass hardware.
The Fearing House (private), SE. corner of Road and Fearing Sts., the oldest house in town, was built in 1740 by Charles Grice and is still occupied by his descendants. A white-painted frame structure,
with small wings on the sides and rear, it is in a good state of preservation.
Christ Church, SE. corner of Church and McMorine Sts., housing the oldest congregation in the city, is of the Gothic style, with ivy-covered, buttressed brick walls. The original Christ Church, built in 1825, was replaced in 1856.
The Shipyards and the Maritime Signal Tower, affording a fine view, are of unusual interest.
The Clark House (L), Riverside Dr. beyond the shipyards, is one of the town's show places and home of its leading yachtsman; the Beveridge House (L), Riverside Dr., is a shingled structure built on brick pilings over the river, a type of construction common at Nags Head (see Side Route A) for years.
Albemarle Hospital, on a point of land at the foot of Riverside Dr., commands a wide view of the river from its high-columned porches; it is owned and operated by the community.
In Elizabeth City is the junction with State 30 (see Side Route A).
At 37 m. is the junction with a paved road.
Left on this road, which is paved for 8 miles, then merely graded, to the peninsula known as DURANT'S NECK, lying between Little River and Perquimans (per-quim’-ans) River. The peninsula was named for George Durant, whose land title is the oldest recorded in the State (see below).
NEW HOPE, 10 m. (153 pop.), a farm settlement, adjoins Hecklefield Farm, estate of Capt. John Hecklefield, who was prominent in the affairs of the Albemarle colony. The Albemarle Assembly and the county court met here frequently in the early 1700's.
At 16 m. is the Leigh Home, a red brick three-story structure with a white columned portico and white marble steps, built in 1825 by Col. James Leigh it stands in a grove of trees commanding a view of Albemarle Sound, Perquimans River, and Little River. This includes the major portion of 1,000 acres acquired by George Durant; the tract has been reduced to about 850 acres by the encroachment of the rivers and the waters of the sound.
The bricks of the house were made on the place by slaves. The separate two-story kitchen is connected with the main house by an elevated walk. On the second floor are spacious rooms opening into each other and into the hall; and on the top floor is a paneled ballroom. Unusual construction of the floors, which are three inches thick, made the use of supporting braces unnecessary.
In the cellar, lighted through iron-barred windows, are three separate divisions in which wines and liquors were stored. Also, according to tradition, the gloomy depths were used to confine recalcitrant slaves. At the foot of the side steps to the house is a large stone slab, believed to be the gravestone of Seth Sothel, “the most despised Governor” of North Carolina, who was appointed Royal Governor in 1683, and who was so arbitrary and corrupt in the conduct of his duties that the
colonists seized and banished him six years after his arrival. Under an old elm tree in the yard, buried in the mud, is a slab supposed to mark the grave of George Durant. A small bridge spanning a creek leads to the Leigh family graveyard.
WINFALL, 38 m. (16 alt., 426 pop.), a little village in the bend of the highway, is shaded by ancient trees arching overhead, its calm little disturbed by the busy hum of its eight-stack sawmill.
Right from Winfall on State 37 is BELVIDERE, 6 m., a village settled by Quakers in the early 18th century. Strong believers in education, they were the founders of Belvidere Academy, one of the earliest schools established in the State. Its records, still preserved, though the academy no longer exists, give an interesting picture of the life of the community in its early days. The town is to some extent peopled by descendants of the Quaker settlers.
South of Winfall US 17 crosses the broad Perquimans River, which has its source in the Great Dismal Swamp and flows SE. through Perquimans County to Albemarle Sound. So inviting are its shores that many early settlers built their homes here. US 17 runs on a causeway that replaced a corduroy road, having for its foundation a kind of causeway built by the Indians. This strip of roadbed, at an elevation little above that of the river on each side of it, leads to a modern drawbridge replacing the old Floating Bridge. As early as 1784 such a floating bridge, built on whiskey barrels, and unstable during storms, spanned the Perquimans at Phelps Point; this bridge was destroyed during the Civil War. Another floating bridge was built and used continuously until 1896, when it was replaced by a drawbridge. This in turn gave way to the present beautiful structure that curves over the river into the main street of Hertford.
HERTFORD, 40 m. (15 alt., 1,914 pop.), in the bend of the Perquimans River, is the seat of Perquimans County. This little community with sandy winding streets was first known as Phelps Point, taking its name from the original owner of the site. When incorporated in 1758 it was named for the Marquis of Hertford. Records show that it was a port of entry as early as 1701, and that there was a courthouse here in that year.
The Edmundson-Fox Memorial (L), just S. of the bridge, is a granite marker with a bronze tablet, erected in 1929 by the North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends; it bears an inscription asserting that here was held the first religious service on record in Carolina. This claim ignores the baptisms of Manteo and Virginia Dare on Roanoke Island (see Side Route A), and services held in Charleston,
which was founded in 1670. In 1672, William Edmundson, a follower of George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends, preached a sermon to the settlers on The Work of God. In September of the same year, Fox himself spent 18 days “in the north of Carolina” and had many “meetings among the people.” A description of the people and their customs contained in his journal, is one of the few records of these early settlers.
Perquimans County Courthouse, on Main St., (L) is a large brick structure in the center of a wide tree-shaded lawn. The original courthouse was built in 1701 and burned the same year; the present courthouse was built in 1824. In 1930 the building was repaired and the worn red brick painted a deep ivory. The courthouse contains an unbroken record from the first deed book, dated 1685, up to that of the present day, including the oldest deed on record in North Carolina, a transfer of title to George Durant (see above).
On March 1, 1661 (1662), George Durant acquired from Kilcocanen, chief of the Yeopim Indians, a tract of land lying along the Perquimans River and Albemarle Sound and known as Wecodomicke. Because of the age of Durant's deed, and the fact that it mentions a still earlier purchase of adjoining lands by Samuel Pricklove, it has been generally maintained that the earliest permanent settlements in the State were on Durant's Neck. There is evidence, however, that there were earlier settlements between the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers.
The Site of the Old Eagle Tavern, which was torn down in 1920, covers six lots in the heart of town. It is known to have existed as early as 1754, and it was the center of bustling activity on court days. It is told that George Washington was a guest at the tavern while he was surveying for the Dismal Swamp Canal, and that William Hooper, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived here for a time.
The Harvey Home, Main St., built before 1800, is one of the oldest houses in Hertford. It has a two-story porch supported by columns. The hand-hewn heart-pine timbers, fastened together with wooden pegs in lieu of nails, have worn well. Two-hundred-year-old trees, gnarled with age and ivy-clad to their topmost branches, shade the house. The shaded sidewalk in front of the place crosses a spot that is believed to be Kilcocanen's Grave (see above). The river Yeopim forming part of the dividing line between Perquimans and
Chowan Counties, and a settlement by the same name, perpetuate the name of the aborigines of this section.
The McCullum House, Front St., was built in 1820. Shell holes made during the Civil War have been preserved through all subsequent remodelings.
Left from the center of Hertford, at the point where US 17 swings R; this branch road, hard-surfaced for half its length, runs into HARVEY'S NECK, a peninsula 12 miles long. Harvey's Neck was the Colonial seat of John Harvey, Governor of North Carolina in 1679, whose grandson, John Harvey, was known as the Father of the Revolution in North Carolina. Two old plantations on the neck have been united into one farm of some 1,100 acres, entered through a gate at 9 m. (open).
At 9.7 m. is the junction with a lane leading to Ashland, a beautiful old house built by John Skinner in 1775. Gracefully arched masonry supports the lower of the two columned verandas. Twin chimneys at the ends of the house furnish fireplaces for all the rooms on the first and second floors, and for the attic as well. There are four separate basements.
At 10.5 m. are the Ruins of Belgrade Mansion, the home of the Harvey family until it was burned during the Civil War. Nearby, in the family graveyard, is the tomb (date 1729) of Thomas Harvey, father of the John Harvey of Revolutionary times.
EDENTON, 53 m. (8 alt., 3,563 pop.) (see N.C. GUIDE).
Accommodations. Hotels and boarding houses.
The seat of the ancient County of Chowan (cho-wan’), Edenton has a Colonial flavor that persists in the street names — King, Queen, Court, and Church.
US 17 follows Broad St. — which does not belie its name — almost to the shore of Edenton Bay. Except at the lower end of this avenue, which is the business district, the streets are lined with fine old trees, giving the place an air of gracious repose. The shores of lovely, curving Edenton Bay have had little commercial development and houses near the water still look across to distant shores covered with cypress.
From the days of the Indians, Edenton's principal industry has been shad and herring fishing, and large fisheries and packing plants are operated today. Textile and lumber mills as well as cottonseed oil refineries are in operation. Waters of the nearby creeks and rivers provide good angling for the sportsman. Bass, pike, and perch, locally called “chub,” are caught in large quantities. The fine loam of the surrounding region, “the newe discovered summer countrye” of
the early settlers, produces a superior grade of peanuts marketed through the town, which also ships, by water and by rail, large quantities of watermelons, cotton, corn, cantaloups and other produce.
Edenton, first called Port of Roanoke, was one of the first three towns established by European settlers in North Carolina. From 1712, when the Assembly passed an act to build a courthouse “in the forks of Queen Anne's Creek,” until 1722, the settlement retained the name of Queen Anne's Town. In the latter year it was incorporated under its present name, honoring Governor Charles Eden who had just died.
For many years Edenton was virtually the Colonial capital, inasmuch as the Governor resided here; sessions of the Assembly were held in the town from 1720 to 1738. It was a port of entry from Colonial times until the early 1900's and as such, in its early days, enjoyed a flourishing foreign trade. “Deep-sea ships, full-rigged ships, men-of-war, merchantmen, sneaking coasters, slavers, rum boats, and whalers” thronged the bay.
In 1781, when the town crier brought the alarming news that Cornwallis was on his way to burn the town, almost the entire population embarked for Windsor in boats and skiffs. Cornwallis changed his plans and, about a week later, the Edenton citizenry returned to its homes.
During the Civil War the Edenton Bell Battery, with guns cast from nearly all the bells of the town, figured in numerous engagements, finally surrendering to General Sherman at Greensboro.
A Confederate Monument stands in front of the courthouse on the green, which slopes down to the bay. On the western edge of the green is the Edenton Tea Party Marker, a large bronze teapot mounted on a Revolutionary cannon, marking the site of the house in which 51 women gathered, on October 25, 1774, to sign a resolution to refrain from drinking tea until the tax acts should be repealed. The Joseph Hewes Monument, at the lower edge of the green, is the only monument erected by a Congressional appropriation to a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Facing the bay at the head of the green is Chowan Courthouse, built in 1767, a pleasant Colonial survival. The nearly square building supports a clock tower and domed cupola holding a double cross. The Washington Chair, in the Unanimity Lodge Room (open on
application to Chowan Herald Office), was used by George Washington, master of the Alexandria Lodge of Masons in Virginia.
The frame Cupola House (open daily 3-5 p.m.; Mon. and Fri. 7-9 p.m.; adm. 25¢), 408 S. Broad St., near the bay, is the oldest house standing in Edenton; the date 1758 is visible on its gable end. Built by Francis Corbin, agent of Lord Granville, it has great outside chimneys, a Jacobean overhang, and a roof with an octagonal cupola and a central gable. In the beautiful interior, a Chippendale stair rises to the third story, whence a circular stair winding around an octagonal mahogany newel gives access to the cupola. The Shepard-Pruden Memorial Library is housed in the drawing room. The house holds a collection of documents and relics.
The Site of Hewes’ Store is at the NE. corner of E. King and Broad Sts.; this store was the business office of Hewes, whose shipyard was off the point where Pembroke Creek enters Edenton Bay.
St. Paul's Church, NW. corner Broad and Church Sts., erected in 1736, now stands half-hidden by century-old magnolia, elm, and crape-myrtle trees. Two earlier buildings successively housed its congregation; the first erected in 1702 on the present Hayes Plantation on the shore of the sound, was the first built in North Carolina; the second building occupied this site. A silver chalice and paten, presented to St. Paul's Church in 1725 by Sir Edward Moseley and still in use, are beautiful pieces of early American design and workmanship. The church records, dating from 1701 when this, the oldest parish in the State, was formed, have been preserved intact. In the churchyard are buried several royal governors and Revolutionary patriots, many of them under flat worn slabs.
The Iredell House (open), 107 E. Church St., was the home of James Iredell, who was appointed Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court by George Washington.
South of Edenton is the Norfolk Southern R.R. bridge crossing Albemarle Sound to connect HORNBLOWER'S POINT with MACKEY'S; this bridge, with a span of nearly 6 miles, was opened to traffic on Jan. 17, 1910, replacing a ferry. It is of the rolling draw type, spanning 160 feet with a 140-foot clearance. During the winter of 1917 when ice formed to such depth during an unusual freeze that motorcars and trucks could be driven across the sound, it was necessary to dynamite the ice.
1. Right from Edenton on hard-surfaced State 32, which follows the old stagecoach route known for years as the Virginia Rd.
At WINGFIELD, 10 m., on the banks of the Chowan River, are the Ruins of the Old Union Fort captured and partly destroyed in 1863. Remnants of the old trenches remain. Wingfield plantation house, built in 1760 and burned during the same engagement, was the Colonial home of the Brownriggs.
At BANDON, 15 m., was the home, built in 1757, of Daniel Earle, Revolutionary rector of old St. Paul's Church at Edenton. He established here the first classical school for boys in North Carolina. The clergyman and his daughter, Miss Nancy, taught Latin, Greek, English grammar and composition, and mathematics, exercising at the same time a strong religious influence. Bandon, named for the Earle estate in Ireland, was the site of a village of the Chowanoke Indians and valuable relics have been found in mounds nearby.
2. Left from Edenton on Front St. and across Johnston's Bridge to HAYES, 0.5 m. (private), the plantation of Samuel Johnston, Governor of North Carolina in 1787 and the first U. S. Senator from North Carolina. He built the spacious house in 1801, naming it for Sir Walter Ralegh's English estate. The main building is connected with wings by colonnades. In the house is a valuable collection of steel engravings and portraits by Reynolds, Sully and other artists fashionable in their day. The catalog of the 5,000 library volumes, written with a quill pen, looks as though it had been engraved.
The unpaved Soundside Rd. E. of Hayes was used by early settlers, who were following an old Chowan Indian trail. Doubling and redoubling upon itself, the road passes several plantations created in Colonial times, and at the mouth of the Yeopim River reaches DRUMMOND'S POINT, 8 m., named for Governor William Drummond. (Fishing boats for hire.)
BATTS (BATZ) GRAVE or BATTS ISLAND, in the mouth of the Yeopim River, is not cultivated now, but early records refer to a suit arising there over the destruction of corn crops by pigs. In the early 18th century the land belonged to George Durant, Jr. In Colonial times it was part of the mainland and, not long since, was within wading distance of the shore; but tide erosion has widened the channel and reduced the island's many acres to one.
The ghost of a man named Batts, who once lived on the island, is said to guard the spot where he buried his hoarded gold. Weird tales are told of treasure seekers who have been driven in terror from the haunted island by strange sounds, ghostly shapes and balls of fire.
Indians have a part in another version of the Batts legend. On the mainland were the Chowanoke Indians, who called the island Kalola for the seagulls that alone disturbed its solitude until the coming of Jesse Batts, a hunter and trapper on the upper waters of Albemarle Sound. Batts fell in love with Kickowanna, daughter of the chief Kilcanoo. She favored his suit, rejecting that of Pamunkey, chief of the Chasamonpeakes who, thereupon, made war on the Chowanokes and tried to steal her. Batts, for his bravery in defense of the Chowanokes, was adopted into the tribe under the name of Secotan, meaning “great white eagle.” Thereafter he lived with Kickowanna on the upper waters but made frequent trips to his island home, where Kickowanna would go in her canoe to visit him. One night in a raging storm she was drowned. Batts never left the island again and died there brokenhearted.
South of Edenton at Pembroke Creek, 53.5 m., is a U.S. Fish Hatchery, where large quantities of shad, herring, bass, and other fishes are propagated. Here also is the Site of the Home of Stephen Cabarrus, a Frenchman who came to America during the Revolution and was in the legislature for 20 years serving as speaker for 17 years. He is buried in old St. Paul's Churchyard, Edenton.
South of EMPEROR, 60 m., the highway crosses the Chowan River Bridge, 1.5 miles long.
At the southern end of the bridge is EDENHOUSE POINT, 61.5 m., so called because it is near the site of the residence of Charles Eden, Colonial Governor of North Carolina. He died in 1722 and was buried in the grove of willows that still flourishes within a stone's throw of Chowan Bridge; the bones of the Governor have been removed to St. Paul's churchyard in Edenton.
Left from Edenhouse Point on a dirt road to EDENHOUSE BEACH, 1 m., a resort (bathing, boating, and fishing), built on the Site of the Home of Governor Eden. It is a quiet place on the banks of the broad Chowan, near its entrance to Albemarle Sound.
At 63 m. US 17 crosses Salmon Creek. South of the bridge, on both sides of the highway, is Mill Landing Farm, the estate of Lord Duckenfield, who held it by grant from the Crown of England. About 100 yards from the highway (L) is the Old Mill, erected in 1710, the only estate building still standing; for nearly 200 years it has ground corn for the neighborhood. The mill pond, formed by damming Ducken Run, is shaded by beautiful old cypress trees.
At 64 m. is the junction with State 35.
Left on State 35, an unpaved route locally called the Chapel Rd., for an early English church that once stood near here. At AVOCA, 6 m., on a point of land where the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers meet as they flow into Albemarle Sound, is the Capehart Fishery, one of the principal shad fisheries of the coast. In season the catch includes great quantities of shad, sturgeon, and herring.
WINDSOR, 74 m. (30 alt., 1,425 pop.), the seat of Bertie County on the Cashie (Cah-shy’) River, is an old town with wide, elm-shaded streets. Before the Civil War it was a port of entry for shipping from the West Indies and northern seaports; from this point merchandise was carried inland by wagons over the old Halifax Rd.
The site of Windsor belonged to John Gray, a wealthy planter, who gave it with the stipulation that the land should “forever be
used as a town.” It was first called Windshore, but Gray later changed the name to its present form. The plan for the town was made in England and provided that the three main streets be designated King, Queen, and York, and that the cross streets be named for the various Lords Proprietors; the streets bear these names today.
Windsor became the seat of Bertie County in 1750. In 1723 a log courthouse was built at St. John's, which is now included in Hertford County. In 1743 a second courthouse was built at Wolfenden, 2 miles N. of Windsor. The first courthouse at Windsor was built in 1767 and used until 1887, when the present building was erected. The town has sawmills, barrel mills, and peanut and tobacco warehouses. Sportsmen come here to fish; game is abundant in the vicinity and coon hunting along the Cashie is a favorite pastime of local hunters.
Windsor Castle, Belmont Ave., is on a hill overlooking the town; the original structure was an 8-room log house built by William Gray, an Englishman, who so named the site because it was surrounded by water as is Windsor Castle in England. The present house, built by Patrick Henry Winston in 1855 near the site of the earlier house, has the stately white columns and broad verandas characteristic of ante-bellum Southern architecture.
Rosefield, (L) at the southern limits of the town, on Windsor's other hill, overlooks the beautiful valley of the Cashie. The estate which took its name from a field of wild roses that once bloomed here, was the home of John Gray, who gave the site of Windsor. The present house, built in 1856, has not been changed since 1861, when repairs then under way were stopped by the Civil War.
Right from Windsor, beyond Windsor Castle, on State 308 to Hope House, 3.5 m., the home of David Stone, Governor of North Carolina (1808-1810). The house was at one time considered the show place of the county. The solid-wooden gutters are unusual, as is also a structure on top of the house, that was formerly used as a fish pond.
South of Windsor the highway continues through a region of green swampland, always spicy with the odor of pine and cedar; and, in spring and early summer, fragrant with the blooms of wild grape, sweetbrier roses, and honeysuckle.
At 81.2 m. is the junction with a marked dirt road.
Right on this road to the Indian Woods, 5 m. After the Tuscarora massacres of 1711-13 the remnants of the tribe were confined within their own reservation,
a small tract on the Roanoke in Bertie County granted to them by Governor Eden. When the Indians finally moved to New York State to join their kinsmen of the Six Nations, they entered into a 99-year lease with some of the settlers. At the expiration of the lease, about 1857, their descendants came down from New York for final settlement with the descendants of the lessees.
The highway crosses Conine Swamp and the Roanoke River, entering Williamston over one of the longest highway bridges and viaducts in the South. The viaduct, framed by hedges of honeysuckle, rises well above the swamp with its tangle of gnarled cypresses and hanging gray moss.
WILLIAMSTON, 87 m. (60 alt., 2,731 pop.), lies on the western bank of the Roanoke River. The county seat was first chartered in 1779 as Skewarky, but later in the same year it was incorporated, rechartered, and named in honor of William Williams, a prominent citizen who was a colonel of the Martin County militia. The land upon which the town was built was given by Samuel Johnston and Thomas Hunter. Williamston, while known as Skewarky, an incorporated port of entry before the Revolutionary War, had an old courthouse, designed by Rubin Ross and built in 1774 on stilts over the river. To attend court, people climbed ladders from their boats. When court was declared in session the ladders were removed and no one was permitted to leave the courthouse. The chief amusements of the populace during court week were oyster roasts and fist fights; tradition has it that these were enjoyed with equal gusto.
The history of Williamston, and of Martin County, which was named for Josiah Martin, last Royal Governor of North Carolina, is closely connected with that of the Primitive Baptist Church. The History of the Church of God, from Creation to 1885 was written by two elders of the church and sheds many illuminating side lights on the life of the section.
Williamston is an important market in the bright-leaf tobacco belt of the State, and its peanut factory furnishes a good market for the growers of the section. Fertilizer plants, lumber mills, and the fishing business furnish employment for many people.
The Asa Biggs Home (private), Church St., is one of the most interesting old structures of the town. A distinguishing feature of the square house is the balcony under each second-story window; these have iron balustrades from which rise long blinds. Judge Biggs was prominent in State politics during the middle years of the 19th century, and served both as Federal and Confederate district judge.
The Hassell Home, Church St., was built about 1842. Mr. Hassell
was president of Skewarkee Primitive Baptist Church, one of the first of these churches in the United States. C. B. Hassell and his son, Sylvester, in turn, were pastors of this church for more than 50 years.
Right from Williamston on State 125 to Rainbow Banks, 10 m., site of a fort that was the scene of spirited Civil War action during which Union gunboats were driven from Roanoke River.
HAMILTON, 18 m. (598 pop.), was once the headquarters for transportation on the Roanoke and the center of a flourishing trade. Its broad shady streets are lined with fine old houses. On the waterfront are the foundations of the wooden and stone piers where ships from distant ports were once moored.
Section 8. Williamston to South Carolina Line, 198 m. US 17
US 17 in this section of North Carolina connects towns and villages that played important parts in the growth of the Colony. It runs through forests of longleaf and loblolly pine, traverses cypress swamps where black-water creeks meander, and crosses several broad rivers that flow into island-bound, brackish sounds a few miles to the east.
Forests and fields abound with game; most of the streams teem with fish. Several State parks, game preserves, and resorts are close at hand. The rivers and sounds offer boating, fishing, and bathing; beaches where surf bathing is possible are, with a few exceptions, reached only by water.
East of the highway in isolated spots on the sand banks of the coast, live fishermen who still use the speech and follow many of the customs of their English ancestors. Along these banks wild ponies still range.
South of WILLIAMSTON, 0 m., US 17 traverses broad farms planted in early summer with potatoes and later with tobacco, cotton, corn, peanuts, and garden produce. Bright-leaf tobacco is the principal crop. There are many small fruit orchards, whose crops are produced usually for family use. Between the farms are forests of tall pines. At 10 m. the route crosses Great Swamp, low, wet land overgrown with brush, scrub-pine, and scattered gum and cypress.
MINEOLA, 17 m., is a hamlet with a church, a school, and a few houses.
WASHINGTON, 23 m. (8 alt., 7,025 pop.), seat of Beaufort County, is on the northern bank of Pamlico River — called Tar River
above Washington — in the midst of a fertile farming section. The narrowness of the streets is a relic of the 18th century, though the town has few old houses, having been almost entirely destroyed by two fires in 1864. On April 30, 1864 Federal troops burned many buildings to destroy naval stores; a second fire occurred nine days later.
Washington today has a low, nondescript sky line, softened by the abundant foliage of the trees bordering residential streets. The best view of the town is obtained from the wide concrete bridge carrying US 17 across the river at the lower end of town. In the spring the banks of the Pamlico opposite the city are a mass of wild wistaria, called “virgin's bower” by some of the older inhabitants. The river laps at foundations of mercantile buildings on Main St. A few yards with gardens, at the western end of Main St., extend to the water's edge; across Herring Run at the eastern end of the town is Washington Park, a residential suburb almost surrounded by water, its streets shaded by moss-draped trees.
The Scuppernong grape and all its varieties are indigenous to the region. The celebrated Meish grape, named in honor of Albert Meish of Westphalia, Germany, who developed it, originated in Beaufort County. Washington is a market for cotton, tobacco, and truck garden produce.
This section of North Carolina was first known as Pampticoe, or Pampticough, the name of an Indian tribe found here by the first white settlers. In 1696 it became the County of Archdale but soon afterward was incorporated as the Great County of Bath; in 1738 the County of Beaufort was formed from part of it, and named in honor of Henry, Duke of Beaufort, who had inherited the proprietary rights of the Duke of Albemarle.
The history of the town of Washington began on November 30, 1771, when the Assembly, in session at New Bern, authorized James Bonner to establish a town on a plantation owned jointly by Bonner and William Boyd, a minor. In 1776 Bonner sold 30 acres, either for the establishment or expansion of the town, known at that time as Forks of Tar River. The town was incorporated April 13, 1782, by the Assembly meeting at Hillsboro.
Bonner was a friend of General Washington, under whom he held a commission as colonel, and he named the town for his commander in chief. The George Washington Bicentennial Commission, in 1932
after investigation, established the fact that, of the 422 cities and towns in the Nation named for George Washington, this place has the distinction of being the “original Washington.” First recorded mention of the town as Washington is made in an order of the Council of Safety of Halifax, dated Monday, October 1, 1776.
James Bonner's Grave, formerly in the middle of what is now Bonner St., between Main and Water, has been moved to the NE. corner of St. Peter's Episcopal Churchyard.
The present Courthouse, at the SW. corner of Second and Market Sts., was built about 1800. Tradition is that the clock in the building was first sent to Bath but was not installed there, and was subsequently brought here. It is probably older than the building. In the courthouse is a will, written in French and dated 1820, that indicates that Col. Louis Taillade, an officer and close associate of Napoleon, lived in Washington at that time. The will begins: “Testament de Louis Taillade ancien Colonel des Marvines de la Garde de l'Empreur Napolion en favereur de M. Louis LeRoy habitant en cette ville et tenant l'hotel Mansion Houye, . . .” and is signed “. . . Witness, L. Labarbe and John Leroche.” Taillade accompanied Napoleon from Elba to France to regain his lost empire.
According to legend, the witness, Labarbe, came to Washington, probably from Martinique, in a ship that had rescued him and two Negroes after the three had put to sea in an open boat to escape fighting and carnage on the French island. The two Negroes were sold into slavery. Young Labarbe was cared for by Lewis LeRoy, became a citizen, and married the daughter of his benefactor. His son, the second Labarbe, served in the Confederate Army.
A more shadowy figure of town history was Cosimo de Medici, who lived in Beaufort and Hyde Counties before the Revolution and until 1792. He was captain of a troop of cavalry, was a good soldier, but was so arrogant that his men complained against him to the government at New Bern. His origin is unknown, but he may have been related to the famous Italian family. A deed of 1790 in the Beaufort County courthouse bears his name as a witness and a deed of 1792 records a transference of property by him in payment of a debt. He seems to have been absent from the county between the making of these two deeds; a record in the Hyde County courthouse at Swanquarter says that he “had left the U. S. and gone to the Southern Continent of America in 1790 or 1791” but the local belief is that he
had a part in Count de Ferson's attempt to rescue Marie Antoinette in June, 1791.
The Johnston House (private), on Market St., notable for its Georgian doorway and exterior front stairway, was occupied in 1810 by Thomas Harvey Myers, I, whose wife, Margaret, was the daughter of Dr. Gustavus Brown, a physician of George Washington's.
The Site of an Old Graveyard is on Market St., near what is now the Mallison filling station. City authorities decided to have the bodies moved and reinterred. Coffins, pointed at each end, were taken up under the supervision of descendants of the families who were buried there, and were placed on the sidewalk. One of these descendants removed the upper outer covering of the coffin of a maternal ancestor who had been buried more than a hundred years, and seeing through the glass over the face that the body was in a remarkable state of preservation, he called his children and grandchildren to see “grandmother,” who lay with her hands crossed, and a little bouquet of flowers, tied with white ribbon, within them.
St. Peter's Episcopal Church, corner of Bonner and Main Sts., was built in 1868 adjacent to the site of the original St. Peter's, built in 1822 and destroyed by fire in 1864 when an old citizen, expecting Federal troops to seize the town, attempted to burn valuable papers. His fire, fanned by a breeze, grew beyond control, and many nearby buildings were consumed. As the church tower burned, heat caused the bell to toll until it fell from its supports. The story is that the melted alloy of the bell was recovered by an aged Negro, Abram Allen, who carried it in a wheelbarrow to his woodshed where it remained until the war was over. He then returned the metal to the congregation, which sold it and added the proceeds to the building fund.
The Myers and the Telfair Houses, on Water St., next to the NE. corner of Bonner St., have stoops built close to the street. The Myers house was built before 1814, and the Telfair house about four years later; both are still owned by descendants of the builders.
Washington Field Museum (open daily 2-5, 7-10 p.m.), Charlotte and 2nd Sts., was founded in 1923 by a group of young people, who referred to it as the “Bug House Laboratory.” It contains a collection of birds, insects, frogs, reptiles, fossils, and minerals of this region.
There are some historical relics. The building is constructed of logs.
The Havens House (private), on W. Main St., is an interesting copy of a Bermuda house, with tall columns rising from the yard level, bricked porch floor, and entrance steps with curved iron rail. Opposite the house is a giant swamp cypress, stranded when the river bed changed and narrowed, that has flourished without the usual water near its feet.
On W. Main St. is the former Home of Dr. Susan Dimock (b. 1847), first North Carolina woman licensed as a physician. After having twice been refused admission to the Harvard University medical school she studied at Zurich, Switzerland, where she was graduated with honors. Later she studied in Vienna and, on returning to America, became a physician in the Hospital for Women and Children in Boston, Mass. A street in Boston was named in her honor.
The De Mille House, an imposing, three-story brick structure on the corner of Bridge and Second Sts., now a tourist home, was built about 1830 by Thomas De Mille, one of the first vestrymen of St. Peter's Church. This was the birthplace of William De Mille, motion picture producer and brother of Cecil B. De Mille, both great-grandsons of Thomas De Mille. Additions made to the vine-embowered building have not obscured its first simple lines.
Elmwood, S. side of W. Main St. near Washington St., was built in the early part of the 18th century by a Colonel Tayloe of a family prominent in Beaufort County. The house was moved from a low hillock at the head of Main St., where it formerly stood, facing E. The former grounds were the most beautiful in the county, with an arbor of cedars, surrounded by curving elm-bordered driveways.
The Brown House, NW. corner of Second and Washington Sts., was used as a hospital when Federal troops invaded the city during the Civil War; it has beautiful curving porch steps. Soldiers destroyed all but one of the several marble mantelpieces.
At 219 Harvey St. is the Birthplace of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy (1913-1921), and Ambassador to Mexico (1933). It formerly stood at 242 E. Main St.
A Floating Theater that supplied technical material for Edna Feber's novel, Show Boat, was built at Washington in 1914. It has been plying the waters of the seaboard from Delaware to the Carolinas
each year during the season from April to Christmas, having traveled some 65,000 miles up to 1936. Miss Ferber spent two weeks on the boat about three years before her book was published, consulting every one on it from cook to captain.
South of Washington, US 17 crosses Pamlico River and passes a 4-mile tract (L) extending from the highway to Chocowinity Bay. This extensive ante-bellum farm was bequeathed by John Gray Blount to his grandson, Judge W. B. Rodman, and became known as Rodman Quarters. During the Civil War it was occupied at different times by Federal and Confederate troops; from this point each army shelled the town of Washington. Judge Rodman visited the plantation after the war was over but finding it in ruins never went there again and later sold it to northern interests.
CHOCOWINITY (MARSDEN), 26 m. (40 alt., 350 pop.), a village at a railroad junction, consists of several stores, filling stations, and a few residences. Trinity Church belongs to a congregation founded in 1775 by the Reverend Nathaniel Blount.
WILMAR, 34 m., is a tiny scattered farm village with a forest observation tower.
VANCEBORO, 41 m. (22 alt., 742 pop.), is strung along US 17, which here follows a curving course paralleling Swift Creek. The Craven County Farm Life School stands at the foot of a half-mile long street that runs E. from the State highway.
BRIDGETON, 56 m. (15 alt., 761 pop.), is directly across the muddy mile-wide Neuse River from New Bern. Although really a part of the older town, Bridgeton has its own local government and the inhabitants earn their living in the lumber mills and a crate factory of their own town. The long streets, bordered with small houses, follow the river's course. There are several riverside beaches nearby. Scrubby burnt-over forests creep to the edge of the village.
At Bridgeton US 17 makes a sharp turn (L) to cross the Neuse River on a bridge that presents a view of dignified houses and pointed spires rising through the oaks, poplars, elms, and pecan trees of New Bern; rows of slender black stacks of lumber mills are seen in the distance (R).
New Bern, 58 m. (15 alt., 11,981 pop.) (see N. C. GUIDE).
Accommodations. Hotels, tourist homes, boarding houses.
New Bern, on a high wooded peninsula at the confluence of the
Trent and Neuse Rivers, is the seat of Craven County and is one of the oldest towns in the State. It was at one time the capital and the most important port of the Province, and the seat of the Royal Governors. Everywhere are evidences of this past importance — in the scale and detail of the massive old homes with catwalks from which the owners scanned the river for returning ships. The formality and elegance of the remaining section of the former residence of the governors is no longer apparent. Many of the narrow brick-paved streets are lined with homes half covered by wistarias whose thick trunks show their age.
Today New Bern is largely dependent on retail trade and on industries connected with fishing and agriculture, the town being near the lower end of Pamlico Sound and in the center of a large farming area. Negroes, who constitute 52 percent of the population, provide labor for the mills; they live in the northwestern part of town and in the settlement across the Trent River to the S.
The first settlers, German Protestants expelled from the Rhine valley, arrived with the help of Baron Christopher de Graffenried, a Swiss, who financed their journey with funds loaned by English capitalists and 4,000 pounds given by Queen Anne of England. In January 1710 two ships bearing 650 settlers sailed from Gravesend, England, less than half the number, survivors of disease, storm and pillage, reached the Chowan River. In September 1710, de Graffenried himself arrived with 100 Swiss, and purchased the site of a Tuscarora Indian village. Concerning this transaction he wrote: “I paid for the land or piece of ground three times, to the Lords Proprietors, to the Surveyor General, and to the Indian King Taylor. This Indian King lived with his family where my house now stands and the little city of New Bern (named for the Swiss capital) was begun.” In 1723, after the settlers had experienced many hardships, the town was incorporated, and in 1731 it became the seat of the newly created county of Craven. From 1766 until 1794 it was the capital of North Carolina, flourishing as a social and cultural center. During the Civil War, New Bern was captured by Federal troops under Burnside, March 14, 1863. Confederate attempts to retake it were unsuccessful.
The Oaksmith House (private), a large three-story structure with a captain's walk, was built about 1810 by Samuel Simpson. In the late 1860's it was acquired by Capt. Appleton Oaksmith, who remodeled
it to look somewhat like Morro Castle in Havana, Cuba. Over the Pollock Street entrance he placed a stone panel carved with the head of a woman between two lions’ heads.
The Site of the First Printing Press in North Carolina is at the SW. corner of E. Front and Broad Sts.; it was operated by James Davis, who served as both private and public printer. He set up his press in 1749 and two years later published the Province's first newspaper, the North Carolina Gazette, and brought out the first book issued here, Swann's Revisal, a digest of the current laws that was called the “Yellow Jacket” because of its binding.
The Louisiana House (private), NW. corner E. Front and Change Sts., a frame structure erected in 1776, formerly had a double columned gallery across the rear elevation similar to that now on the front.
The elegant Smallwood-Ward House (private), 95 E. Front St., built between 1812 and 1816, has an entrance stoop close to the street and a broad rear lawn that slopes down to the river. Its red brick walls set in Flemish bond have weathered to unusual beauty. The main cornice, porch, and dormer pediments are lavishly hand-carved and the interior woodwork is remarkable for exquisite detail. The cable molding so freely used gives credence to the theory that James Coor, an English naval architect, is responsible for much of this work.
The Jarvis-Hand House, SE. corner E. Front and Johnson Sts., is a Georgian-type structure of red brick with carved frame cornice and portico. The detail of its recessed doorway is particularly fine. Iron bars protect basement windows and the 46-inch-wide doors have seven-inch keys for double bolt locks. The interior woodwork is noteworthy.
The Slover-Guion House, SW. corner E. Front and Johnson Sts., built about 1835, was headquarters for Federal Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside in 1862. This massive three-story brick structure is almost square and its large windows have shutters divided into three sections. Outside the first floor windows are wrought-iron balconies. The brick kitchen and slave house in the rear have been modernized.
The Richardson House, SE. corner Johnson and Craven Sts., (1828) is one of several in New Bern having a captain's walk reached by a trap door in the roof. This house was used as a hospital in 1863 by the Ninth New Jersey Infantry.
The Baptist Church, on Middle St. near Front St., was built in 1848, replacing a structure built in 1812. When, in 1741, the Baptists asked permission to build a church they were publicly whipped and then jailed. The congregation was organized in 1809.
Christ Episcopal Church (1873), NE. corner Pollock and Middle Sts., is a weathered red brick edifice whose lofty gold-crowned spire rises above great trees shading the old graveyard. Its outer walls are those of a structure built in 1825. The parish was organized in 1715 and still has the silver communion service, Bible, and Book of Common Prayer, gifts of George II, though the royal Gov. Josiah Martin attempted to take them with him when he fled the town in May 1775. The first church on the site (1750) was razed during the Revolution. When Parson Reed, the Royalist rector, prayed for the King, lads drummed at the door and shouted “Off with his head!”
The New Bern Academy, New Hancock and Johnson Sts., was the first free school incorporated in the Colony. Chartered by the Assembly in 1766, this school was partly maintained by a tax of one penny a gallon on rum and other liquors, the tax being used to defray the tuition for 10 poor children and to pay part of the salary of the principal. The academy building, burned in 1795, was rebuilt on the same site in 1806-10. The semicircular porch is a recent restoration.
The Chester B'nai Sholem Temple, opposite the Catholic church, was built in 1908. The women of the synagogue bought the lot and the men paid for the building.
The John Wright Stanly House, S. side of New St. near Middle, is now occupied by a free public library (open 10-12 a.m., 3-8 p.m. daily except Sun.). This massive 18th-century frame mansion, paneled and painted white to simulate stone, was removed from its original site and remodeled in 1935-36. The interior woodwork is hand-carved and the spacious hallway with its sweeping staircase is well proportioned. This was the home of John Wright Stanly, who lost 14 privateers during the Revolution.
The white painted Presbyterian Church, New St. opposite the Stanly house, built by Uriah Sandy in 1819, has an Ionic columned portico and is of frame construction. It is 55 by 70 feet, and has a steeple rising 125 feet. Early prints show urns on each set-back of the tower but they have disappeared. The hand-carved pulpit is between the two doors, and the floor rises toward the rear. About 1892 the rear entrance was added and new pews were installed; originally the
wealthy members of the congregation had mahogany box pews in the center of the auditorium and the rest sat on benches under the balcony. The church was used as a Federal hospital during the Union occupation.
The Masonic Temple (1808), SE. corner of Hancock and Johnson Sts., contains a Blue Lodge room, on the second floor, having hand-carved woodwork. Under the trees behind the building on September 5, 1802, took place the fatal duel between Gov. Richard Dobbs Spaight and John Stanly. As leaders of rival parties, the two had frequent clashes. One day Stanly charged that Spaight, while a member of the U.S. Senate, had under pretense of illness avoided voting on important Congressional legislation. Spaight retaliated with a handbill. A challenge from Stanly was promptly accepted. Mortally wounded on the fourth fire, Spaight died the following day. Criminal proceedings were instituted against Stanly but he was pardoned by Gov. Benjamin Williams.
The Jones-Lipman House, SW. corner Pollock and Eden Sts., is a small frame structure that was used as a Federal prison; here Emeline Piggott, the Confederate spy, was held. There are many old houses nearby.
The west wing, now 24 George St., is all that survives of Tryon Palace, regarded as one of the most beautiful edifices in British America. This relic retains no vestige of past glory, beauty, or elegance. It had served as warehouse, dwelling, stable and carriage house, parochial school and chapel, prior to its conversion into an apartment house. In 1798 a Negress, searching, with a lightwood torch, for eggs in the cellar of the old structure started a fire that destroyed the central and east wings.
Tryon Palace was built in 1767-70 under the supervision of John Hawks, who had come from England with Tryon. It was the Governor's residence and the statehouse, containing the assembly hall, the council chamber, and public offices. It was the seat of government under Royal Governors Tryon and Martin, and under William Caswell, first constitutional Governor (1777). Here on Aug. 25, 1774, in defiance of royal authority, was held the first North Carolina provincial congress, and on April 7, 1777, the first General Assembly. The palace was the center of a gay social life, which probably reached its zenith under Tryon. By 1791, however, when Washington, visiting the town, was guest of honor at a magnificent ball, his horses were
in the executive offices and he described the palace as “now hastening to ruin.”
Tryon was able to secure the appropriation for the erection of the palace because the Assembly was in a tractable mood owing to the recent repeal of the unpopular Stamp Act. The amount required for construction was more than 16,000 pounds. Wide disapproval of such an expenditure of the people's tax money was a factor in precipitating the War of the Regulation, in which Tryon resorted to armed force to quell the protests of tax-ridden farmers.
The central section of the three-story marble-trimmed brick structure measured 87 by 59 feet. The flat roof had a balustrade enclosing a walk, a roof garden, and an aquarium. The two-story wings were joined to it by curving colonnaded arcades. Driveways circled the courtyard. The rear of the triple structure facing the Trent River was fashioned after the Lord Mayor's House in London. Over the vestibule door was a Latin inscription ironic to tax-burdened Carolinians: “A free and happy people, opposed to cruel tyrants, has given this edifice to virtue. May the house and its inmate, as an example for future ages, here cultivate the arts, order, justice, and the laws.”
Southwest of New Bern US 17 runs through a level area of old plantations.
At 70 m. (L) is the Foscue House, a brick dwelling built in the early part of the 18th century as the big house of a plantation containing several thousand acres. Legend has supplied the house and lands with numerous ghosts.
POLLOCKSVILLE, 71 m. (357 pop.), on the banks of the narrow Trent River, was named for Col. Thomas Pollock, owner of many acres in this section; he was a leader of the government party in North Carolina under the Lords Proprietors. Pollocksville in Colonial days was the center for a number of plantations on which remain a few houses of faded splendor. The railroad skirting the eastern boundary of the village carries logs from here to mills at New Bern.
At 73 m. is the junction with State 12.
Right on State 12, which runs through tobacco and cotton farms and past oak groves that formerly surrounded fine plantation homes. TRENTON, 10 m. (28 alt., 500 pop.), the seat of Jones County, is built half around Brock Mill Pond, where huge gnarled cypress trees, shrouded with Spanish moss, shade unruffled blue water. The Brock mill has operated continuously since before the Civil War.
Several Revolutionary skirmishes occurred within 6 miles of this hamlet. The old courthouse with its records was burned by Union troops in 1863.
Jones County, formed in 1779, is an agricultural region with a few lumber mills. It has a forested area of about 200,000 acres, more than half of which are swampland.
George Washington on his southern journey in 1791 deviated from the direct route to visit Trenton. He stopped at the Old Shingle House, then a tavern. The shingles have been removed from the sides of the structure, which has been remodeled to serve as a dwelling.
The Thomas Webber House, Jones St., is an old, two-story frame structure that has been modernized. Wooden pegs were used in its construction. The first court held in Jones County met here in 1784.
MAYSVILLE, 78 m. (42 alt., 797 pop.), is near broad savannas and a number of ponds where in Colonial times attempts were made to raise rice. On the western side, pine forests grow to the rear doors of the houses.
The border of CROATAN NATIONAL FOREST, the first created in coastal North Carolina, is near the eastern edge of the town. Purchase of a tract of 306,300 acres has been authorized, and in 1936, 113,000 were under Federal control. Five lakes are within the area.
Left from Maysville on the Catfish Rd. to Catfish Lake, 3 m., in the Croatan National Forest. Deer and other game are found in the bog lands of the section. The lake is in the Lake Pocosin area, characterized by a permanently saturated peaty soil, overlying sand or sandy loam. There is a sparse growth of trees, mostly black pine, and a dense undergrowth of evergreen shrubs and vines. In places the streams are coffee-colored. The pocosin is typical of swamps in eastern North Carolina.
2. Left from Maysville on the Maysville-Swansboro Rd. to the Yellowhouse Field, 4.5 m., site of the home of Gen. John Starkey, member of the Committee of Safety in Colonial days. Phoebe Warburton, a sister of Starkey who lived near the Yellowhouse Field, educated girls in her home.
At 7 m. is the three-story frame Home of Daniel Russell, Governor of North Carolina 1897-1901. The burial place of Governor Russell is on Hickory Hill, near Yellowhouse Field.
South of Maysville, in the long straight stretch where US 17 parallels the railroad, is KELLUM, 91 m., a flag station on the ACL; S. of it is scrubby, burnt-over woodland.
JACKSONVILLE, 95 m. (15 alt., 783 pop.), seat of Onslow County stands on bay-like New River, known in the early 18th century for the great plantations that lined its banks, and for three
long-gone courthouses that stood upon its bluffs (1734-1752). Dominating the village from a small, central square is the present Courthouse, a red brick structure, sixth courthouse in the county in two centuries. Two earlier buildings stood on the same site, the first built 1757-1761.
Jacksonville is surrounded by broad fields, forests, and impenetrable swamps. Agriculture sets the tempo of the slow-moving community life. New River provides some income from fishing and oyster culture. Tobacco is the money crop, but peanuts, cotton, and corn are also produced.
The earliest mention of Wantland's Ferry, the village that became Jacksonville, occurs in records of court held there in July 1757. The site having been chosen for the county seat, one acre convenient to the river and a spring was purchased from James Wantland, who also agreed to lay out such further land as was needed at 20 shillings a half acre.
In 1761 citizens started a lottery to raise money for clearing a channel in New River, but this form of promotion was subsequently banned by the British Crown. New River is the only large river in North Carolina with headwaters and mouth in the same county. It is 5 miles wide at the mouth, where extensive oyster beds are under cultivation. New River oysters grow singly instead of in clusters. Being large and of an unusual flavor, they command a high price.
The Burns House, on the eastern edge of town in the rear of the new school, is a three-story frame structure believed to have been built about 1800.
Left from Jacksonville on partly paved State 24 to HUBERT, 15 m., a tiny farming community lying in a low swampy area.
SWANSBORO, 20 m. (10 alt., 394 pop.), dating from the 18th century, is a comparatively isolated fishing village and minor resort on the western bank, near the mouth of Whiteoak River, overlooking the eastern end of shallow Bogue Sound and Bogue Inlet. Visible across the sound and inlet are grasscapped white sand dunes on Bogue Island. Narrow shell-paved or sandy streets, general stores, fish houses, a small post office, and unhurried inhabitants, characterize the town. A long wooden bridge and a causeway carry State 24 from the waterfront to the further bank of the river, connecting the town with Morehead City and the resort area on the coast.
Land at the mouth of the Whiteoak River was settled about 1720 and trade was carried on by boats using Bogue Inlet. In the middle 1700's the village was known as New Town, but in 1783, when it was chartered, the name was changed
to the present one, either because of the number of wild whistling swans nearby or to honor some prominent citizen.
A peculiar law gave control of the town's affairs to a board of managers who were permitted to perpetuate themselves in office by naming their own successors.
South of Jacksonville US 17, following the old dirt road over which George Washington once traveled, is nearly level, traversing a wooded country where for several miles few farms are seen. The long white ribbon of highway stretches like an aisle through groves of tall longleaf pine and between broad meadows. There are many natural gardens of wild flowers, some of them covering hundreds of acres and all having blooms every month of the year but January. Many flowers of this region are curious as well as beautiful. Here grow the insectivorous plants including the pitcherplants, of which the trumpet is commonest, and the sundews, best known of which is the Venus's fly-trap. The Carolina yellow jessamine and azalea grow in abundance. In spring the savannas are blue with butterwort and iris. In the fall the tall purple spikes of the iron weed rise above a sea of yellow goldenrod. Asters bloom in November and December.
At VERONA, 101 m., is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on this dirt road to the SITE OF THE LOST TOWN OF JOHNSTON, 5 m., on a bluff overlooking New River. The town, holding Onslow County's third courthouse, was demolished by a tornado in 1752. Destruction was so complete that a sum was appropriated by the assembly for relief of the victims. The effort of the Royal Governor, Arthur Dobbs, to have a new courthouse built at Johnston failed because of the site's inaccessibility.
At FOLKSTONE, 111 m. is the junction with State 38.
Left on State 38, a dirt road, is SNEADS FERRY, 9 m., a hamlet having about 100 inhabitants and offering limited accommodations to sportsmen who fish in the vicinity of New River Inlet. A free ferry connects the village with MARINES, 10 m. (300 pop.), on the opposite shore of New River. At 10.7 m., is Courthouse Bay, the site of the first courthouse of Onslow County, which was built in 1734 or earlier. In this vicinity were the first settlements made along New River.
HAMPSTEAD, 129 m., is a small village surrounded by beautiful woodlands. Here a fiddlers’ contest is held each fall, at which prizes usually in the form of merchandise are awarded; the first prize one year was a mule. Spreading live-oaks, draped with Spanish moss, press close to the highway.
Left from Hampstead on a dirt road that winds through the woods to the water,
about 1 m., where boats and guides can be hired for fishing. Topsail Inlet nearby is a popular spot among anglers. Bluefish, drum, sheepshead, and mackerel are plentiful in season.
South of Hampstead is (R) the Washington Tree, a large live-oak marked by the Stamp Defiance Chapter, D.A.R., as the tree under which Washington stopped to rest on his way to Wilmington in 1791.
The highway traverses forests of loblolly pine, sprinkled with young growths of longleaf pine, and fields of wild flowers.
SCOTTS HILL, 134 m. (49 pop.), on the Pender-New Hanover County Line, consists of a few houses standing in groves of moss-covered oaks.
Passing BAYMEADE, 140 m., US 17 enters a longleaf pine plantation where the resinous sap is gathered. Small cups, attached below a double series of slanting incisions in the bark, collect the oozing fluid. This farm, similar to others in the section, extends 3 miles along both sides of the highway.
US 17 enters Wilmington from the N. along an avenue of spreading, moss-hung oaks.
WILMINGTON, 146 m. (52 alt., 32,270 pop.) (see N. C. GUIDE.)
Railroad Stations. Seaboard Air Line, end of Brunswick St.; Atlantic Coast Line, Red Cross and Front Sts.
Accommodations. Four hotels; boarding houses, tourist homes.
Points of Interest. Cornwallis Headquarters, St. James Church and Churchyard, Bellamy Mansion, Anderson Residence, De Rossett House, Dudley Home, Thalian Hall, Oakdale Cemetery.
US 17 runs W. on Market St. to 3rd St. and R. on 3rd St., crossing the Cape Fear River on beautiful Twin Bridges. Along the causeway grow many flowers, some of whose progenitors were brought from foreign ports in the soil used as ballast for ships. In the woods the waterlily, marsh bluebell, a variety of clematis, marsh aster, spiderlily, marshmallow, and numerous other flowers abound. Open spaces are covered with marsh-grass and cattails. The road continues across two more bridges, one spanning Alligator Creek and the other the Brunswick River, to which many fishermen and duck hunters come.
SUPPLY, 175 m. (110 pop.), is a hamlet where guides can be hired for deer and quail hunting in season.
Left from Supply on a dirt road to LOCKWOOD'S FOLLY INLET, 5 m., whose name appears on maps as early as 1671. Lockwood probably came from
Bermuda; the rest of the name refers to his foolhardiness in starting a settlement so exposed to both sea and Indians by whom it was promptly destroyed. On the beach are skeletons of several Confederate blockade-runners, scuttled when penned in by Federal gunboats or sunk by gunfire from Union vessels. Among the wrecks lying between the mouth of the Cape Fear River and the mouth of Little River are those of the Spunky, the Georgiana McCaw, the Bendigo, the Elizabeth, the Ranger, the Dare, and the Vesta. Other wrecks line the coast N. of the mouth of Cape Fear.
SHALLOTTE, 183 m. (214 pop.), offers fishing in the Shallotte River as an attraction to visitors. Boats and guides can be hired in the village. In 1729, according to the Pennsylvania Gazette of April 29, 1731, this village was known as Shelote, but there is no indication of the origin of the settlement or of the name. According to the same issue of the newspaper, Lockwood's Folly (see above) was spelled Lockard. The country near the village saw some unpleasant activity by night riders in 1936-7.
US 17 crosses the South Carolina Line at 198 m.
SOUTH CAROLINANorth Carolina Line — Georgetown — Charleston — Walterboro — Georgia Line, 234.6 m. US 17.
Between Charleston and the Georgia Line the Atlantic Coast Line R.R. parallels the route.
Paved, level roadbed.
Accommodations: hotels in larger towns supplemented in spring and summer by those at resorts.
Section 9. North Carolina Line to Charleston, 119.3 m. US 17
US 17 follows what was the King's Highway of Colonial times, which in turn followed an Indian trail. It was formerly known locally as the Georgetown Road or the Wilmington Road, according to the direction in which travelers were going. This highway sometimes dips seaward among the wind-blown clumps of myrtle, then veers back landward through tall pine groves, only to swing east again along the salt marshes.
Varying in altitude from approximately 9 to 15 feet, the route is truly level. It passes the sites of ancient Indian towns and of early Spanish and French attempts at settlement, and traverses the later baronies of Colonial Carolina, Revolutionary battlefields, and antebellum plantations.
Bishop Francis Asbury, as persistent as the Hound of Heaven, traveled up and down the coast (1771-1815) in his efforts to establish Methodism in a country predominantly Anglican. His labors were tremendous and his physical endurance almost superhuman, as he toiled through the river swamps, sometimes in a carriage but more often on horseback. Another constant traveler was Mason Locke Weems, selling books to aristocrats and gatherers at wayside taverns and collecting the anecdotes he used to point morals in his lurid tracts.
George Washington followed the road on his presidential tour, entering the State from North Carolina on April 27, 1791 with his lumbering entourage. He remarked, “It may as well in this as in any other place, be observed, that the country from Wilmington through which the Road passes, is, except in very small spots, much the same as what has already been described; that is to say, sand & pine barrens
— with very few inhabitants — we were indeed informed that at some distance from the Road on both sides the land was of a better quality, & thicker settled, but this could only be on the Rivers & larger waters — for a perfect sameness seems to run through all the rest of the country — on these — especially the swamps and low lands on the Rivers, the Soil is very rich; and productive when reclaimed; but to do this is both laborious and expensive.”
Through the years there have been many visitors, each commenting on the country with curiosity, with envy, or with admiration, according to his interests. Audubon found wild life to delight him in the coastal swamps and Bartram found the rare Gordonia and Venus's fly-trap, which still grow in secluded spots near the route. Audubon on his way to Charleston spoke of “Travelling through the woods already rendered delightfully fragrant by the clusters of yellow jessamines that bordered them, I arrived in safety at Charleston.” In early spring, the pinelands are lacy with white dogwood bloom; later the bay, then the magnolia, fill the air with their heavy sweet fragrance. On glassy, black lagoons golden waterlilies and blue waterhyacinths float above the reflections of gray-bearded trees. There is a feeling of eeriness about the area when moonlight shines through the broken walls of the scattered chapels of ease, when the Jack-o’-lantern glows in the swamps, and when the bull alligator bellows through the stillness to a minor accompaniment of owls.
Animal life exists in such great variety — including the white egret that nests in secluded islands — that several bird sanctuaries have been created in this area. There are herds of deer and flocks of wild turkeys. The fur trade, dealing mostly in deer skins procured from the Indians, brought to South Carolina her first prosperity.
US 17 crosses the North Carolina Line, 0 m., and traverses Horry County (pronounced O-ree’), unique along the coastal section of this State in that its population is preponderantly white. Called the Independent Republic of Horry, this county was long isolated from the rest of the State by vast swamplands. Its chief industries, lumbering and the production of naval stores, did not require slave labor and were carried on by white settlers who came from North Carolina. Racial antagonism in the area has been so pronounced in some localities that Negroes have been afraid to “let the sun go down on them.” Recently the construction of roads and establishment of schools have alleviated this situation to some extent.
Little River, 2 m., a hamlet formerly facetiously known as Yankee Town because of its North Carolina settlers, was at one time a place of some importance, with regular seagoing steamer service to Wilmington, N. C. The women seen in summer operating sewing machines on the piazzas are always glad to talk with travelers.
Left from the northern edge of Little River village, on an unpaved road to the banks of the Little River, 0.5 m. (small hotel), a wide salt stream, now traversed by the Inland Waterway. Huge oaks furnish delightful shade for picnicking and motorboats can be hired here for fishing in the Atlantic.
At 5.4 m., just S. of a bridge spanning the Inland Waterway, is the junction with a dirt road marked Cherry Grove Beach.
Left on this road to a fork 1 m.; R. here 3 m. through dense woodland and salt marshes to CHERRY GROVE BEACH, a little resort, especially popular among those who like to fish. It stands on a tract called Miner's Island that was granted to John Allston in 1767. During the Civil War there was a plant here boiling sea-water to obtain salt.
From Cherry Grove it is possible at low tide to travel along the hard-packed shore nearly 20 miles S. to Myrtle Beach. Two swashes, unimportant at low tide, are at high tide likely to demolish a car. Of one of these George Washington wrote: “Mr. Vareen piloted us across the swash (which at high water is impassable, & at times, by the shifting of Sands, is dangerous) on the Long Beach of the ocean; and it being at proper time of the tide we passed along it with ease and celerity to the place of quitting it.”
The main side road turns L. at the fork and leads to Little River NECK, 5.5 m., at the end of which are traces of the Breastworks of Fort Randall, attacked and captured by Federal naval forces in 1864.
This sheltered inlet was reputedly used by the pirate Blackbeard and his band. Legend also makes it a headquarters of various other buccaneers, such as Stede Bonnet, Worley and Captain Kidd. Local treasure-hunters believe that they will some day find vast treasure concealed by the outlaws in some of the numerous small fresh-water lakes nearby.
At 10.3 m. is the junction with a marked road.
Left on this road is ATLANTIC BEACH, 0.5 m., for Negroes.
A filling station (R), 12 m., is on the land of a plantation where George Washington was entertained on his first night in South Carolina in 1791. The oak tree on the lawn and the chimney of the old house are visible from the highway. An old Negro on the place used to explain that the numerous sand spurs along this route came from the hay Washington brought with him to feed his horses.
The million-dollar Ocean Forest Hotel, 19.1 m. (L), is on the
Myrtle Beach Estates. This land was once too inaccessible to be included in the baronies that were parcelled out when the Lords Proprietors of the Province planned a complex government and an elaborately graded society for the area granted by Charles II. The Fundamental Constitutions drawn up for them by John Locke provided for the titles of landgrave and cacique, to be held by the major landowners according to the size of their estates, but the vastness of the unsettled areas of the continent and the need for conciliating members of the less exalted ranks soon broke down the undemocratic system. Hobcaw (see below) was on one of these baronies.
MYRTLE BEACH, 23.2 m. (12 alt.), a long established resort (bathing, boating, fishing), has in the past few years, changed from a large summer colony of beach houses to a year-round community with attractive and substantial homes.
The thick growth of myrtles that give this beach its name bear waxy berries from which candles were formerly made for export. Other interesting forms of plant life are found here; within 2 miles of the town, in an area of less than 10 acres, more than a hundred different species have been officially catalogued.
Adjacent to the southern end of Myrtle Beach, a section on Withers’ Swash called SPIVEY or YAUPON BEACH, is a formation called The Rocks. This ledge extends into the sea providing still-water bathing and, at low tide, excellent crabbing.
The Yaupon or Cassina holly, a decorative evergreen plant abundant in this region, furnished the American Indian with “the holy drink of the cuseena plant prepared for their religious ceremonies.” (See Side Route A.) Near Charleston, tea is still made from the leaves. In winter when other foods are scarce, its quantities of scarlet berries are eaten by the red birds and mocking birds.
MYRTLE BEACH STATE PARK, 26.6 m. (bathhouse, playgrounds, picnic grounds, fireplaces), being developed by the South Carolina Department of Forestry, is a recreational area with 321 acres of beach and sand dunes.
Bordered on one side by longleaf pine forests and on the other side by the Atlantic Ocean, this park is one of the most beautiful in the State. The bathhouse, 150 feet long, has an assembly hall and open terraces. The park cabins are rented to the general public at a nominal cost and by the highway is a public camp ground.
Southwest of Myrtle Beach along the highway are many signs
NEAR CHARLESTON, South CarolinaST. MICHAELS, CHARLESTON, South Carolina
pointing down sandy roads to private estates. Most of these are not open to the public.
MURRELLS INLET, 35 m. (210 pop.), until 1914 called Laurel, is supposedly named for a pirate captain, but may have been renamed for some early settlers. It is a fisherman's paradise. Crabs, soft shell-crabs, oysters, clams, shrimp, mussels, and terrapin are numerous; the last has high commercial value, bringing as much as $70 a dozen on the New York market, but for some years there has been a closed season to protect them from extermination. All winter mullet are caught in nets. Many natives earn livings by fishing for them at night from rowboats with the aid of forked gigs and lightwood torches. The flickering lights from the fire-pans of the strikers, as these night fishermen are called, appear like jack-o’-lanterns moving over the marshes. In early spring shad taken from the Waccamaw River bring fancy prices.
Sunnyside (L), 35.2 m., home of Mott Allston, was built in Civil War times. Here later lived Dr. Cleveland Bigham, who one sunset, shot his lovely young wife on the lonely beach, saying he thought she was a ghost.
The Hermitage, built in 1849, was the home of two beautiful Alice Flaggs. The body of the first, who died of typhoid fever before the Civil War, was kept for a long time in a glass-covered coffin before her brothers reluctantly buried her in All Saints Chapel, under a flat slab marked Alice. Twin portraits had been made of this Alice by a kinsman, George Flagg; one of these is now in the possession of a member of the du Pont family, the other hangs at Brookgreen (see below).
The second Alice, niece of the first, lost her mother when quite young, and led a life of isolation with her father. When a suitor came to the Hermitage to take her buggy-riding, her father firmly offered his saddle horse to the young man, saying, “I will ride by my daughter's side in the buggy. Being younger and more agile, you will find the saddle comfortable.” As a result of his tactics Alice, who died in 1936, some years past her four-score was never married.
By the Murrells Inlet post office, 36.7 m., is the junction with a rough, sandy road.
Right on this road to a fork, 1.4 m.; L. from the fork to a fork at 2 m.; R. here 0.5 m. to Wachesaw Plantation (private), by the Waccamaw River. This property, now a hunting preserve, is the Site of an Indian Village where 13
skeletons have been uncovered, as well as bones in containers; graves have yielded trade beads, a copper anklet, and a spoon.
Left at the 2 m. fork 1 m. to a public landing where Negroes from Sandy Island barter rough rice for potatoes and groceries. On their native island across the Waccamaw, they thresh the rice in an old mortar hollowed from a cypress log, using a pestle cut by hand. These Negroes are described in Black April, the novel by Julia Peterkin. Sandy Island is inaccessible except by boat. The Negroes paddle across the river to or from their work on the Brookgreen Estate. Before the railroad arrived this was an important landing. Here the rice and later, fish and clams, were loaded for shipment. Lumber, building materials, fertilizers, and all other supplies arrived from Conway and Georgetown aboard the old side-wheelers, the Burroughs and the Mitchell C.
At 36.9 m. is the junction with a marked sandy road.
Right on this road 1 m. is a private Museum (adm. 10¢ & 25¢), containing about 2,000 exhibits — stuffed birds, fish, and animals, Indian relics, and strange souvenirs.
Brookgreen Gardens (R), 40.1 m. (open), formerly the Alstons’ plantation was purchased in 1930 for $200,000 by Archer Milton Huntington who gave it to the State for an open-air museum. The estate, covering 4,444 acres, has a collection of native plants, a zoo, numerous fountains and pools, and 130 pieces of statuary, some by well-known artists. Approximately $500,000 has been expended on development and Mr. Huntington has provided a trust fund of approximately $1,200,000 for maintenance.
The game sanctuary already contains many specimens of native wildlife including bears, turkeys, and swans, and will eventually be stocked with every variety known to the region. Many of the marbles and bronzes are the work of Mr. Huntington's wife, Anna Hyatt Huntington, who is represented in the Metropolitan, Luxembourg and Edinburgh museums.
Mr. Huntington's purchase included, in addition to the original Brookgreen, three other old rice plantations, Laurel Hill, Springfield, and The Oaks. Brookgreen is the Blue Brook plantation setting of Scarlet Sister Mary, Pulitzer prize novel, by Julia Peterkin.
At 44.3 m. is the junction with a dirt road marked Litchfield.
Right on this road to a junction at 1.5 m.; R. here to All Saints Chapel, 2 m., founded in 1767. The present building, erected in 1916, is a copy of the pre-Revolutionary church; in the churchyard, enclosed by a brick wall, are ancient magnolias, oaks, and azaleas shading tombstones with records of the old plantation families.
Litchfield (private), 2.6 m. (L), a private estate, is admired for its avenue of unusually beautiful and large oaks visible from the road. One of these oaks is more than 20 feet in circumference.
At 3.3 m. is Willbrook Plantation (L), another private estate partly visible from the road.
At 45.8 m. is the junction with a shell road.
Left on this road to PAWLEY'S ISLAND, 0.5 m., named for Percival Pawley; it is the oldest of the resorts between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown. Yucca, beach-cedar, palmetto, and myrtle cover the landward slope of the sand dunes. The older summer homes are built behind the dunes, with steps winding up to lookouts on the summits, and down to the beach. The newer cottages are on the open sands.
At 53.9 m. the highway passes Hobcaw (private), granted to Sir George Carteret, one of the Proprietors, and now owned by Mr. Bernard M. Baruch.
About 2 miles from the coast here is North Island (reached by boat), on which De Kalb and Lafayette landed in June 1777 when, inspired by the ideals under which the American Revolution was being carried on, they arrived to assist the colonists.
They wandered about cutting undergrowth out of their way with swords. Finally some slaves met them and led them to the house where the Hugers (pronounced U-jee) were temporarily residing for the sea bathing. After ascertaining that the sympathy of their host was with the revolutionists, they revealed the purpose of their journey and were assisted in reaching General Washington. Seventeen years later, Francis Kinloch Huger, the son of Lafayette's host, was traveling on the Continent after studying medicine in London. Learning that Lafayette had been imprisoned by the Austrians at Olmutz, he and another physician effected Lafayette's escape to the frontier. Here all three were captured and put into prison. After their release Lafayette maintained a close friendship with the family, and a cousin of Dr. Huger's married one of Lafayette's nieces.
At 55 m. US 17 crosses the Lafayette Bridge; it was completed in 1935; the toll removed August 1, 1937.
GEORGETOWN, 58 m. (14 alt., 5,082 pop.), is a terminus for river trade and a winter resort (hunting, fishing, swimming and yachting; ample accommodations), at the head of Winyah Bay (Ind., bog or lowlands) which is at the confluence of the Sampit, Black, Waccamaw, and Peedee rivers. Georgetown, named for George II, then Prince of Wales, is one of the oldest settlements in the State. Organized in 1721 the town was laid out in large and uniform squares on a 247-acre tract, donated by the Reverend William Screven. It was a thriving little seaport, dealing in naval stores, rice and indigo, which were
shipped down the river in vast quantities to Winyah Bay. Planters built their homes along the shores of the bay and along the banks of the tributary rivers. Ships sailed for England bearing produce and returned with goods for the colonists. The indigo trade perished with the Revolution and rice growing was abandoned soon afterward. In the journal of his travels the Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury exclaimed of the rice plantations near Georgetown: “What blanks are in this country — how much worse are the rice plantations: If a man-of-war is ‘floating hell’ These are standing ones; wicked masters, overseers, and Negroes — cursing, drinking — no Sabbaths; no sermons.”
The town is now entering a new phase of development, one of the largest kraft mills in the world being under construction here. (See INTRODUCTION.)
On the corner of Highmarket and Broad Sts. is the Protestant Episcopal Church, Parish of Prince George, Winyah, which was founded in 1721. The church was used as a stable by the British during the Revolution.
The Market, Front and Screven Sts., erected in 1841, was the old slave market. It has a clock tower. A tablet on the building commemorates the landing of Lafayette on North Island in 1777.
The cornerstone of the Courthouse, at Prince and Screven Sts., was laid in 1824 with Masonic rites.
The Masonic Temple, on Prince St. opposite the courthouse, was erected in 1735 as a bank.
According to tradition, the old Pyatt House, on Front St. between Wood and King Sts., housed George Washington on his southern tour of 1791. One of the important events of his visit to Georgetown was a luncheon given in his honor by the Winyah Indigo Society; this socio-economic organization, now entirely social, was founded in 1740. Dues, paid in indigo, went largely for education of children in the county. The present owners of the house are descendants of the Alstons who built it. It was from Georgetown that Theodosia Burr Alston embarked in 1812 to visit her father, Aaron Burr. (See SIDE ROUTE A.)
South of Georgetown, somewhere along the coast of Winyah Bay, is the spot on which a Spanish settlement existed for a short time in 1526. Five hundred colonists arrived in care of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon of Santo Domingo, bringing with them extensive domestic
equipment, 89 horses, and a number of slaves. After their leader died, dissension arose among the colonists and a slave revolt, Indian attacks, and disease added to the unhappiness of the situation. When the Santa Clara sailed back to Spain she carried the 150 survivors.
At 65.5 m. is the junction with a marked sandy road.
Left on this road, being careful not to leave the worn track. Follow signs to a junction at 2.8 m.; R. here to the Belle Isle Gardens, 3.3 m. (adm. $1; best season early to late spring). Noted for their japonicas and azaleas, which attain astonishing size and have exquisite colors, the gardens also contain the breastworks of the fort, BATTERY WHITE, built during the Civil War. The great iron cannon have “1864” cut deep into their surfaces. Out across the water can be seen the hulk of the federal supply ship, Harvest Moon, sunk by a mine during the Civil War. Belle Isle was at one time owned by General Peter Horry, for whom Horry County (see above) is named; he was a friend and fellow officer of General Francis Marion during the Revolution.
At 71.1 m. is the junction with a sandy road.
Right on this road to Hopsewee (open), 0.6 m., the home of Thomas Lynch, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Built in 1740, the gray plantation home and outbuildings are beautifully placed among massive oaks on the northern bank of the Santee River.
The bridge, 71.7 m., over the North Santee River, offers a glimpse of the main house of Hopsewee (R) through the gray and green of the moss and oaks.
At 74 m. is the junction with an overgrown road.
Left on this road to Fairfield Plantation (private), 0.4 m., used as Tarleton's headquarters during the Revolution. The present house was built about 1790 by General Thomas Pinckney and is now owned by members of his family.
At 75 m. is SANTEE (guides for the Peachtree or Bowman Plantation or for the Daniel Huger Monument), a filling station at the junction with a cross road.
1. Left on this road past several private estates partly visible through their entrance lanes. At 0.8 m. is the junction with a cross road; L. here to Harrietta (open), 1.6 m. The handsome frame building, in the plantation style, was built for Harriett Pinckney, grand-daughter of Chief Justice Pinckney. The gardens here are notable.
El Dorado Plantation (open), E. of Harrietta, was the second home of Gen. Thomas Pinckney, built later than Fairfield, by his own carpenters; it is suggestive of a French chateau.
2. Right from Santee on the cross road to an obscure lane at 1 m.; R. 1 m. on this road (local guide needed in following it) to the Ruins of Peachtree, or Bowman
Plantation. In Revolutionary days this crumbling brick structure, overlooking a tarn of the Santee River, was the home of Thomas Lynch, father of the signer of the Declaration of Independence. Its aspect is as forbidding as are the copperhead snakes that inhabit it. Among the ruins is a well eight feet in diameter with a well-curb built of the same dun-colored brick as are the remaining walls.
Near the house is the grave of one of the daughters of the Lynch family, who, the story is, was buried in a standing position. Thomas Lynch and his wife were lost at sea while on a trip to the Barbadoes.
West of the junction with the lane leading to the old plantation at 1.5 m. from Santee is the intersection with the old King's Highway.
Left 2.2 m. on the King's Highway to St. James (Santee) Church, built in 1768, the fourth church erected in St. James Parish. The broad, low, red brick structure with four crude brick columns is in excellent condition. The frame pediment of the portico has classical proportions. Occasional services using the old pulpit Bible and prayer book are held there. During the Revolution this Bible and prayer book were seized by a British soldier and taken to England. A British officer who had been befriended by a member of St. James church during the campaign in South Carolina, saw the inscriptions in the books, bought them, and returned them to his Carolina friend. Today they are kept at Hampton Plantation.
The main side road continues beyond the intersection with the King's Highway. At 1.9 m. from Santee is the junction with another dirt side road; R. here 0.4 m. to Hampton Plantation (open), one of the few old estates in the area still operated by a southern owner. Construction of the dwelling was begun in the early days of the Colony but not completed until after the Revolution. George Washington, on his southern trip, stopped here for breakfast on Sunday morning, May 1, 1791 and, when taking leave of his hosts, commented on a young oak tree in front of the house, remarking that one day it would be the grandest of all the oaks on the place. The tree, still there, is now called the Washington Oak. This plantation, now belonging to members of the Rutledge family, was the birthplace and childhood home of Archibald Rutledge, South Carolina's poet laureate (1937).
At 5.9 m. from Santee on the main side road is the junction with yet another country road; R. here (local guide needed) 0.8 m. to the Daniel Huger Monument, erected in 1820. Huger (pronounced U-jee), one of the earliest settlers on the Santee was buried near the spot in 1711. Born at Turenne in 1651, Huger fled to avoid the persecution of the Hugenots that followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This monument, which was erected by Elias Horry, also honors his great-great-grandfather, Elias Horry, whose nearby estate, called Wambaw when it was owned by Huger, is known today as the Waterhorn Plantation.
At 80.8 m. is the junction with an improved marked road and with State 179 (L) which unites with US 17 for 0.5 m. and then turns R.
Left on State 179 is McCLELLANVILLE, 0.5 m. (600 pop.), which rose in
the early 1850's as a colony of summer homes belonging chiefly to the owners of rice plantations. From May till November the rice fields were flooded with water, providing an excellent breeding place for the malarial mosquitoes; the inhabitants, plagued by the disease and unaware of its cause, blamed it on the miasmas arising from manmade swamps. Sometimes as many as 50 slaves were carried along on the annual migrations because the owners did not wish to separate the Negro families for so long a period.
A participant thus described the treks: “At the end of May my father's entire household migrated to the sea, which was only 4 miles to the east of Chicora as the crow flies, but was only to be reached by going 7 miles in a rowboat and 4 miles by land. The vehicles, horses, cows, furniture, bedding, trunks, and provisions were all put into great flats, some 60 by 20 feet, others even larger, at first dawn, and sent ahead. Then the family got into the rowboat and were rowed down the Peedee, then through Squirrel Creek, with vines tangled above them and water-lilies and flags and wild roses and scarlet lobelia all along the banks, and every now and then hands would stop their song a moment to call out, ‘Missy, a alligator’ . . . There were six splendid oarsmen, who sang the moment the boat got well under way.” The songs the boatmen sang are still known to older generations along the coast; each plantation group had individual variations that are evident today.
In McClellanville are fine examples of ante-bellum architecture. Several oyster factories here formerly employed many hands, but the industry is not now flourishing. Cape Romain Lighthouse, visible from the town, is interesting because of a noticeable list. Although it has been leaning for 70 years, the list is not considered dangerous and the lenses have been adjusted to the peculiar angle.
THE CAPE ROMAIN MIGRATORY BIRD REFUGE, containing 61,986 acres, is one of the largest wildlife retreats on the Atlantic coast; headquarters are at McClellanville. The refuge includes Bull's Island, and has 25 miles of salt and fresh-water frontage.
In the sheltered swamps live numerous waterfowl and birds, including great herons, Louisiana herons, black-crowned night herons, ring-billed gulls, plovers, brown pelicans, royal terns, and ducks of many varieties. Wild turkey, deer, and wild hogs abound. Because of the abundance of aquatic vegetation the waters of the area are teeming with fish.
At 81.3 m. is the junction (R) with State 179.
Right from US 17 on State 179 is HONEY HILL, 10 m. Around this hamlet is a region long noted for the potent products of illicit distilling. During prohibition days many northern tourists came here to obtain some of its celebrated “corn”.
South of the junction with State 179 numbers of the young pine trees in the groves lining the highway have little buckets fastened to them below a space where the bark has been skinned away (see INTRODUCTION); the exudate caught thus is used in the manufacture of naval stores. Nearly all the Negro cabins seen from the
highway in this area have dormer windows, called dog houses. Along the roadside in front of the houses are frequent displays of baskets. Weaving baskets of grasses is an art handed down by these Negroes from generation to generation.
At 99.6 m. is the junction with an improved road.
Right on this road to a junction at 5.6 m.; L. here to a junction at 10.5 m.; L. 0.3 m. at this junction to WANDO, a solitary little hamlet on a bank of the Wando River. (Better reached by daily boat from Charleston, for visit to White Brick Church.)
Just N. of the Wando road junction, at 10.6 m. from US 17, is the junction with a dirt road, branching between a cabin and a tiny schoolhouse. Right 2.4 m. on this road to the White Brick Church, an attractive little chapel erected in 1732 and still in good condition. It was the place of worship for the prosperous families owning rice plantations in the neighborhood. In the cemetery are many old tombstones with inscriptions of antiquarian interest. Those buried here lived in the houses of the vicinity that are now either heaps of crumbling stone or mere mounds overgrown with vines and grasses, the haunts of wild turkeys and of deer.
At 100.5 m. is a junction with a shell road.
Right on this road to Wappetaw Cemetery, 0.2 m., under magnificent oaks The church that stood here was founded in 1696 by a colony of 52 Congregationalists from New England. Here Cornwallis’ army encamped during the Revolutionary War, before marching to take possession of Haddrell's Point — now Remley's Point — when Charleston capitulated in 1780.
Christ Church, 108.9 m. (L), is a small white structure built after the Revolution to replace one destroyed by fire. This church, third on the site, was restored in 1876, having been much damaged during the Civil War, when it was used as a stable. The register of the congregation, dating from 1694, has been preserved. In the surrounding cemetery is the Grave of Col. Charles Pinckney (1757-1824), a signer of the Constitution who was first buried on Snee Plantation.
MOUNT PLEASANT, 114.4 m. (25 alt., 1,415 pop.), is so called because of the mount, really a small hill, that seems higher than it is because of the flatness of the surrounding country. The town was a resort for coastal planters during the summer months (see above). The Mount Pleasant tract, containing about 47 acres, was formerly called Haddrell's Point. The hamlets of Greenwichville, Lucasville, and Hilliardsville were incorporated into the town of Mount Pleasant.
The Presbyterian Church, Hibben St., is an oblong frame structure having a portico with round columns. This was built as the chapel of ease for Wappetaw Church, Christ Church Parish. Some time before the Civil War, part of the congregation started to drift toward Presbyterianism, and about 1852 the present Presbyterian congregation was organized in this chapel. The building was used as a hospital both by the Confederates and the Federals. At the close of the war the congregation of Wappetaw gathered here to divide the property, the Episcopalians retaining possession of the church, the Presbyterians obtaining the chapel of ease.
The Hibben House, Hibben St., the oldest house in town, was the home of Andrew Hibben, planter, operator of Hibben's Ferry, and owner of a great deal of land. The structure, Southern Colonial in style, has a French balcony, tall square wooden columns supporting classic pediments, and, on the Cooper River side, large porches. The main structure has no nails, being mortised. The house was the headquarters of the Continental officers on parole in 1781, and here Gen. William Moultrie wrote the letter to Lord Montagu, in which he declined an offered commission in the British army.
At the end of Hibben St. is the Site of the Old Ferry Trolley Wharf. Hilliardsville Battery, washed away in recent years, was near it. The battery was Battery Gary of the Revolutionary War, and part of the harbor defense in the Civil War.
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, on State 703, a brown frame building, formerly was a chapel of ease of Christ Church. The original structure, standing by the side of the present St. Andrew's, was erected 1833-35, and is now used by a Masonic lodge. The present St. Andrew's Chapel was erected 1856-57, on the designs of Col. E. B. White, architect of the U. S. Custom House in Charleston.
At the rear of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Pitt St., is a Confederate Cemetery, in which stands a War of 1812 Monument. Mount Pleasant was for a time the seat of Berkeley County and the Baptist church was formerly the courthouse; after the county seat was moved to Monck's Corner, the courthouse was occupied for many years by the Lutheran Seminary; when the seminary moved to Columbia, the building was sold to the Baptist congregation. The Knights of Pythias have also met regularly in this two-story structure, which, contrary to the usual pattern of South Carolina courthouses, is of brick, with pilasters and interior steps.
In Mount Pleasant is the junction with State 703 (see SIDE ROUTE B).
The Cooper River Bridge, 115.5 m. (toll: car and driver 50¢, passengers 15¢ each; week end round trip, 75¢ for car and all passengers), a cantilever structure constructed by a private corporation at an approximated cost of $4,700,000, was opened to traffic August 8, 1929. Its channel span, rises 150 feet above high water; it has a length of 10,050 feet. Seen from the distance the long graceful bridge looks somewhat like a roller-coaster.
From the crest (no stopping on bridge allowed) is an excellent view of the surrounding country — the Wando and Cooper Rivers (R) and between them DANIELL'S ISLAND, the former plantation of Robert Daniell, Governor of the Colony 1716-1717. Negro residents of the island describe with details a local ghost — a British soldier in full uniform of Revolutionary times, who rides about on horseback. HOG ISLAND (L) is a stretch of marsh and highland adjacent to the western shore of Mount Pleasant. This land was granted to Edmund Bellinger in 1694, and here Jonathan Lucas built a windmill to use in his rice-cultivation experiments.
CHARLESTON, 119.3 m. (9 alt., 62,265 pop.) (see S. C. GUIDE).
Railroad Stations. Union Station, Columbus and Bay Sts., for Atlantic Coast Line and Southern R.R.; Seaboard Station, Grove St. and Rutledge Ave., for Seaboard Air Line R.R.
Piers. Clyde-Mallory, E. end of Queen St.; Cooper River Ferry, E. end of Cumberland St.; steamer to Ft. Sumter, foot of King St.; steamer to Ft. Moultrie, E. end of Cumberland St.; Municipal Yacht Basin, W. end of Calhoun St.
Accommodations. Hotels, tourist homes and tourist camps; rates much advanced in spring.
Points of Interest. St. Michael's Episcopal Church, St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Robert Brewton House, Miles Brewton (Pringle) House, Izard House, Hibernian Hall, Exchange Building, Charleston Museum, the Fireproof Building, the Battery, Cabbage Row, and others.
Section 10. Charleston to Georgia Line, 115.3 m. US 17
South of Charleston both the islands and the mainland are more populous than north of it. Many of the islands are inhabited only by Negroes, who in their isolation have evolved the Gullah dialect. A number of settlements along the coast are reached by boat alone.
The inhabitants gain livings chiefly by shrimping and oystering though they do some truck gardening.
The area here is much more tropical than is that around George-town; the rich soil still has much of the fertility that made early settlers introduce plants from foreign lands, hoping to increase the variety of the exports. The native vegetation has had high interest for botanists almost since the days of settlement.
South of CHARLESTON, 0 m., the highway crosses the Ashley River Bridge, dedicated to Charleston soldiers who served in the World War. This low-level concrete bascule-type structure was completed in 1926. Palmettos and oleanders line the causeway that crosses a wide marsh on the western side of the river. The highway is shaded by oaks dripping gray moss, but open fields are beyond them.
At 2 m. is the junction with Folly Beach Rd. (see SIDE ROUTE C).
At 3 m. is the junction with State 61 (see SIDE ROUTE D).
As the route proceeds S. it passes a number of large truck and dairy farms. Dotted here and there are the Negro tenant cabins, some of them having neither screens nor window-glass; the shutters and doors of many of the little houses are painted bright blue to keep out the spirits. Around them swarm babies and gangling mongrel dogs.
In connection with an agricultural experiment station, (L) 7.9 m., is a U. S. Regional Vegetable Breeding Laboratory, established in 1936.
South of the experimental station are stretches of marshland, salt creeks and old abandoned rice fields, against which are silhouetted clumps of evergreens.
At 12 m. is the Grave of Col. William A. Washington, a kinsman of George Washington who came to South Carolina after the Revolutionary War, establishing his home on a nearby plantation.
RANTOWLES, 13.2 m. (22 alt., 30 pop.), is a scattered collection of small farms. For several miles west of Rantowles the road passes through the quiet of a thick growth of pines.
At Rantowles is the junction (R) with an alternate to US 17 that saves 4.1 miles between this point and the Edisto River (see below).
HOLLYWOOD, 20 m. (28 alt.), is at the junction with an improved road.
Left on this road, which runs between cabbage patches, is MEGGETTS’ 1.5 m. (28 alt., 1,050 pop.), the shipping center of a large vegetable growing region. It is headquarters of a trucking association and has a stock exchange in
direct communication with the national produce exchanges. Local planters have been called Cabbage Kings and the town itself is known as The Cabbage Patch. Fortunes have been made and lost on the price fluctuations of this lowly vegetable. The chief crops in addition to cabbage are potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and spinach.
Shortly after the Revolutionary War, one traveler described this country around the Edisto River as being “remarkable for rich widows, frolic, and feasting . . . The cause of so many widows being there is easily discovered: that part of the country, though rich and fertile, is extremely unhealthful; this, added to the great intemperance of the men and the excesses of every kind they are perpetually involved in, generates acute bilious disorders which quickly carry them off.” The unhealthfulness of the country disappeared when the fields were no longer flooded for the raising of rice.
In ADAMS RUN, 26.5 m. (32 alt., 500 pop.), a former summer resort for the neighboring plantation owners (see Section 9), is the junction with the unpaved Edisto Beach Rd. (see SIDE TOUR E).
The Gonzales Home (private), 30.4 m. (L), a two-story white structure with a red roof, is seen through iron gates at the end of a green tunnel of beautiful live-oaks; from the trees hangs a haze of Spanish moss that appears silvery gray, or green-gray or misty purple, according to the light.
At 31.8 m. is the junction (R) with the shorter alternate to US 17 (opened 1937) (see above).
At 35 m. Jacksonboro Bridge crosses the Edisto River (boats rented for shad fishing), the boundary between Charleston and Colleton Counties.
At 35.7 m. (L) is JACKSONBORO, one of the many little towns of the area whose greatest period of prosperity and importance is long past. It was laid out between 1730 and 1740 on 400 acres of land that had been granted to John Jackson.
Jacksonboro was the seat of government for Colleton County till 1817, and the courthouse and jail and several other buildings were still standing in 1826. The legislature met here in 1782 when Charleston was in the hands of the British, and it was at this session that the confiscation and amercement acts against Royalists were passed.
Lieut. Anthony Allaire, who stopped here with the American volunteers, on their march from Savannah during the Revolution, gave this picture of the village: “After crossing, continued our march to Jacksonborough, on the Pon Pon or Edisto River. The most of the houses are very good; the people well do live; some large storehouses for rice, from which they take it by water to the Charleston market.
In short, it is a pleasant little place and well situated for trade, but the inhabitants are all Rebels — not a man remaining in the town, except two, one of whom was so sick he could not get out of bed, and the other a doctor, who had the name of being a friend to government.”
At 36 m. is a junction with State 32 (see SIDE ROUTE F).
At 37.6 m. is a junction with a marked dirt road.
Right on this road to the Col. Isaac Hayne Monument, 1.2 m., erected by the State in 1929. It bears the coat of arms of South Carolina and the crest of the Hayne family. Colonel Hayne was one of those who fell into the hands of the British when Charleston was captured in 1780; with many other citizens he received parole on condition that he maintain neutrality in the conflict. Having accepted the condition he refused to rejoin the Revolutionary forces until the British broke their end of the agreement made with the citizens. He then resumed command of his company but was captured and confined in the Old Exchange in Charleston and shortly afterward was hanged outside the city. His body was brought back to Hayne Hall and buried here in the garden.
The Site of Bethel Presbyterian Church, 38.5 m. (R), is marked by a sign. The congregation was established in 1728 by the Reverend Archibald Stobo, who built a church here. In 1828 a church was erected at Walterboro for use in the summer, and subsequently the structure here was abandoned, all services being held in Walterboro. Bethel has a complete set of records and minutes from the beginning to the present. The Grave of Capt. John Dant, for a short time commander of Old Ironsides, is here.
At 39.3 m. at a filling station is a junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to The Burned Church (R), 1 m. Today only brick walls mark the spot where St. Bartholomew's Chapel (Episcopal) was built shortly after the Indian War of 1715. Judge Aedanus Burke, founder of the Hibernian Society of Charleston, is buried in the desolate graveyard back of the ruins.
WALTERBORO, 51.8 m. (80 alt., 2,592 pop.), at the junction (L) with US 15 (see SIDE ROUTE F), is the seat of Colleton County, and was settled in the 18th century by rice planters. The winter climate is so mild that palmettos, oleanders, and azaleas grow without protection.
When the town's original name, Ireland Creek, fell into disfavor, two prominent citizens, Walter and Smith, each insisted on having the settlement named for him. Near the town, side by side, stood two lofty pines. Axes were given to Walter and Smith, who were told that
the first to fell his tree could name the town. At last Walter's tree quivered, and with its fall the town became Walterboro. Walter had lived at Jacksonboro, but after nine of his ten children had died, he moved here, bringing with him his one remaining child, Mary, who throve in her new environment.
The Walterboro Library, 127 Wichman St. (open Tues., Wed., Fri., 3 to 5 p.m.; Sat. 10 to 12 a.m.), contains 3,900 volumes, the oldest of which is a French prayer book published in 1716. The Walterboro Library Society was founded in 1820, when the building, a little white wooden structure with green blinds and roof, was erected.
In the center of the town is the Courthouse, built in 1820; the architect is said to have been Robert Mills. In 1828 the first public nullification meeting in the State was held here, and James Hamilton, Jr., delivered the keynote address that launched South Carolina on a course of action which was to make history.
The Confederate Monument, dedicated to the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, as well as the soldiers of the county, is a shaft on a heavy base, erected in 1913 on the Courthouse Square.
The first county jail, which was moved here from Jacksonboro, stood near the corner opposite the courthouse. About 1840 a new one was built a block and a half from the courthouse on Jeffries Blvd. This structure, of the Spanish type, is now a county building.
The old bell of Bethel Presbyterian Church, 26 Church St., is now silent but still treasured. It hung in old Bethel Church near Jacksonboro during the Revolution.
Among the many old homes with beautiful gardens in Walterboro is the Lucas House (private), Washington St., which contains 21 rooms. The nucleus of the structure, consisting of six rooms, was erected about the time the town was established. The garden is visible from the street.
The Fraser House (open), Wichman St., was built in 1859. Three of the doors came from the old courthouse at Jacksonboro. The gable windows came from Hayne Hall, near Jacksonboro (see above). The kitchen, which was some distance from the house, was destroyed by the cyclone of 1879; the present kitchen has diamond-shaped windows from St. Jude's Episcopal Church, also destroyed by the cyclone.
South of Walterboro the route proceeds through a flat region of swamps and occasional truck farms. Filling stations, tourist camps, and large signboards line the roadside.
At 62.8 m. is a marked dirt road (see SIDE ROUTE F).
YEMASSEE, 73 m. (12 alt., 589 pop.), is the trading center (train and bus connections) of an area having numerous fine winter estates.
POCOTALIGO, 76.3 m. (5 alt., 317 pop.), is a tiny village whose history goes back to the earliest settlement of the section, when one of the large towns of the Yamasee Indians and an Indian trading post were here. The first blow of the massacre of 1715 was struck here, several hundred whites being killed. Others, warned by a wounded seaman who swam across the Pocotaligo River, escaped by fleeing to a vessel that lay in Port Royal harbor. Being on the direct route between Charleston and Savannah, Pocotaligo was later a stagecoach stop, and the former Van Bibber's Tavern entertained many notables. During the Revolution the British occupied Fort Balfour, which was here; on April 13, 1781, without a shot having been fired, it was captured by Col. William Harden, a follower of Francis Marion. Members of the Colonial militia, who had been forced by the British into the defense of the fort, recognized their friends in the handful of attackers and refused to fire on them.
During the Civil War the town was the scene of a number of skirmishes resulting from the efforts of Union soldiers to destroy the railroad between Charleston and Savannah. The town was held by the Confederates until January 14, 1865, when it was abandoned at the approach of Sherman's army.
COOSAWHATCHIE, 82 m. (21 alt., township pop. 3,498), now only a hamlet, was established on the site of an Indian village known as the Refuge of the Coosaws. It was the scene of a Revolutionary battle between the forces of the British General Prevost and those of the American Lieut. Col. John Laurens, in which half of his Continentals were killed. The town was the seat of government of the old Beaufort District from 1788 till 1840, when, because of the unhealthfulness of the site, the offices were transferred to Gillisonville.
RIDGELAND, 89.6 m. (50 alt., 705 pop.), is the seat of Jasper County, named for Sergeant William Jasper who was killed at the siege of Savannah during the Revolutionary War. Ridgeland is named for the sandy ridge on which it is situated. Because of its nearness to the Georgia Line, it is a popular place for marriages.
Lumbering, turpentining, agriculture, and stock raising create ample employment for the men of this community.
Right from Ridgeland on State 36, an improved road, to GILLISONVILLE, 10 m., a tiny, picturesque village with moss-hung trees and quiet charm. It was established as a summer village of plantation owners (see SECTION 9). From 1840 to 1868 it was the seat of government of the old Beaufort District. Every structure in town except Gen. James Moore's home and the Baptist church was burned by Sherman's army. The church was used as headquarters for the Federal army, and its silver communion service, dating from 1857, has one plate marked: “War of 1861 & 2 & 3 & 4. Feb. 7, 1865. This done by a Yankee soldier.”
Moore's home is said to have been spared because the mistress gave a pair of knitted socks to a Federal officer.
At 91 m. is a junction with a marked dirt road.
Left on this road, passing a village cemetery, all that is left of GRAHAMVILLE, another village established as the summer home of lowland plantation owners. At 1.5 m. is a fork; L. here to OLD HOUSE SETTLEMENT, a cross roads, 5.8 m.
1. Right from the crossroads 0.1 m. on a road lined with tall moss-draped trees to the gates of a cow pasture. In the center of the pasture, about 1.5 m. from the gate, is a walled enclosure containing more moss-covered trees and the Thomas Heyward Tomb. Heyward, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in the Beaufort District July 1746 and died March 6, 1809.
2. Left at Old House Settlement 1 m. on a dirt road to a junction with another dirt road beside a little schoolhouse; R. here to HONEY HILL BATTLEGROUND, 2.5 m., where breastworks are still visible. Here, on November 30, 1864, was fought one of the bloodiest minor battles of the Civil War with victory for the Confederates. The Federal troops were mowed down as they filed past the Confederates entrenched behind hastily constructed breastworks. The little stream that runs nearby is said to have been clogged with dead bodies.
At 4.5 m. on the same road are the Ruins of Whitehall Plantation, the former home of Thomas Heyward. Two tabby wings still stand at the end of an avenue of magnificent live-oaks; this avenue is nearly one-fourth mile long and one hundred yards wide. The trees, planted in four rows, form three arches overhead.
Whitehall was a center of local social life during plantation days, and Washington on his tour of the South made note of a visit here in his diary. The house escaped the flames of the Civil War, but was burned later. Its ruins give some idea of its former elegance.
The Okeetee Club, 93.7 m. (R), is a large hunting preserve of 42,000 acres owned by a group of northern sportsmen. The clubhouse contains 50 rooms. The name survives from Okeetee Barony, granted by a patent dated December 5, 1718, to John Colleton, grandson of the Lord Proprietor of that name. The club was organized by John King Garnett, owner of the land, and the first clubhouse was built in 1894.
TENANT CABIN, South CarolinaSPANISH MOSS IN GEORGIA
WETTER HOUSE (1840), SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
CHRIST'S CHURCH, ST. SIMON ISLAND, GEORGIA
HARDEEVILLE, 104.4 m. (23 alt., 728 pop.), named for the Hardee family, depends upon sawmills for a livelihood.
1. Right from Hardeeville on State 33 to a junction with a dirt road, 0.2 m.; L. on this road to Purrysburg Cemetery, 2.7 m., marking the abandoned village of Purrysburg, which was settled in 1735 by a colony of Swiss led by Jean Pierre Purry; the location was so unhealthful many died, and others moved. Some of the names on the gravestones are still borne by residents of Hardeeville and the vicinity.
2. Left from Hardeeville on State 33 to Arthur Corliss Hunting Preserve (private), 3.2 m. (R), visible from the road. This is one of the many plantations in the Low Country bought by Northern sportsmen for hunting preserves.
PRITCHARDVILLE, 9.5 m. (21 alt., 50 pop.), has an Ohio colony as the result of the mistake of a Savannah ticket agent. An Ohio man who was hunting a home site had been advised to look for one at Levys, Georgia; the agent sold him a ticket to Levys, South Carolina. The visitor liked the area so much that he decided to buy property here and influenced friends to join him.
At 10.4 m. is a junction with a dirt road; R. here 2 m. to Palmetto Bluff Plantation, where are the ruins of the palatial home of R. T. Wilson, one of the show places of the South until destroyed by fire in 1926. It still has a fourteenacre garden of boxed walks and a walled graveyard.
On State 33 at the edge of Bluffton, 15.3 m., is a junction with a dirt road; R. on this road through a narrow tunnel of myrtle, yaupon, young oaks, wild azaleas, and palmettos to Secession Oak, under whose shade Daniel Hamilton made the first secession speech heard in this area. The oak is on the Verdier Plantation.
BLUFFTON, 15.5 m., on State 33 (24 alt., 520 pop.), established as a summer home for plantation owners, is on a high bluff overlooking May River. It was formerly called Kirk's Bluff, for the Kirk family, but the name was later changed to Bluffton because it was felt that the Kirks should not be more honored than the Popes, also early residents.
The village was practically destroyed by a Federal gunboat during the Civil War, but was rebuilt. The Episcopal Church, a wooden structure with some Gothic details, was not quite completed but it was saved by the arrival of the Confederate soldiers.
The poet Timrod taught here before the Civil War and the botanist, Dr. Joseph Mellichamp, lived here and is buried in St. Luke's churchyard, 7 miles away.
A business that at one time flourished here and that is still profitable to one or two men, is the gathering and shipping of deer tongues for use in the manufacture of scents, and of palmetto berries for use in medicines.
Because of its charm, the village draws many writers and artists, some of whom have used its scenes in their works.
a. Left from Bluffton 2 m. on the Brighton Beach Rd. to BRIGHTON BEACH, a small summer resort on the beautiful May River.
b. Left from Bluffton 4.9 m. on a white shell road to a junction with a wooded road; R. here to Rose Hill Plantation, 6 m.; or Kirk's Folly so called, because Dr. John Kirk, who started to build the house on a very elaborate plan, was not
financially able to complete it after the Civil War. A northern soldier, who was applying a match to the structure, changed his mind, saying, “I can't do it, boys, this house is too beautiful to be burned.” One feature of the house, designed by a Frenchman, Dimick, was a beautiful glass dome; it was put in place but later taken down and stored away.
At 109.2 m. US 17 passes the northern boundary of the large SAVANNAH RIVER WILD LIFE REFUGE. The first purchase for the refuge was made in 1927 and there are now about 9,000 acres of land in this State and in the adjoining section of Georgia. This area is on the coastal migratory paths of various kinds of birds and is a point of biannual concentration. Seventeen thousand green-winged teal and an equal number of wood duck wintered here in 1936. For the most part this area was formerly planted with rice.
Rice Mill Tavern, 112.3 m. (L), was erected as a rice mill about 1830 by Daniel Heyward. Ten years ago it was converted into a roadside tavern.
At 115.3 m. US 17 crosses the Georgia Line.
GEORGIASouth Carolina Line — Savannah — Darien — Brunswick — Florida Line, 136.7 m. US 17.
Seaboard Air Line roughly parallels this route.
Paved roadbed throughout.
Luxurious hotel accommodations in Savannah, good in Brunswick; limited elsewhere.
Section 11. South Carolina Line to Florida Line, 136.7 m. US 17
US 17 crosses the lowest part of the Georgia Coastal Plain with its many tidewater creeks and its swamps dense with cypress, tupelo, and bay-trees. Giant live-oaks, hung with gray Spanish moss, have a ghostly beauty that gives an impression of unreality. Along the route are many salt-water marshes — light green with tender shoots in the spring, yellow with dying grass in the fall. The higher land is wooded with pine and palmetto. Through this sandy country, the highway crosses many local roads paved with crushed oyster shells.
Findings in the coastal mounds indicate that this region was inhabited by some prehistoric race. Extensive excavations have been made only recently, however, and no scientific conclusion on the type of people has been reached.
About the middle of the 16th century, Spain took possession of the islands along the Georgia coast, claiming an indefinite amount of territory on the mainland. According to her usual method of colonization, Spain sent first soldiers, then missionaries to convert the Indians to Christianity. They constructed mission buildings of tabby, originally called tapia (Sp., mud or cement), a material made by mixing burned and crushed oyster shells with sand. Frequently shells from old Indian mounds, which appear in great numbers along the coast, were used in making this material.
Whether the tabby foundations standing today along the coast are ruins of these Spanish missions is a much debated question. Many authorities maintain that they are ruins of the sugar mills that had an important place on the coastal plantations in the early 19th century; recent research, disclosing 19th century pottery in the tabby, seems to prove their contention. There are many people, however, who still believe that at least part of the ruins are those of former missions and the matter can not be considered as settled.
With the coming of Oglethorpe and his colonists in 1733, English communities were established; in spite of the early plan for small farms it was not long before there grew up great plantations along the coast and on the islands where the owners lived in feudal splendor until the Civil War. Even though the number of great estates was relatively small in Georgia these coastal plantations established romantic traditions concerning the ante-bellum days.
In recent years Northern capital has transformed the islands of the Georgia coast into winter playgrounds for the wealthy, meriting the old Spanish designation, the Golden Isles. Some of the former plantations are intact or have been restored by newcomers, but many more have been divided into small farms, most of them cultivated by tenants or sharecroppers.
In every coastal county Negroes form approximately half or more than half of the total population. Living in one- or two-room cabins, they sustain themselves by farming, hunting, fishing, and domestic service.
US 17 crosses the red waters of the SAVANNAH RIVER, 0 m., the natural boundary between South Carolina and Georgia, on five concrete bridges and one steel drawbridge that link one delta island with another. The high causeway on the islands is lined with pink crape-myrtle and palmettos. Once covered with flourishing rice fields, these fertile islands are now included in the Savannah River Wild Life Refuge (see SECTION 10). The dikes were built by the U.S. Biological Survey to control the tides. At times, when the water is kept out to destroy the useless giant rice (cutgrass), the area is planted in wild millet, a valuable duck-food.
At 2 m. (L) is the entrance to the Savannah Sugar Refinery, one of the largest sugar refineries in the South, which manufactures Dixie Crystals from raw Cuban sugar. Behind the entrance gate, a half-mile oak-lined drive leads past a semi-tropical garden to the factory that has a daily melting capacity of 2,500,000 pounds and storage silos capable of holding 18,000,000 pounds. Fifty carloads of refined sugar are produced daily.
Around the plant is a mill village having an area of 15 acres; there are 75 neat houses and a hotel with accommodations for 50 guests. A hospital with a resident physician and a corps of nurses cares for the health and welfare of the employees and their families.
At 4 m. is the junction with a graded road.
Left on this road is (L) Whitehall Plantation (private), 0.5 m., which in Colonial days belonged to Thomas Gibbons, early capitalist of Savannah. Today it is owned by Lathrop Hopkins, a descendant. A grove of live-oaks, covered by moss, veils the mansion site.
INDUSTRIAL CITY GARDENS, 6 m., a new residential district with modern homes, is on the former Brampton, a Colonial plantation owned by the patriot Jonathan Bryan. The first African Baptist Church in America was organized on this estate. Andrew Bryan, a slave ordained by Abraham Marshall, preached so eloquently to his fellow slaves that his congregation grew, and within three years a church was erected for him in Yamacraw.
Here the highway crosses Pipemakers' Creek, named for the Indian pottery-makers who in prehistoric days worked along its banks.
Left from Industrial City Gardens on a dirt road to a point where the creek flows into the Savannah River; here is the SITE OF IRENE, 0.5 m., where John Wesley and Benjamin Ingham, assisted by the Moravians, founded an Indian mission in 1735. This mission stood on an ancient Indian mound on the banks of Pipemakers' Creek near the Indian village of New Yamacraw. Recent excavations have revealed artifacts that indicate the age of this pre-European civilization to be much greater than was formerly believed.
At 7.3 m. is the junction with a narrow paved road.
Left on this road to the Union Bag and Paper Co. Factory, 1 m., a branch plant owned by a Northern organization that is extending its manufacturing activities to the South because of the recent experiments of Dr. Charles Herty in the manufacture of paper from Georgia slash pine pulp. This plant, as well as the one in Brunswick, manufactures paper bags and newsprint from pine pulp. (See INTRODUCTION.)
At 8 m. is the junction with a sandy road.
Left on this road to the Site of the Hermitage, 1 m. (L), which was built in the early part of the 19th century by a Scotchman named Henry McAlpin. For many years the imposing stuccoed brick manor house with its graceful, curving, double-entrance stairway, was of much interest to architects, who made studies of its fine proportions. Gradually, however, it suffered from vandalism and neglect, and in 1936 all the buildings on the plantation were bought by Henry Ford, who razed them and used the old brick in constructing his home on the Ogeechee River in Bryan County. Two of the old slave huts, carefully restored, are on display at Dearborn, Mich.
Only the impressive entrance avenue of oaks remains to give a hint of the former grandeur of the old plantation. McAlpin built a yard that produced “old Savannah greys,” a type of brick now much admired; to facilitate the shipping of
the brick he, in 1820, constructed a clumsy railroad running from the factory to the river.
At 8.7 m. (R) is a small wooden shelter covering Jasper Spring, where Serg. William Jasper, aided by Sergeant Newton, captured ten British soldiers who were taking American prisoners to Savannah to be hanged. Jasper was killed in the Battle of Savannah and a large monument to him stands today in the center of one of the Savannah squares.
At 9.4 m. the road traverses the OLD YAMACRAW section, site of the village inhabited by the Indians who befriended Oglethorpe and his first colonists. Today it is a small congested district where 3,000 Negroes are crowded together in the shabby, one-story houses that line the narrow streets.
US 17 turns L. from Augusta Rd. on Bay St. in the northern end of Savannah.
SAVANNAH, 10.3 m. (45 alt., 85,025 pop.) (see GA. GUIDE)
Railroad Stations. Union Station, 419 West Broad Street, for Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, and the Southern Rys.; Central of Georgia Station, 301 West Broad Street, for the Central of Georgia R.R.; Savannah and Atlanta Station, foot of Cohen St., for the Savannah and Atlanta Ry.
Airport. Municipal Airport, Emmet Wilson Boulevard, 5 m. on White Bluff Rd. for Eastern Airlines; taxi fare $1.00; time 20 min.
Piers. Ocean Steamship Terminals, Wadley and River Sts., Ocean Steamship Company; Merchants and Miners Terminals, Wadley and River Sts., Merchants and Miners Line; Municipal Piers, foot Abercorn St., Augusta and Savannah Line; Municipal Docks, Beaufort and Savannah Line.
Points of Interest. Christ Church, Lowe House, McIntosh House, Sherman's Headquarters, Wetter House, Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Forsyth Park, and others.
At 16.2 m. is (R) the Site of Silk Hope Plantation, a tract of 500 acres granted in 1756 to James Habersham, who had been selected by the trustees in London to develop the silk industry in Georgia. With vast fields of mulberry trees and with gardens designed by an English horticulturist, this was a noted plantation until its devastation during the Civil War.
At 17.6 m. the road crosses the LITTLE OGEECHEE RIVER, one of the numerous salt-water inlets indenting the Georgia coast. The enlarged roots, or knees, of the dark cypresses extend above the surface of the still, black water that reflects the moss-covered branches. This small river provides good opportunities for fishing.
At 18.5 m. (L) is the entrance to Lebanon (private), the Colonial plantation of the Anderson family. The simple and dignified plantation house, which has been carefully restored, has wide verandas and is surrounded by delightful semi-tropical gardens. The present owner has developed a model farm on his land and also raises Satsuma oranges commercially.
HOPETON (R), 21.2 m., is a small trading center on what was formerly an old plantation. Negro laborers live in the former slave cabins, small frame houses with clay chimneys.
At 22 m. is the junction with a private dirt road.
Left on this road to (R) Wild Horn Plantation (private), 3 m., a 650-acre tract granted to Francis Harris in Colonial times. A driveway leads to the old house, which is constructed of hand-hewn logs and brick.
At 3.5 m. is the junction with a second dirt road.
Right on this road 1.5 m. to (L) Vallambrosa (private), the former plantation of Thomas Young, a wealthy Tory. Successive owners grew pecans, pears, grapes, and oranges; the estate was purchased, in 1930, by Henry Ford who restored the old plantation houses.
At 4.5 m. on the Main dirt road is (R) Grove Hill Plantation (private), a 2,000-acre estate, owned before the Revolution by the Habersham family of Savannah. This fertile soil of the Ogeechee River Valley has been used successively to produce tobacco and rice and, today, miscellaneous crops. A modern residence has been built by the present owner.
Grove Point Plantation (private), 6 m. (R), is an old estate comprising 2,200 acres. The brick house overlooks farmland on which rice was formerly cultivated.
Bamboo Farm, 23 m. (R), is an experimental station where bamboo was grown successfully for the first time in the State. The growth is so thick and feathery that at a short distance it gives the effect of a low hill completely covered with ferns. The grove is on part of a 46-acre farm called the Barfour Lathrop Introduction Garden, which was presented to the Federal Government for experimental purposes. The bamboo canes are used in the manufacture of tooth-brush handles, brooms, flagpoles, fishing poles, radio aerials, furniture, and for experiments in paper making. When sliced, peeled, boiled, and covered with butter sauce, the tender young sprouts are delicious and are a popular ingredient of Oriental foods.
Other foreign plants are also grown here for the purpose of determining their adaptability to the South Georgia climate and soil.
At 24.8 m. the highway crosses the Ogeechee River on King's Ferry Bridge. North of the bridge is (R) the marked SITE OF AN
ENGAGEMENT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION in which Col. John E. White and six patriots forced the surrender of a number of British regulars.
WAYS, 27.3 m. (32 alt., 1,134 pop.), is a trade center and a distributing point for producers of early vegetables. Here Mr. Henry Ford is developing a community similar to the one that he built at Dearborn, Mich. Beginning his operations here in 1925 with the purchase of several old plantations, he has added to his holdings and now owns a total of 70,000 acres in Bryan and Chatham Counties.
The Community School was built by Mr. Ford to train the local people in crafts and sciences. The building contains an electric plant, a machine shop, a foundry, a chemical laboratory, a home economics room, and a wood-working department. The only requirement for attendance is a high standard of work and behavior. Mr. Ford assists many of the graduates of his school to attend college; these proteges are required to write to him periodically.
In a large kitchen and lunch room, soup and nourishing lunches are provided for the needy children of the vicinity. This project was formerly operated under WPA supervision but has been taken over by Mr. Ford. A trained nurse is in attendance at all times and a doctor conducts a clinic in the school once a week.
The Community Clubhouse was opened by Mr. Ford in February 1937 with a dance given in the spacious ballroom which is finished in Georgia knotty pine and has large exposed rafters. On this occasion the boys and girls danced a quadrille taught them by an instructor whom Mr. Ford employed. The house contains a large dining room for club dinners, a lounge, a reception room, and 20 guest rooms for the use of school children and their parents.
Under Mr. Ford's direction, land has been cleared for gardens and a chemistry laboratory has been established for research on Georgia farm products. Proposed projects are a roadside market where children may sell their garden produce or handwork; a museum to display the industrial arts of the South; a community house in which school girls may practice domestic arts; and a factory for the construction of automobile parts.
1. Left from Ways on a dirt road (private and guarded) is a series of old plantations, 1.5 m. They are, in order, Richmond, Cherry Hill, Whitehall, and Strathy Hall plantations, all fronting on the Ogeechee River. These estates are now owned by Henry Ford, who built his home at Richmond of bricks from the Hermitage (see above).
The dead town of HARDWICK, 7 m. (road almost impassable even when passage through Ford holdings is permitted), is the place that John Reynolds, first Royal Governor of the Colony (1754-1757), wished to make the seat of government. DeBrahm, the noted French engineer, drew the plan for the town.
The Site of Fort McAllister, 9 m., is opposite Genesis Point on the Ogeechee River. This was considered a point that had to be taken in Sherman's march to the sea. With a force of about 200 men Major Anderson made a gallant attempt to defend the fort against the attack of a division led by General Hazen.
2. Right from Ways on a dirt road to the Henry Ford Fish Hatchery, 0.4 m.
FREEDMAN'S GROVE, 37.4 m. (L), is a Negro settlement on land deeded by the owner to his former slaves immediately after the Civil War. Although this was not a common practice, there are several instances of such gifts in Georgia.
At 39.4 m. is the junction with an unpaved road (impassable in wet weather).
Right on this road to Hall's Knoll, 2 m., the Colonial plantation of Dr. Lyman Hall, one of the Georgia signers of the Declaration of Independence. Nothing now remains of the old dwellings.
MIDWAY, 40.4 m. (30 alt., 50 pop.), once the center of a large and prosperous plantation area, was probably given its name because it is approximately midway between Savannah and Brunswick.
The old Midway Church, a white frame structure 40 feet wide by 60 feet long has double rows of shuttered windows and a box-like steeple surmounted by a spire. The slave gallery remains. This building which was erected in 1792, and is the fourth church on the same site, stands in a grove of moss-covered oaks and tall longleaf pines. Regular services are no longer held, but annually on April 26, Confederate Memorial Day, the descendants of the early members meet here. Speeches are made, communion is taken from the ancient paten and goblet, and flowers are placed on the graves in the cemetery.
In 1695 a group of Puritans from Dorchester, Mass., interested in converting the Indians, moved to South Carolina; in 1752 the colony began to move here, and two years later organized a Congregational Society. Thrifty and independent, they were among the first in Georgia to oppose the British. Around the church was centered the life of the settlers, who acquired large rice plantations and hundreds of slaves. For a period of six weeks General Sherman made the church his headquarters; from here he directed operations against the
countryside. With the decline of the plantation system after the Civil War, the importance of Midway ended.
Among the early pastors of the church were the Reverend Abiel Holmes, father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the author, and the Reverend Jedediah Morse, father of S. F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph. Although the membership of the church never exceeded 150, it numbered among its communicants four governors, including Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett, both signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Across the highway from Midway Church is the Midway Cemetery, densely shaded by great oaks and protected by a six-foot wall. The old inscriptions on the weather-stained stones are now illegible. Dominating the cemetery is the Federal Monument to Gen. James Screven and Gen. Daniel Stewart, Revolutionary officers.
In a section of the village called Black Midway is a Negro Church, with a wooden hand pointing heavenward from the top of the steeple.
Left from Midway on the sandy Dorchester Rd. to old DORCHESTER VILLAGE, 2 m. (30 alt., 220 pop.), where the immigrants from Massachusetts settled.
At 6 m. is a fork.
1. Left from the fork, 4 m., is the SITE OF SUNBURY, which in early days was a busy port rivaling Savannah. It is believed that one of the earliest Masonic lodge meetings in America was held here in 1734, with James Oglethorpe as master. Here is the Site of Fort Morris, built for defense in 1776. Garrisoned by Continental troops, it offered spirited resistance to British attacks, but the town was virtually destroyed.
2. Right from the fork, 5 m., is COLONEL'S ISLAND between the mainland and St. Catherines Island. A historian, writing of this island in 1859, said that 30 or 40 Indian mounds, many of them quite prominent and with sharply defined outlines, were easily recognized; others, because of the action of the elements and the furrows of the plow, were scarcely perceptible. These mounds have not yet been excavated except by amateur diggers.
Across St. Catherines Sound Ossabaw and St. Catherines Island are visible.
OSSABAW ISLAND (private), known to the Indians as Obispa, underwent the Spanish occupation of the other Golden Isles; under Oglethorpe's regime it was an Indian reservation. For some time it was the hunting preseve of a group of northern businessmen but is now owned by a resident of Detroit, who uses it as a game preserve and winter home. The island is frequented by huge sea turtles that bury their eggs in the soft sand beyond the tides to be hatched by the warm sun rays. Turtle-egg hunts are often held along the shore of Ossabaw Island on summer nights.
ST. CATHERINES ISLAND was the first of the Golden Isles to be settled by
the Spanish. A band of 30 Spaniards, the first arrivals, was followed by a larger group who named it Santa Catalina. In 1566 it was visited by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who claimed the coastal islands and mainland for Spain; he was so graciously received by the Indians that he called the island Guale (pronounced Wahli) in honor of their chief. Later the name was applied to the whole region. Missions were established by Jesuit monks, among whom was Brother Domingo Augustin, who in 1568 wrote a grammar of the Yamasee tongue and translated the Catechism. By 1733, however, following repeated raids by pirates and after hostile Indians had sacked and burned the mission and all other buildings on the island, all signs of Spanish occupation were swept away. By a treaty made between Oglethorpe and the Indians, St. Catherines and Sapelo Islands, as well as Ossabaw, were reserved to the Indians as hunting and fishing preserves.
In 1749 Thomas Bosomworth, a priest of the Church of England who had married Mary Musgrove, a half-breed interpreter for Oglethorpe, induced his wife to declare herself Empress of the Creeks and, as her right, to demand grants including the three islands. Her claims were rejected by the English, but after 10 years of intrigue the Bosomworths received large gifts including Ossabaw Sapelo and St. Catherines Island; they retired to St. Catherines and were later buried there. The island subsequently passed to various purchasers, among them Button Gwinnett. It is thought that Button Gwinnett, the Georgia signer, built the old Tabby House that has been remodeled by the present owner. The simple lines of the structure have been preserved, and the original mantels, stairways, and other details have been retained.
At 41.9 m. is the BATTLEGROUND OF SPENCER HILL (R), where on November 22, 1778, General Screven was mortally wounded in attempting to block the British who were marching on Savannah.
Cedar Hill, 44.9 m. (R), the site of the home of Gen. Daniel Stewart, Revolutionary patriot, has been purchased by a paper company for a forest reserve. General Stewart was the grandfather of Martha Bulloch, who married Theodore Roosevelt of New York, and became the mother of President Theodore Roosevelt and the grandmother of Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
RICEBORO, 45.8 m. (233 pop.), a marketing center for a large number of nearby plantations, attests by its name the importance of rice culture in the early Colony.
EULONIA, 61.1 m. (36 pop.), is on a sandy plain covered with longleaf and slash-pine trees that are tapped for gum resin to be distilled into turpentine and hard rosin.
Left from Eulonia on the Darien Crescent Rd. to CRESCENT, 3 m. From the crescent-shaped bluff here is a clear view of CREIGHTON ISLAND and of SAPELO ISLAND (Sp., Zapala), another of the Golden Isles (not open). After the Revolution, when many of the plantations were destroyed by the British, the
island became the property of a group of Frenchmen, who established here a communal settlement. In 1802, because of dissensions, the partnership was dissolved, four of the members becoming owners of Jekyll Island and one retaining his holdings on Sapelo. An area at the north end of the island was purchased by the Marquis de Montalet, who had fled from the Santo Domingo revolt.
In 1802 Thomas Spalding purchased 4,000 acres of Sapelo and built a home, South End, on the ruins of the Spanish mission of San Jose. Being among the first to plant cotton, grow cane, and manufacture sugar, he had, by 1843, become extremely wealthy, owning most of the island. When Spalding died in 1851, South End was left to his grandson and namesake, Thomas Spalding. During the Civil War the island was abandoned. In 1914 South End was carefully rebuilt in all its former beauty by the late Howard Coffin, of Detroit and Sea Island, who later sold the island to Richard J. Reynolds of Winston-Salem.
Across the creek to the NE. is visible BLACKBEARD ISLAND (private), a small, heavily wooded area now maintained as a State and Federal Game Preserve. It was named for Blackbeard, or Edward Teach, an English pirate, who, according to legend, tied his bushy, black beard behind his ears with blue ribbons. He began his career in the West Indies during the War of the Spanish Succession. About 1716 he is supposed to have made his headquarters on this island from which he terrorized the coasts of Georgia, Carolina, and Virginia until he was killed by a British lieutenant in a hand-to-hand combat in 1718. From 1840 until 1910 the island was used as a quarantine station.
The RIDGE, 6 m., is a residential section where most of the houses are built facing the tidewater river. At the Ridge on property known as the Thicket are some of the contested Tabby Ruins. Although recent evidence indicates they were erected for industrial purposes some students identify the ruins with the Tolomato Mission, one of the largest Spanish missions built on the Georgia coast. Founded in 1595 by Pedro Ruiz, the mission was abandoned in 1686.
DARIEN, 73 m. (25 alt., 925 pop.), seat of McIntosh County, is sheltered by spreading live-oaks. The tabby warehouses along the banks of the Altamaha River, the shrimp fleet at anchor with nets spread out to dry, and the old paddlewheel dredge boats give this town an atmosphere of the past.
In 1735 the Colonial Trustees, aided by a grant of Parliament, decided to send a group of fighters to protect the Georgia frontier from the Spaniards who were threatening its security. Oglethorpe, who was in England at the time, sent a man into the Scottish Highlands for recruits. One hundred and thirty men were enlisted, and after a stormy voyage they and the 50 women and children who accompanied them, landed in Savannah in January 1736. In April they proceeded down the coast to establish an outpost. The settlement was called New Inverness and the surrounding area Darien, but later the town name was changed to Darien. John Mohr McIntosh
directed the construction of a fort in which four cannons were mounted.
Because of the development of large plantations and the commerce afforded by the harbor, Darien became a large and prosperous community. On December 5, 1818, the Bank of Darien was chartered; branches were later established in several other Georgia cities.
In 1864 the town was completely destroyed by General Sherman's army, only one Negro cabin being left standing. Though Darien was rebuilt, its trade was drained by the rapidly growing Savannah, and it was never able to regain its former importance.
When, near the close of the 19th century, the lumber industry superseded agriculture, large quantities of cypress and yellow pine were shipped from here to many parts of the world. Though no longer an important port, Darien is still largely dependent on shipping; its most important industrial activity is the production of naval stores. It also ships annually thousands of cases of canned shrimp and canned oysters besides many carloads of raw oysters and many barrels of catfish and other seafood. The mink, raccoon and otter found in the tidal marshes nearby yield about $175,000 worth of furs annually (1935).
Negro shrimpers operate on the banks of the tidal river, making their catches with large circular nets weighted with metal sinkers. The lumbermen divide their time between their farms and the camps in the pine forests.
Near the courthouse is Oglethorpe's Oak, a giant tree over-shadowing the street. It is said that its symmetical branches sheltered an entire company of General Oglethorpe's soldiers who encamped here.
The Presbyterian Church was established in 1736 under the supervision of John McLeod. The present edifice, a brick structure with a tall steeple, was built in 1870 and contains the records of the original congregation.
At 75 m. is the red ALTAMAHA RIVER, its channels divided by deltas known as GENERAL, BUTLER, and CHAMPNEY ISLANDS. The rich soils and semitropical climate of the islands make them particularly adapted to the extensive agricultural experiments that are being conducted (1937) by Col. T. L. Huston, former owner of the New York Yankees. Excellent pasturage is afforded for the fine dairy cattle.
At the northern end of Butler Island (R) is the Fanny Kemble House, a modest dwelling with dormer windows. Miss Kemble (1809-1893), the English actress, was the wife of Pierce Butler who owned the islands (see SIDE ROUTE G). Near the highway (R) is an ivy-covered brick chimney, what is left of an old rice mill.
At 76 m., on Butler Island, is the State Coastal Experiment Station, where the culture of rice is studied, and various flowering bulbs are cultivated.
The road here, passing through a heavily wooded swamp, was built on the old roadbed of the Georgia Coast and Piedmont Ry.
At 78 m. is the junction with a shell road.
Right on this road through a wood, dense with laurel, cedar and dogwood, to SANTO DOMINGO STATE PARK, 0.5 m. (restaurant; picnic area and foot trails).
The park contains 350 acres. At the entrance is a wrought-iron gate, swung between pylons of concrete capped with red Spanish tiles. Within the park are many tabby ruins, half hidden by live-oak, cypress, and magnolia trees. The ground is covered with scrub palmettos.
This park was established as a memorial to the Spanish occupation of the Georgia coast. It was part of the old Elizafield Plantation, developed by Hugh Frazer Grant. The area was bought in 1925 by Cater Woolford of Atlanta, who donated it to the State.
A winding road leads to the Slave Burial Grounds of the former plantation. The graves are decorated with bits of china, various utensils, and bright colored glass, all either used by the persons in their last illnesses or placed on the graves to ward off evil spirits. These slaves worked in the cultivation of rice and indigo fields.
Beyond the burial grounds is the Administration Building, a one-story structure of 17th century Spanish design, with a patio and arched cloisters in the rear. Opposite this is a dense grove covered with climbing native muscadine vines that bear large purple grapes. An old millstone has been placed here for use as a table, and nearby are stone benches.
Numerous wooded trails radiate from the administration building. The Lagoon Trail passes over cypress bridges, built as the Indians fashioned them, and leads to Tabby Ruins shadowed by cypress trees. Because of their octagonal construction many believe these ruins were the foundations of Santo Domingo De Talaxe, erected in 1604 on the banks of a deep lagoon. This, however, is a matter of controversy.
The Woods Trail winds through cypress forests carpeted with many varieties of fern and thick with gnarled cypress knees.
The waters of the old Brunswick Canal flow through the chain of lagoons. This canal, construction of which was begun in 1826 to facilitate the shipping of rice, cotton, lumber, and naval stores down the Altamaha River, was abandoned many years ago. During the development of the park, articles of both Spanish
and Indian origin, including bronze and iron axes, chains and arrowheads, were dug from the lagoons.
At 4 m. on the shell road are Altama and Hopeton (private), old plantations long ago the property of James Hamilton Couper and John Couper. The original Altama house, built about 1858, has been enlarged and modernized by the present owner.
At 87.4 m. is a settlement about two plants, one manufacturing crates and other containers, and another producing large quantities of naval stores from pine resin extracted from stumps by shredding them and subjecting them to a steaming process. (Plants not open to visitors.)
At 89.9 m. in Glynn County is Lanier's Oak (L); under this gnarled live-oak Sidney Lanier received the inspiration for his poem The Marshes of Glynn.
At the Visitors’ Club, 91.8 m. (tourist information), a low Spanish-type building with red-tiled roof and high tower, modern industrial exhibits and relics of Colonial days and of the Spanish occupation are displayed.
At this point is the junction (L) with a paved highway (see SIDE ROUTE G).
BRUNSWICK, 93.3 m. (10 alt., 14,022 pop.), seat of Glynn County is a busy seaport (boating, fishing, waterfowl shooting). Despite its commercial and shipping activities the city has the gay air of a resort town. The semi-tropical climate and rich alluvial soils have made the region around Brunswick excellent for early vegetable growing; the products, especially iceberg lettuce, are sent in large quantities to northern markets. While there is no regular steamship service, tramp steamers arrive with considerable regularity to take on cargoes of shrimp, lumber, naval stores, cotton, and rice for carriage to far parts of the United States and to Europe. The Brunswick Little Theatre produces one play every month at the St. Francis Xavier Hall.
After the arrival of Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1566, this section of Georgia, known later as the District of Guale, was under Spanish domination until the coming of the English under Oglethorpe. In 1742, six years after Frederica was founded on St. Simon Island (see SIDE ROUTE G) to protect the young Colony from the Spaniards, Mark Carr established a plantation on the site of the present city of Brunswick. It was not, however, until 1771 that the Council of the Royal Province
of Georgia decided to build a town here, and set aside a rectangular tract of 384 acres, naming the town in honor of George III of England, a member of the House of Brunswick.
During the following century, Brunswick approached Savannah in importance as a port, shipping cargoes of lumber, cotton, fruit, indigo, and rice. In 1864 Federal forces raided the town and looted the plantation homes nearby, and it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that commerce began to revive. Construction of a factory here for the use of local pulp wood in the manufacture of white paper provides opportunity for a major industrial development. (See INTRODUCTION.)
The City Hall, Newcastle and Mansfield St., erected in 1889, is designed in the Romanesque style, and built of brick and marble.
The Lovers’ Oak, Albany and Prince Sts., a tree with wide spreading limbs is believed to be many centuries old. There is a legend that an Indian girl once held tryst here with a warrior of a rival tribe; they were discovered and put to death.
Oglethorpe Hotel, Newcastle and F Sts., built in Moorish style with turrets at each end, was designed by Stanford White of New York.
At 97.4 m. the highway crosses TURTLE RIVER on a bridge from which is a broad view of the Brunswick waterfront with the faint outlines of St. Simon (see SIDE ROUTE G) and Jekyll Islands in the distance.
JEKYLL ISLAND (private) has since 1886 been the home of the Jekyll Island Club now controlled by descendants of the first members. In 1858 the island was brought to national attention by a sensational slave-smuggling episode, and during the Civil War it was the scene of much destruction.
BLYTHE ISLAND, 98.1 m., has been developed as a residential suburb of Brunswick.
At 100.1 m., S. of the bridge over Little Satilla River, is a knoll called SPRING BLUFF, the site of an old hunting lodge, where a Civil War skirmish occurred.
At 120.5 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to the entrance of Refuge Plantation (private), 2 m., now a 5,000-acre hunting preserve; this land was granted by George III to John Mohr McIntosh, who settled there in 1765. The house, built in 1798 of hand-hewn timber, has a gabled roof with two dormers. The chamfered wood
WORMSLOE GARDENS, SAVANNAH, GEORGIABONAVENTURE CEMETERY, NEAR SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
columns of the porch rest on the ground, and behind them is a frame balustraded balcony approached by double staircases. The old kitchen, connected with the house by a covered passage, contains a brick fireplace with a crane and pots.
At 120.6 m. the highway crosses the SATILLA RIVER, named for Captain St. Illa, a Spanish explorer of the 16th century.
WOODBINE, 120.7 m. (30 alt., 325 pop.), seat of Camden County, was incorporated in 1893. There are two versions of the origin of the name, one attributes it to the wild honeysuckle or woodbine growing in profusion nearby; the other maintains that this was the site of a grant from George III to an English colonist, General Woodbine, from whom it was later confiscated by the State because of his Royalist sympathies.
The small Episcopal Church (L) was built of cobblestones from the piles of ballast that the old-time sailing vessels left on the low marsh inlands at the mouth of the Satilla River.
Near the bridge is the Site of the Headquarters of Edmund Gray, leader of a band of outlaws, who settled here about 1758. Since the band had no title to the lands they occupied, and professed no allegiance to the Colony, they withdrew when threatened by military force.
Left from Woodbine on a dirt road 16 m. to the old plantation of Bellevue (private), the former home of Gen. Charles Floyd, a noted Indian fighter who became the grandfather of William Gibbs McAdoo. Many believe that the old tombs, without inscriptions or dates, are those of early Spanish settlers.
Indications of ancient Indian occupation of the site are found in the various shell mounds.
KINGSLAND, 132.7 m. (20 alt., 600 pop.), was established as a flag station on the Seaboard Air Line Ry. in 1894.
Left from Kingsland on State 40, an unpaved road, to the Camden Park Race Track, 2 m. (horse races in spring and fall).
At 4 m. is the junction with a dirt road; L. here 2.5 m. to the junction with another dirt road; R. on this road at 4 m. are Tabby Ruins, probably of sugar mills but formerly believed to be the foundations of the Santa Maria Mission, built about 1570 by Menendez and his missionaries. The ruins include a perfectly preserved two-story wall, 75 feet high and 150 feet long with 34 windows, the foundations of two buildings constructed of tabby, and several square detached columns.
At 10.7 m. on State 40 is ST. MARYS (15 alt., 500 pop.), an old port occupying an eminence by the St. Marys River. A wide street lined with oaks and wind-scarred
cedars leads to the docks and the beautiful wide stretch of river. Small fishing smacks lie here at anchor with their nets drying in the sun. The dilapidated Ford-bus with train wheels, which formerly operated between Kingsland and St. Marys, has been featured by Roy Crane in his comic strip Wash Tubbs, and the imaginary adventures of Wash and Captain Easy are followed with proprietary interest by the townspeople.
In 1763 this area was made St. Marys Parish; when, in October 1776, after the Declaration of Independence, the parishes were abolished and counties were given new names, St. Marys Parish became Camden County.
It is thought that St. Marys is the site of an Indian village, Thla-thloth-la-gupka, to which in 1562 Capt. Jean Ribault came with some Huguenot settlers from France. French names were given to all points in the region; the St. Marys River was called the Seine. Spain was jealous of this encroachment on its territory and sent Menendez here with “sword and cross” ostensibly to convert the Indians. Sir Francis Drake, arriving later, captured St. Eleana, S. C., claiming the region for the English.
After the American Revolution a group of settlers on Cumberland Island saw the advantages of making a settlement on the mainland. They bought 1,672 acres for $38 and in 1788 laid out the town of St. Patrick. Each subscriber received four squares of four acres each on which he agreed to erect a house — frame, log, or brick — within six months. In 1792 the town was given the name of the river beside which it was built.
At the large frame House of Maj. Archibald Clark (private), collector of the port in 1807, many notable men have been entertained, among whom were Aaron Burr, in flight after his duel with Hamilton, and Winfield Scott after his strenuous Indian campaign.
Near the Clark home is the George Washington Tree and Pump; in 1799, soon after George Washington's death, a funeral service was held here to honor his memory. A flag-draped coffin was towed up the river to the landing and given an impressive burial. At the grave a well was dug and three trees planted. The hollow pump shaft still remains and one of the trees is living.
The Independent Presbyterian Church, opposite the pump, is a small building erected about 1840. For many years it served as a school, the Old Academy, and still houses the library and old church records. It is said that in the early days smugglers of rum, cigars, and gin often anchored near the town and that on one occasion the crew proceeded to the Presbyterian Manse, took the minister's horse and hoisted it to the church belfry. When the neighing of the horse brought the townspeople together, the smugglers were able safely to land their contraband.
Orange Hall (private), a severe white-columned house, was built in 1800 by Dr. Nathaniel Pratt, a Presbyterian minister. The balusters of the porch are miniature columns, similar to the larger ones.
A beautiful avenue of oaks leads to St. Marys Cemetery, which has been in continuous use since 1780. Inside the brick wall surrounding the burying ground, lower walls four or five feet high enclose many of the lots. The large trunks of the oaks here are colored with a lichen that appears pink when covered with rose-tinted brood-buds. Vine-covered marble slabs with dim old English and French inscriptions mark graves believed to be those of exiled Acadians and of French
planters who fled from the Island of Santo Domingo to escape massacre at the hands of slaves.
On October 13, 1755, when the French were forced by the English to leave Acadia, 10 vessels set out for Georgia and South Carolina. The 400 members who came to Savannah were received but, because of their religion, not welcomed, by the Protestant colony. In 1757 to avoid being distributed throughout the colony as indentured servants, a great many fled to Haiti and Santo Domingo. Peace was not long theirs, however, for an uprising of the slaves in Santo Domingo forced those who escaped death to leave, some coming back to St. Marys.
At 136.7 m. the highway passes under an arch on the Florida Line.
FLORIDA
Georgia Line — Jacksonville, 32 m. US 17.
Seaboard Air Line parallels route.
Hard-surfaced roadbed.
Section 12. Georgia Line to Jacksonville, 32 m.
In northeastern Florida US 17 runs through country almost uninhabited since Civil War days. Between the small hamlets are uncultivated stretches of marsh, and of sand flats covered with oak, pine, and palmetto; the silence of these wild places is seldom broken except by the occasional harsh cry of a water bird. Formerly the area was divided into huge cotton plantations.
A steel and concrete drawbridge spans the ST. MARYS RIVER, 0 m., the official boundary between Georgia and Florida since 1763. Along the shores of this deep, narrow stream, and throughout the region left of the route were fought a number of Colonial and Revolutionary skirmishes. The success of English Royalists in repulsing American invaders in part prevented the peninsula from becoming a possession of the United States until 1821, although it was ceded by Treaty in 1819.
YULEE, 9 m. (39 alt., 155 est. pop.), was named for David L. Yulee (1810-1886), a native of the West Indies, whose family moved to Virginia and then to Florida; he became first a Delegate, then a United States Senator from Florida and later served in the Confederate Congress. He changed his name from David Levy to David Levy Yulee in 1846 during his first term as Senator, when he married the daughter of the Governor of Kentucky. In 1853 David Yulee built a railroad from Fernandina to Cedar Keys.
A post road connecting Fernandina and Jacksonville was constructed through this section during the Seminole War (1835-42). Rural trade and turpentine are Yulee's chief sources of revenue.
Left from Yulee on paved State 13 is FERNANDINA, 12 m. (10 alt. 3,023 pop.), on Amelia Island; it was once a popular port because of its fine natural harbor; it lies on the west shore of the little island, overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway. Here, side by side, stand new and old Fernandina; all that remains of the older settlement, known officially as Old Town, is a group of battered buildings and the Ruins of Spanish Fort San Carlos. As early as 1680 the place was a fortified Spanish outpost; later it began to develop as a port, being
the shipping point for the Duke of Egmont's indigo plantation. After the Revolutionary War the trade increased, this being the foreign port nearest to the Georgia border and hence a logical base for smugglers. Fernandina's great era of prosperity began after the United States passed the Embargo Act of 1807; in 1808 the importation of slaves into the United States became illegal. In that year Fernandina became officially a free port; pirates and smugglers of manufactured goods and of slaves came here openly to dispose of their cargoes. At times there were 150 to 300 ships at anchor in the harbor. The Spanish commandant with a dozen soldiers maintained a semblance of law and order but adventurers two or three times took possession of the port. Adding to the disorder, hi-jackers lurked in the nearby inlets to seize cargoes before the ships could make the harbor. Pierre Lafitte, brother of Jean, at one time set up a headquarters and gathered many associates of ill repute. Not only pirates but British spies were active. In 1811 President Madison, knowing that war with England was imminent, sent a confidential agent to this place. With the aid of American settlers and a ship, he seized the town and organized a Republic of Florida. Spanish protests were so strong that the United States, at war with England, withdrew its support from the movement, and later paid a large sum for the damage done to private property by American forces.
After the withdrawal, anarchy prevailed until 1817 when Gregor MacGregor, brother-in-law of Bolivar, South American leader, captured the town. A few months later he retired before a force of 500 Spaniards, leaving the community's defense to another adventurer, Irwin. The latter defeated the Spaniards in the Battle of Amelia. Two days after the event, Louis Aury, a notorious pirate, came into port with a prize, and joined forces with Irwin. Aury claimed Amelia Island for the Republic of Mexico and carried on slave smuggling on a large scale; approximately 1,000 slaves and large quantities of goods were disposed of in two months. Finally the United States sent a man-of-war to end these flagrant operations, and Aury surrendered December 23, 1817. The town came into the possession of the United States when East Florida was sold by Spain in 1819.
In 1877, the Egmont, an early tourist hotel, was built here, attracting distinguished patronage for about two decades. Shortly after the Egmont opened its doors, the Strathmore was erected at Fernandina Beach (see below). These resort hotels were so popular that the Clyde-Mallory Lines made Fernandina a port of call. About 1900 they began to suffer from competition with resorts further south and after the Egmont was destroyed by fire in 1905 it was not rebuilt.
The modern city of Fernandina just S. of the original settlement is the seat of Nassau County. Fifty boats leave its waterfront daily for ocean shrimping and fishing. Its three large shrimp canneries have widespread markets, and there are three plants producing fish, fertilizer, fish oil, and stock feed.
Of major importance is the city's newest industry — the manufacture of paper. Two pulp mills (see INTRODUCTION) are being constructed (1938) at the cost of several million dollars.
The Episcopal Church, Center and 7th Sts., is a fine example of old American craftsmanship, both inside and out. Several beautiful stained glass windows are memorials to victims of a yellow fever epidemic in 1877.
Indian Mounds, near the Fernandina High School, are of Ogeechee origin, according to William Bartram, who discovered them in 1774.
St. Joseph's Academy, on 4th St., is a 12-grade Catholic academy, built on the former plantation of Don Domingo Fernandez, an early settler.
1. Right from Fernandina 2 m. on a shell road to FORT CLINCH STATE PARK, covering 1,200 acres on the northern end of Amelia Island, and overlooking Cumberland Sound. Construction of Fort Clinch (guides furnished), named for Gen. D. L. Clinch, Federal officer during the Seminole War, was begun in 1847; it was not completed till 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War, Confederate forces seized Fort Clinch in order to protect the supply boats entering the harbor; in 1863 Federal troops captured the fort. It was garrisoned for the next six years and again in 1898 when troops embarked from here for Spanish-American War duty.
The walls of the fort are of brick, the inner wall pierced by tunnels and the outer, eight feet thick, having large port holes through which the channel and Cumberland Island are visible.
Cedar, salt spurge, and cactus with bright yellow flowers, grow on the old parade grounds. The large purple fruit of the cactus was highly prized by the Indians because of its refreshing quality. Behind the fort are high sand dunes and dwarf live-oaks, their tops flattened by the prevailing east winds.
2. Right from Fernandina 1 m. on Center St. to FERNANDINA BEACH (municipal casino, cottages, and various commercial amusement facilities). Here is a 14-mile stretch of hard sand on which cars can be driven.
3. Right from Fernandina 4 m. on a macadamized road to Gerbing's Oyster Farm and Azalea Gardens (open), a commercial enterprise; here the latest types of equipment are used in harvesting oysters from the beds in the Amelia River.
The azalea gardens are on a high bluff overlooking the river. Their rich foliage and beautiful flowers are bright against a grove of fine old oaks; views of the river are framed by tall cedars, growing along the bluff.
South of Yulee saw-palmettos and longleaf pine grow profusely along the route. Here US 17 follows the course of the King's Road, built in 1765 by public subscription.
At 12.5 m. (L) is Lake Hutson (private, no fishing), a small artificial lake created when sand was removed for use in building the roadbed.
South of the lake US 17 passes over a 3-mile expanse of Nassau River salt marshes, a continuation of the marshes of Glynn (see SECTION 11).
At 13.1 m. the highway crosses the NASSAU RIVER. After the American Revolution, large plantations were developed in this region by Tory refugees from the Colonies. A few of these people cultivated their land with great success but the prosperity of the area ended with the abolition of slavery.
At 23.6 m. is Cedar Creek. Sandy ridges with a sparse growth of
black-jack oak extend 2 miles southward from it. Patches of sand mark the burrows of the Florida salamander, a small shy rodent with fine fur; some natives consider their luck assured for a year if they can catch one. This animal has no relationship to the amphibian with the same name.
At 25 m. (L) is the Jacksonville Municipal Airport. Between this point and Jacksonville, barbecue stands, tourist camps, road-houses, and signboards line the highway.
At 26.5 m. is the junction with the scenic Hecksher Dr. (sedans, 75¢ round trip, coupes, 50¢).
Left on this paved road to the Jacksonville City Zoo, 0.5 m., an 11-acre tract. Miss Chic, the elephant, was purchased through the donations of school children.
East of the zoo, Hecksher Dr. winds along the edge of rich woodlands, within sight of the St. Johns River. Many water birds fly over the marsh regions; the mingled wild flowers, sand dunes and jungle growth add to the beauty of the area.
The road crosses a series of causeways and wooden bridges.
PILOT TOWN, 15.5 m., a small fishing village, is on FORT GEORGE ISLAND, where at various times were forts of the Spanish, English and French, each seeking command of the river. Here also was the Spanish mission of San Juan del Puerto, which in 1616 baptized 500 parishioners.
The road runs N. winding through a jungle where the bellow of alligators is occasionally heard. Zephaniah Kingsley, who formerly lived on a plantation covering the northern end of the island, was one of early Florida's most notorious slave traders, bringing Negroes from Africa to Florida in his own ships. In 1868 the property was purchased from Kingsley's heirs by John Rollins of Dover, H. N.
John H. McIntosh, President of the Republic of Florida from 1812 to 1816 (see above), was the owner of the plantation before Kingsley.
Facing Fort George Inlet is the former Big House, behind it are Ma-am Anna's House, the old well and the stable. Tradition says this last was once a British barracks. The grist mill is a circular tabby building SE. of the stable. The 40 or more slave houses are arranged in a crescent.
When Rollins came to Fort George many of the Negroes who had belonged to Kingsley were still living in their cabins. He did much to develop the mandarin orange and the Shaddock, later called the grapefruit.
At a time when the orange groves were not in bearing, and farming appeared destined to failure, Rollins formed a company and built two hotels, one on the present site of the Ribaut Club, and the other on the beach facing the St. Johns, to attract the tourists who were beginning to come to Florida for the winter.
Today the plantation belongs to the Fort George Club. The Ribaut Club owns a large nearby tract on the island.
At 28 m. on US 17 a long concrete bridge spans Trout River, tributary of the St. Johns. From the bridge pleasant homes are visible along the southern shores of the river.
JACKSONVILLE, 32 m. (26 alt., 129,549 pop.) (see FLA. GUIDE).
Railroad Station. Union Terminal, 1000 W. Bay St., for Atlantic Coast Line Ry., Southern Railway, Florida East Coast Ry. and Seaboard Air Line Ry.
Airport. Municipal for Eastern Air Lines, National Air Lines and Atlantic and Gulf Coast Air Lines, N. Main St., 7 miles from center of city; taxi fare $1 (5 passengers for one fair); time 20 min.
Piers. Clyde-Mallory, Ft. Liberty St., to Miami, Charleston & New York; Merchants & Miners, 800 E. Bay St., to Savannah, Norfolk, Baltimore and Boston.
Accommodations. Many hotels, apartment houses, rooming houses, and tourist camps; rates higher December-April; highest in February.
Points of Interest. Naval Stores Yards, Cotton Compress, Hemming Park, Memorial Park, Site of Fort Collins, and others.
SIDE ROUTESSIDE ROUTE A NORTH CAROLINA
Elizabeth City — Kitty Hawk — Nags Head — Manteo — Oregon Inlet — Hatteras Inlet, 125 m. State 30, 34, 345.
Paved roadbed to Manteo; uncertain travel S. of this point along sandy beach road.
Limited accommodations as far as Kitty Hawk; hotel accommodations available at Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Manteo, and Hatteras. Between Manteo and Hatteras accommodations only in private homes.
This route, known as the Virginia Dare Trail, leads along the picturesque banks, called by the Indians “Out Islands,” narrow strips of sand that form the eastern boundary of North Carolina, separating the ocean from the sounds; it borders Currituck Sound abounding with migratory waterfowl and other forms of wild life, skirts the most dangerous section of the Atlantic coast where lie remains of many marine wrecks, and passes the birthplace of English colonization in America and the site of the first successful airplane flight.
State 30 branches NE. from US 17 in Elizabeth City (see Main Route, Section 7) and crosses the beautiful modern drawbridge spanning the broad Pasquotank. From here the harbor is always an interesting sight with gay pleasure yachts riding at anchor, and moth-type sailboats skimming gracefully over the water. At night the lights from the moored boats and from the streets of Elizabeth City, topped by the beacon on the water tank, provide illumination visible for several miles.
The route continues on the so-called Floating Road, 1.5 miles long, crossing what is known locally as GOAT ISLAND, though the man who owned it named it MACHELHE, a combination of two letters of the names of his four children; Mary, Charles, Eloise, and Helen. A deep but narrow cut is crossed on Stinking Gut Bridge, and thence the road runs through Ferry Swamp. The first course over this swamp was a corduroy road of cross logs and dirt. On both sides of this shaky thoroughfare were bogs that meant certain death to anyone who fell into them while traveling alone. When soundings were taken no bottom was reached and piles driven down 100 feet disappeared. Finally the State decided to
float a road; a 16-foot-wide strip of concrete on steel netting was suspended over the treacherous morass. The construction of this road was hailed as an engineering feat, but the road eventually settled and tidewater rose 2 or 3 feet over it. The problem was finally solved by construction of the present asphalted roadbed elevated 3.5 feet on pilings joined by steel cables; there is a 10-inch railing on each side.
Here the woods are fragrant with laurel, pine, and cedar, most beautiful in the spring with dogwood and Carolina yellow jessamine, and in the summer sweet with the perfume of honeysuckle and wild rose. Cattails rise from the waving reeds, and bamboo twines around the taller trees.
The highway passes one of the largest groves of pecan trees in this area.
CAMDEN, 4 m. (10 alt., 116 pop.), the ancient seat of Camden County, is a typical rural crossroads. Prior to 1777, when the territory around the Pasquotank River was a part of Pasquotank County, this town was named Jonesboro in honor of a prominent resident, Joseph Jones. In 1777, when the present county was separated from Pasquotank County, the town was named Camden for Charles Pratt, who was then Baron Camden; because of his excellence as a judge he had become Lord Chancellor of England, but because of his opposition to the government's American taxation policies, had been asked to resign; later he became the first Earl of Camden.
During Colonial days Camden was surrounded by the estates of wealthy planters who owned numerous slaves, and who were noted for their handsome residences and cordial hospitality.
The present Camden Courthouse, with a portico having four massive columns supported on brick piers, was built in 1847. An earlier one, built in 1780, has been converted into a dwelling and inn. The courtroom is on the second floor, because, when the structure was built, what is now the ground floor was left open so that horses might be hitched there; the ground floor now houses the county offices.
Camden is in a potato-growing section and at harvest time the people work night and day digging and shipping the crop. On the railroad sidings paralleling the highway boxcars stand in long lines in readiness for loading. At night the fields are aglow with the headlights of the busy trucks and it is only when harvest is over — or the
price of potatoes breaks — that the activity subsides and the calm pace of life is resumed.
1. Left from Camden on State 343 to the junction with the Shipyard Ferry Rd., 3.5 m.; L. here on this dirt road running along Pasquotank River to the Grice Home (private), 4 m., built by Charles Grice; the date 1746 is scratched on the chimney. Tradition says that it was used as a hospital and place of refuge during the Civil War.
2. Right from Camden on State 343 to the junction with the old Indiantown Rd., 2 m.; L. on this dirt road to Fairfax Hall, 2.5 m., the home of Gen. Isaac Gregory, Revolutionary officer. The tall, old mansion, standing well back from the road, is one of two brick houses in Camden County. The interior paneling has been removed and sold.
At SHILOH, 12 m., is Shiloh Baptist Church, bearing on its front the date 1727; it is believed to be the oldest Baptist church in the State. This 60- by 90-foot structure is constructed of handhewn heart pine, put together with pegs. The arched ceiling is 40 feet high. On the floors are the marks made by musket butt plates when the church was used as an arsenal by Federal troops during the Civil War.
Opposite the church is the Grave of Lieut. Col. Dempsey Burgess, Revolutionary War officer who served in the Provincial Congress in 1775 and 1776, and in the National House of Representatives 1795 to 1799.
OLD TRAP, 16 m., now a trucking center for vegetables going to northern markets, remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. The section was isolated; the people were not slave owners, and they did not feel inclined to risk life and property to save the fortunes of those who owned slaves. Like other southerners with Union sympathies, they were called “buffaloes” by their neighbors. In spite of their attitude many of these young men were conscripted by the Confederacy.
In this town and all through the district bordering the broad mouth of the Pasquotank River is heard frequently the colloquialism: “Did you travel or come by boat?” This expression is a relic of old England, when the traveler was one who “labored” on foot.
SHAWBORO, 12 m. (15 alt., 366 pop.), is a rural village. On the L. at the bend in the highway is a Twin House, consisting of two two-story-and-a-half gabled houses, built one behind the other about 10 feet apart and connected by a one-story gabled structure having a door at each end, and a ridgeline perpendicular to the sides of the main sections. The effect is charming, though unplanned. The story is that a husband and wife who at one time occupied the front part of the house, which dates from about 1800, quarreled so bitterly that they decided to live apart; the husband built a duplicate of the old house in the rear of it, joining the two with a common
hallway. The husband remained in the old house, the wife moved to the new one.
SLIGO, 15 m. (15 alt.), was so named because Edward Dromgoole, Methodist circuit rider, saw in the place a resemblance to his native Sligo in Ireland. He was one of the first three preachers sent to the Carolina Circuit of the Methodist Church which was formed in Albermarle in 1776. Dromgoole arrived in December 1783 and retired from circuit work in 1786, settling in Brunswick County, Va., where he named his estate Sligo.
Left from Sligo on State 34 is the village of MOYOCK, 10 m. (200 pop.), which has the only bank in Currituck County. The local woman's club sponsored the planting of cannas along the highway throughout the town, the flowers, when in bloom, form a gay border.
Left from Moyock on a dirt road to PUDDING RIDGE, 11 m., on the edge of the Dismal Swamp. Here is an Amish-Mennonite colony, whose members are sometimes called the “hook-and-eye” Mennonites, because they wear no buttons on their clothing. The practice, like that of shaving the upper lip, was adopted when their progenitors were opposing civil authority in Switzerland where a tax was imposed on buttons and mustaches. The first members of this colony came from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in 1907. Some were seeking health, and others were attracted by reports of cheap, fertile land.
The Mennonites believe that the simplicity of rural life makes possible greater consecration to God. The church decrees that no Mennonite may serve on a jury, bring a lawsuit, hold public office, swear oaths, attend theaters, or use tobacco or liquor. He must wear the apparel specified and lead an abstemious life. They live contentedly apart from their neighbors, coming in contact with people of other faiths only in the necessary business associations. The men wear long hair, flowing beards, and straight-hanging coats, and the women severe dark dresses and, except on Sunday, a kind of quilted or slatted bonnet; on Sunday they put on the “prayer covering,” a little white bonnet that is tied under the chin with long strings. From infancy the children are dressed like their elders, the little girls in long dresses, with full gathered skirts, and the little boys in homemade coats and long trousers. At home they speak the dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch. All church services are conducted in the German language, the Scripture reading in High German and the preaching in the dialect. They do not approve of more education than is necessary to enable them to write and do simple arithmetic, and few of their children are permitted to go to school beyond the compulsory school age. They are industrious, prosperous farmers and have made a business of the growing of mint, which they make into a syrup that is shipped out in considerable quantities.
At Sligo is the junction with State 34; R. here on State 34.
CURRITUCK, 19 m. (10 alt., 213 pop.) (boats for island trips; guides and hunting supplies available). The town name is derived from
Coratank (Ind., wild geese). The county, and the beautiful fresh-water sound it borders, also bear this name. The sound, 50 miles long and 1 to 10 miles wide is connected with Chesapeake Bay by the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.
Currituck, formerly a part of the old County of Albemarle, was involved in the boundary dispute between North Carolina and Virginia. In 1728, to the satisfaction of Currituck's early settlers, the line was so laid as to include them in North Carolina instead of Virginia.
Truck farming, commercial fishing and catering to sportsmen are the mainstays of livelihood. The marshes and waters of the sound, covered with wild celery, pond-weed, and sago grass, form a rendezvous for millions of migratory waterfowl. The shipping of these duck foods is a commercial side line. Sportsmen from all parts of the country patronize the clubhouses and lodges that dot the islands and the shores. During the open season, which lasts from five to six weeks, shooting is permitted four days a week. Fishing in the sound is done with rod and reel, and with net and seine. The catches include bass, rock, German carp, mullet, white and ring perch, herring, pickerel, and shad.
Because of the high prices paid in northern markets for game birds, some local hunters formerly employed the goose-gun, a weapon with a barrel about two inches in diameter and 10 feet in length. At one discharge it fired two pounds of small shot into a flock of birds and brought down scores of them. Such wholesale slaughter threatened the fowl with extinction, till the Audubon Society fought to have the use of the gun outlawed, and finally succeeded.
Currituck Sound is also a favorite wintering place of the rare whistling swan (Cygnus columbianus), which breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada where probably more than 10,000 of the young birds, known as cygnets, are hatched yearly. Under government protection the continued propagation of these beautiful birds with their flute-like notes seems assured. The resonant quality of the swan's cry is produced by the large size of the cavity in which the windpipe is coiled before reaching the lungs.
In 1720 Timothy Hanson brought to Currituck County, the seeds of the European grass (Phleum pratense), which he developed into “timothy”, now one of the most valuable fodder grasses grown in the United States.
The highway winds close to the water and on the narrow strip of land between is (L) the Courthouse, a red brick structure erected in 1876. The county, having no incorporated towns, is governed as a unit, which makes the courthouse so important that the town is frequently referred to as “the Courthouse”, rather than by town name.
South of Courthouse Point is (R) Pilmoor Memorial Methodist Church, 19.3 m., on a little rise overlooking the sound. Erected in 1928, it replaced the Baxter's Grove Church and stands on the spot where Joseph Pilmoor, on September 28, 1772, preached the first Methodist sermon ever delivered in North Carolina. The Methodists of the county adopted the consolidation system now used by the schools and built this as a county church, served by the only Sunday School bus in the State, called Miss Memorial.
From the courthouse several islands are visible in the distance. On clear days the southern tips of Knott's Island and of Mackey's Island, about 6 miles off, are discernible to the N. About 2 miles to the S. is Monkey Island, and beyond that are Bell's Island and Church's Island. In the far distance can sometimes be seen the gleam of Penny's Hill, one of the highest sand dunes along the coast. These islands are accessible by boat from Currituck (see above) and, with the exception of Monkey Island, are also reached over uncertain marsh roads. KNOTT'S ISLAND is the largest, with a population of about 500. Recently it has secured a land outlet by means of a road over the marsh from Virginia.
MACKEY'S ISLAND (private) is owned by Joseph P. Knapp, who has built a reproduction of Mount Vernon for his home, with spacious grounds containing miniature lakes, a golf course, and rose gardens. He maintains a mallard farm for the conservation and propagation of wild ducks, some of which are occasionally released to provide guests with sport.
MONKEY ISLAND (private) is owned by the Penn family, which maintains a shooting lodge there.
BELL'S ISLAND and CHURCH'S ISLAND have several shooting clubs and lodges, and are busy spots during the hunting season. It is from Church's Island that most of the wild celery and sago grass is shipped, sometimes to far distant points, for use as duck feed.
COINJOCK, 28 m. (12 alt., 216 pop.), is on the banks of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. At this point the U.S. Lighthouse
A FLORIDA CATCHSHOW BOAT MOORED IN CANAL, COINJOCK, North Carolina
FROM JOCKEY'S RIDGE, NAG'S HEAD, North Carolina
WHERE THE COLONISTS CAME ASHORE ON ROANOKE ISLAND
Service maintains a station for the lights and buoys on the Intracoastal Waterway through Currituck Sound. Its keeper is Captain W. J. Tate, the Kitty Hawk citizen at whose home the Wright brothers first lived while making their airplane experiments 1900-03 (see below).
At BERTHA, 31 m., is the junction with State 3.
Left on State 3 to POPLAR BRANCH, 3 m. (325 pop.) (boats chartered to the banks). East on the banks is the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, generally known as Whale's Head Lighthouse. The village post office has yet another name, COROLLA (110 pop.). The lighthouse, built of rough unpainted brick, is 163 feet high, and has a light of 160,000 candlepower. Erected in 1875, it was one of the last large seacoast lights placed on the Atlantic coast, filling a dangerous unlighted gap between Cape Henry to the N. and Bodie Island to the S. The marking of the low-lying shores of North Carolina is important because most south-bound ships keep well inshore to avoid the northerly flowing current of the Gulf Stream.
On Jan. 31, 1878, 3 m. S. of this lighthouse occurred the wreck of the Metropolis, with a loss of more than 100 lives. The surf was violent and in some places wreckage was piled up to a height of 4 or 5 feet. The victims were buried along the beach in rudely made graves.
South of Bertha the route leads through a succession of farms and farm villages ranging in population from a score to 500 people, and so strung out along the highway that it is difficult to tell where one village ends and the next begins.
The small houses are trim and prosperous in appearance though the absence of telephone and electric light wires running to them is noticeable. Close to nearly every house rises a long well-sweep above what is the popular well-curb in this area — a section of large red sewer pipe. In many of the farm fields are family graveyards.
JARVISBURG, 41 m. (550 pop.), was named for Thomas Jarvis, Governor of North Carolina (1881-1885) and one of Currituck's popular sons. A crab-canning plant operates here in season. At POINT HARBOR, 50 m., the highway crosses the three-mile Wright Memorial Bridge, which is near the confluence of four sounds — Currituck, Albemarle, Roanoke and Croatan — and gives entrance to Dare County through an iron archway, whose inscription declares that this county was, in the year 1584, the birthplace of the Nation and, in 1903, the birthplace of aviation. The bridge was named in honor of the Wright brothers (see below).
Dare County was the scene of the first settlement attempted by
England in America, the birthplace of the first child born of English parents on North American soil, the scene of the first known celebration of a Christian sacrament in the territory of the original 13 States, and the scene of the first successful airplane flight.
Dare was formed in 1870 from parts of Hyde, Currituck, and Tyrrell, and named in honor of Virginia Dare (see below). The county has an area of some 300 square miles of land and 1,200 square miles of water.
The natives of Dare, long isolated, have preserved English ballads and folk songs, and many expressions common in the English language centuries ago.
Dare has an exceptionally long coast line, and along the 80-mile stretch of beach between the Currituck County line and Hatteras Inlet are (1937) 9 active Coast Guard Stations whose men patrol the coast day and night, and are always alert for distress signals from vessels. The stations also give storm warnings to the summer cottagers and rescue motorcars stranded in the soft sand off the paved highway.
For about a mile east of the bridge the highway runs straight ahead through a dense forest of pine and dogwood, gradually climbing to a ridge from which is suddenly seen a long stretch of high white sand dunes with, beyond them, the vast blue expanse of the Atlantic. Each year these constantly shifting dunes have been engulfing more and more of what was formerly forested land; as they drift they frequently cover the narrow highway or endanger the summer cottages and the permanent hamlets. During 1936 more than 700 men from work-relief projects were busy planting Cape Cod grass and Uniola and erecting miles of sand fencing in an attempt to anchor the migratory sands.
The highway swings R. paralleling the ocean beach, which is for several miles lined with cottages and boarding houses.
At 56 m. is the junction with a paved road.
Right here to KITTY HAWK, 1 m. (260 pop.), which is on the shore of the sound. The name, according to some of the natives, is derived from the mosquito hawk, a large insect infesting the region in great swarms at certain seasons; “mosquito hawk,” they say, became “skeeter hawk,” and later Kitty Hawk. Others assert the name comes from an Indian word haunk, describing the cry of the wild goose. The Indians, having learned enough English to say killy for kill, computed the white man's year as that period of time “Fum a killy hauk to a killy hauk,” that is, the time between the killing of the first goose of one season and the killing of the first goose of the next. Old records in the Currituck Court-house
include references to Killy Honk Bay, Kitty Hock Bay and, later, Kitty Hawk Bay.
It is generally believed that the beautiful Theodosia Burr Alston met her death near the strip of coast between Kitty Hawk and Nags Head. She was a daughter of Aaron Burr and the wife of Governor Alston of South Carolina.
When Aaron Burr returned from exile, Governor Alston sent his wife to visit her father in New York, hoping the sea trip would improve her health, which had been impaired by grief over her father's disgrace and the death of her only child. On Dec. 30, 1812, she sailed from George Town, S. C., on the Patriot, a small pilot boat, and was never seen again. At that time the boat was thought to have been wrecked off the coast of Hatteras during a severe storm, but there was no evidence to substantiate the theory.
In 1869, 57 years later, Dr. W. G. Pool, a physician of Elizabeth City, was called to attend a poor banker (shoredweller) woman, from whom he would take no fee. The grateful woman insisted that he accept a portrait as a gift and told him how it had come into her possession:
In 1813 a small pilot boat with all sails set and rudder lashed had drifted ashore at Kitty Hawk. There was no one on board, yet there were no signs of violence; a meal on the table was untouched, in a cabin were silk dresses, waxed flowers under glass, a beautifully carved nautilus shell, and on the wall this portrait of a young and beautiful woman, painted in oils on mahogany and set in a richly gilded frame. When the bankers stripped the boat, the portrait fell to the share of this woman's sweetheart, who later gave it to her. The bankers believed that pirates had seized the boat and forced all on board to walk the plank, but, before they could plunder the boat, had been frightened away by the approach of another vessel.
Dr. Pool, chancing upon an old magazine containing a picture of Aaron Burr, was struck with the resemblance between the woman in his portrait and the man. He made a check of the dates involved and decided that he had a clue to an unsolved tragedy. A brief account of his supposition was published in the New York Sun, and immediately brought numerous requests for particulars. Photographs of the portrait were sent to members of the Burr and Edwards families, who almost without exception proclaimed the likeness that of Theodosia; comparisons made with the Sully portrait of Theodosia revealed identical features and expression. The Nags Head portrait is now in a private museum in New York City.
Legendary confessions round out the story. It is said that years after the disappearance of the Patriot, two criminals, before their execution at Norfolk, testified that they were members of a pirate crew who boarded the Patriot and compelled everyone on board to walk the plank. A beggar, dying in a Michigan almshouse, confessed that he had been one of a pirate crew, and that he could never forget how one of his victims, a beautiful woman, pleaded for her life that she might go to her father in New York.
The long strip of beach has other and less tragic associations. In the summer of 1900, the postmaster at Kitty Hawk received a letter dated August 19, from Dayton, Ohio, describing some proposed “scientific kite flying experiments” that Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville intended to make during their September vacation. They wished to know something of the topography of the region and to have a description of the beach. Capt. W. J. Tate, whose wife was
postmistress, answered the letter; the Wrights lived in Captain Tate's until they constructed a camp. They carried on their glider experiments for three years, eventually equipping a glider with a gasoline motor, with results that made world history.
On May 22, 1928, a Commemorative Marker was unveiled at Kitty Hawk honoring the Wright brothers. The marble shaft bears the following inscription: “On this spot, Sept. 17, 1900, Wilbur Wright began the assembly of the Wright brothers’ first experimental glider which led to man's conquest of the air. Erected by the citizens of Kitty Hawk.”
At intervals along the beach the wrecks of ships and boats are seen. In 1927 the Paraguay, a Greek steamer, broke in two when she grounded on a reef near shore; a year later the Carl Gerhard was wrecked and driven ashore between the bow and stern of the Paraguay. During the summer the Gerhard furnishes solid footing for fishermen, though at high tide her decks are awash; in rough weather her masts are hardly visible.
The WRIGHT MEMORIAL MONUMENT, 60 m. (R), rises from the top of the 90-foot dune, Kill Devil Hill, which has been clothed with wiregrass and transplanted sod to restrain its wanderings. There are various legends to account for the name of this dune; a favorite is that it was named for a brand of Medford rum that gained this nickname because of its potency. The power of the liquor was celebrated in a ballad long popular on the banks and called the Ballad of Kill Devil Hills, or the Ballad of Medford Rum. William Byrd, in his History of the Dividing Line, wrote of this section: “Most of the Rum they get in this country comes from New England, and it is so bad and unwholesome, that it is not improperly call'd ‘Kill Devil.’ ” A manuscript description of Barbadoes, written 25 years after the settlement of the island in 1651, says: “The chief fudling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Devil, and this is made of sugar canes, distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor.” It is believed there was formerly an inlet near here through which cargoes of rum were brought ashore. Another story is that the hills were named for the killdee, or killdeer, a bird of the plover family formerly numerous in the region.
A spiral walk leads from the base of the hill to the summit where rises a 60-foot stylized wing of granite on a star-shaped base that had to be sunk 35 feet to hold it steady. Above the recessed entrance, which has doors of stainless steel, are graven the names of the brothers. Within are niches intended for a model of the original Wright
plane and for busts of Wilbur and Orville Wright. A stainless steel table here is engraved with a map indicating the notable flights of the first 25 years of aviation. On the wall is a tablet bearing lines from the Greek poet Pindar: “The long toil of the brave is not quenched in darkness, nor hath counting the cost fretted away the zeal of their hopes. O'er the fruitful earth and athwart the sea hath passed the light of noble deeds, unquenchable forever.” On another wall is: “From a point near the base of this hill Wilbur and Orville Wright launched the first flight of a power-driven airplane, Dec. 17, 1903.”
A steep stone and steel staircase ascends to the observatory from which is a wide view of the banks and the ocean. Above this is a powerful searchlight.
Visible from the observatory is a small monument 600 feet to the north, erected by the National Aeronautical Association in 1928 on the 25th anniversary of the successful flight. It has been placed on the approximate spot where the crude fragile machine left the earth on its maiden flight. On that day four flights were made, the brothers alternating at the controls, until a sudden increase in the 27-mile wind rolling the machine over and over, damaged it so that further experiments were impossible at the time. Orville was at the controls on the first flight the plane stayed in the air 12 seconds, traversing a distance of 120 feet. On the fourth flight, with Wilbur at the controls, the machine flew a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds.
The monument was erected by the Federal Government in 1932.
Right from the monument on a paved road running through wooded hills to the Fresh Ponds, 2 m. There are eight large ponds and several smaller ones, the largest covering about 125 acres. These pools, lying on a narrow sandbar between the briny waters of the ocean and the sound, are covered with lush pond lilies and contain fresh-water fish. They are popularly supposed to be bottomless. In all probability an inlet once existed at this point, connecting the restless waters of the ocean with those of the quieter Kitty Hawk Bay. Mounds of sea shells, or Indian kitchen-middens, formerly lined the shores of the bay.
Beyond the ponds runs a sand road that crosses two toll-free bridges to COLINGTON, 3 m., on Colington Island, in Kitty Hawk Bay. This quiet little fishing village was named for one of the Lords Proprietor, Sir John Colleton. Most of the inhabitants are of English and Swedish descent. Delicious figs grow here.
On Colington Island, as elsewhere in this extreme northeastern part of the State, high two-wheeled springless carts are seen frequently, sometimes drawn by an ox but more often by a horse. These vehicles, which are somewhat like Irish jaunting-cars, were very practical conveyances for travel in the marshy country before the advent of paved roads.
At 64 m. is NAGS HEAD BEACH, where cottages, resort hotels and boarding houses are numerous. Garages border the highway, and board walks and driveways lead to the rears of the cottages, which face the ocean. Some of the driveways are built of asphalt blocks salvaged from the original main roadbed destroyed by storm and tide.
The Remnants of the Huron are pointed out by a marker, which gives brief details of the disaster of November 24, 1887, when the sloop-of-war Huron was wrecked with the loss of 108 lives. When the sea is calm, the tank, boiler, and bell of the ship, about 175 yards offshore, are plainly visible. The wreckage swarms with fish and is noted particularly for huge sheepshead, providing good sport for anglers. This tragedy occurred three years after the Government had established a makeshift lifesaving service. Small huts, called stations, were 20 miles apart and manned only during the winter.
NAGS HEAD, 65 m., has been a resort for more than a century. Until 1929 all visitors came by boat to a long pier jutting out into Roanoke Sound and the larger cottages and hotels were on that side of the sandy strip of land. The opening of the Virginia Dare Trail and the Wright Memorial Bridge has stimulated the growth of the colony along the ocean beach.
In the early days of this settlement, according to legend, there were certain unscrupulous “land pirates,” who deliberately sought to wreck ships approaching the dangerous shore. On a stormy night, one of their number would tie a lantern to the neck of his nag and ride her up and down the dunes. Unfortunate mariners, mistaking the light for a beacon or a ship riding at anchor in a safe harbor, were lured to the teacherous reefs, there to be boarded and looted by the wily shoremen. These exploits are said to have given rise to the names of Nags Head, and of Jockey's Ridge, applied to its largest dune.
The folklore of this coast includes the myth of the headless horseman, who swiftly and silently rides over the dunes; and that of an everlasting stain running across the narrow beach to the water — the blood of a banker woman slain by her husband who found her in the embrace of a man later proved to be her brother, long absent and supposedly lost at sea.
The White Doe, a reincarnation of Virginia Dare, is said to roam the hills and is visible to human beings only on the stroke of mid-night. According to one story, Virginia Dare, together with other
members of the Lost Colony, was adopted by the Croatan Indians. When she grew up, she was loved by Okisco, a young Indian, and by Chico, a magician. To thwart his rival, Chico changed the maiden into a white doe, and in this guise she roamed the dunes of Nags Head for many years. Weando, a magician of another tribe, gave Okisco a magic arrow, which he promised would cause her to regain human form if it pierced her heart. Okisco shot the doe through the heart; as she fell, a mist arose about her. When the mist cleared the doe had vanished and in its stead lay the fair form of Virginia Dare — dead.
One of the charms of Nags Head is the constant change wrought as the sand is shifted by wind, storm, and tide. The sea steadily encroaches, and yearly the span of sandy beach between the long row of cottages and the ocean grows narrower. The shore is being built up on the Roanoke Sound side and cottages, erected a few years ago on pilings over the sound, today stand on dry sand. Among the vast and continually shifting dunes that lie between the sound and ocean cottages are JOCKEY'S RIDGE and ENGAGEMENT HILL, both more than 100 feet in height.
By the Whalebone Filling Station, 70 m., is part of the skeleton of a whale washed up on the beach 2 miles S. of Oregon Inlet in 1927; in 1931 its bleached bones were gathered up and assembled here where its whiteness is startling against the blue of the sea and the pale gold of the sand.
(For the drive on the banks S. of this point see below.)
State 34 turns R. at this point and crosses 3 miles of causeway and bridges connecting small islands.
At 73 m. State 34 enters ROANOKE ISLAND, which is 12 miles long, with an average width of 3 miles.
At this point is a junction with State 345, a paved road running the length of the island. At the junction is the SITE OF THE BATTLE OF ROANOKE ISLAND, fought Dec. 7, 1862. After the fall of Hatteras, Roanoke Island was the only hope of defense for Albemarle Sound and its tributaries. When General Burnside with 15,000 troops sailed up Croatan Sound and landed on the island, the Confederates under Col. Henry M. Shaw engaged the Federals but were forced to retreat and finally to surrender.
Left on State 345 is WANCHESE, 5 m. (1,040 pop.), named for one of two Indians who were taken to visit England by the Ralegh expedition under
Amadas and Barlow (see below). Wanchese has one of the best harbors in the section and is a trading point for Pamlico Sound (one boat daily to Hatteras). It is the center of Dare's great shad fishing business, in which 90 percent of its population is employed.
Visible from Wanchese is DUCK ISLAND (accessible only by boat), in Pamlico Sound. The only building on the island is the private shooting lodge of the Mellons. Sportsmen come each season to this remote spot for duck, goose, and brant shooting.
MANTEO, 76 m. (12 alt., 547 pop.), seat of Dare County (guides and boats available for fishing and hunting), is the only incorporated town in the country. It was named for the Indian Manteo (see below), who with Wanchese was taken back to England by Ralegh's expedition. The name of its ancient hostelry, the Tranquil House, is descriptive of the town's atmosphere. Two-wheeled oxcarts occasionally rumble up and down its half dozen streets.
Proximity to the ocean makes the winter temperature here average about 13 degrees higher and the summer temperature several degrees lower than in the Sandhill section of the State.
There are many kinds of fish in the nearby waters; the shad-fishing business represents an investment of about half a million dollars in equipment and employs 1,000 men in season. The abundance of game fish attracts many sportsmen the year round. Channel bass weighing 50 to 75 pounds are frequently taken by skilled anglers. Other favorites of sportsmen are bluefish, speckled or gray trout, rock or striped bass, pig fish, blackfish, and several kinds of perch.
Among the numerous wild fowl migrating to this natural feeding ground each year, are the Canada goose, the white swan, and many varieties of wild ducks and wild geese. The golden plover and the yellow legs are found in large numbers. In addition to waterfowl, the section has quail and snipe.
Roanoke hominy, commonly called “big hominy,” is a food made today in some rural sections as the Indians made it at the time of the first white settlement. Selected white corn is put into a wooden mortar or heavy iron pot, covered with boiling water and rubbed with a pestle till the husks are loose. When the husks have been winnowed out, the remainder is returned to the mortar where the grains are cracked slightly. The grain is then cooked with salt and bacon in an iron pot for about 10 hours. This food, tradition says, was served to Amadas and Barlow by the Indians of Roanoke Island in 1584.
The so-called Burnside Headquarters, on an extension of Main St. in little Manteo, is merely constructed of timbers from the building that was commandeered for the use of the Union general during the occupation of the town in 1862. This old structure had held the first post office established on the island and stood much nearer the shore, where it was finally undermined.
At 80 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to the Mother Vineyard, 1.5 m. (not open to public except by special arrangement). Here is an unusually fine specimen of the scuppernong grape vine, annually yielding large quantities of delicious yellow-green grapes. The place is called the Mother Vineyard because local tradition is that this vine was planted by Amadas and Barlow from roots brought from the Scuppernong River. There is another theory to explain this variety's discovery in Tyrrell County, near the present town of Columbia (see N. C. GUIDE).
FORT RALEIGH, 83 m. (always open), is the site of the first attempted English settlement in America, the Citie of Ralegh or New Fort in Virginia.
On July 4, 1584, Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow, sent out by Sir Walter Ralegh, landed on the present North Carolina coast, planted the arms of England on Roanoke Island, and took possession of the territory for Sir Walter Ralegh under his patent from Queen Elizabeth. After two months spent in exploring this new country, they returned to England, taking with them two Indians, Manteo and Wanchese, and samples of the strange products of the land, including tobacco and sweet potatoes.
In the following year Sir Richard Grenville brought over 108 Ralegh colonists, including Gov. Ralph Lane, and landed on Roanoke Island August 17, 1585. Grenville returned to England for supplies and the colonists set about building huts and a stockade. Trouble with the Indians and near-starvation ensued and when Sir Francis Drake's fleet appeared in 1586, the colonists returned to England with him. Grenville arrived with supplies two weeks later; he left 15 men on the island and returned home.
In 1587 Gov. John White, landing on the island with a new group of colonists, found no trace of the 15 men except an unburied skeleton; the fort and dwellings were in ruins. The newcomers set about rebuilding the fort and restoring friendly relations with the Indians, aided by Manteo. On August 13, 1587, Manteo was baptised and invested with the title of Lord of Roanoke. This is
the first recorded celebration of a Christian sacrament in the New World.
Among the colonists was Governor White's young daughter, Eleanor, wife of Ananias Dare. The daughter of this couple, born on August 18, 1587, was the first white child born of English parents on American soil. She was christened Virginia Dare the following Sunday, August 25.
On August 27, 1587, John White anxiously sailed for England to obtain “the present and speedy supply of certain known and apparent lacks and needs, most requisite and necessary for the good and happy planting of us, or any other in the land of Virginia.” White was detained in England by the trouble with Spain and did not manage to leave for America until the 20th of March, 1591. He arrived at Roanoke Island August 15, 1591, searched for two days and “found the houses taken down and the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisade of great trees, with curtains and flankers, very fort-like; and one of the chief trees or posts at the right side of the entrance had the bark taken off, and five feet from the ground, in fair capital letters was graven CROATAN, without any sign or cross of distress.” This word is the only clue ever found to the fate of the forlorn little band. None of the various explanations offered for their disappearance has the slightest foundation in fact. They may have died of disease or starvation or been killed at the fort by Indians but White found no unburied skeletons, which would support these surmises. It is probable that they were either taken captive by the Indians, or were driven by starvation to join the Indians; the fact that the name of the island on which Manteo's family lived was left on the tree “without any sign or cross of distress” gives color to the latter view.
Governor White's careful drawings of the settlement, which are now in the British Museum, were consulted in the reconstruction of the fort.
The reservation entrance is flanked with simple brick and concrete posts and blockhouses; on each side of them stretches a palisade of split, unpeeled juniper trunks. The dense growth of pine, oak, dogwood and holly in the reservation has been cleared only to provide space for a few buildings and for an unpaved road that circles through the reservation. Colony Landing, on the shore of Roanoke Sound, is, according to tradition, the place where the colonists first came ashore,
but both shore and sound have been so changed by tides and erosion that this is not certain.
Close to the entrance, inside a palisade, stands (R) the Reconstructed Fort, a little blockhouse of logs with an overhang having portholes for the rifles of defenders. It is built on a slight rise of ground that, according to careful research workers, is the probable site of the original blockhouse. Close to it is a stone monument, erected in 1896, bearing a plaque with the word “Croatan.”
A large hall has been constructed in the center of the area for the use of visiting groups and for meetings. Around it are a few cabins, including one in which the caretaker lives. Stones used for foundations and fireplaces are ancient ship ballast recovered from the waters of the sounds. Nearby on a hummock is a tiny Chapel built of juniper logs and thatched with reeds. Benches are backless and the earthen floor is covered with rushes.
The Roanoke Colony Memorial Association holds an annual memorial service here on August 18th, the birthday of Virginia Dare.
State 345 continues to WEIR POINT, 85 m., at the end of Roanoke Island. Here in 1902, Reginald A. Fessenden, an employee of the U. S. Weather Bureau, carried on experiments in wireless communication with a ship offshore.
DRIVE ON BANKSWhalebone Filling Station to Hatteras Inlet, 55 m.
Unpaved sandy road, unusable at certain times of the year and during high tide; safest when ground is frozen. Inquire locally about conditions. Automobile tires should be somewhat deflated before the paved roadbed is left; motorists should carry long strips of coarse canvas or an old sail for use under the wheels to provide traction if needed. The Coast Guard Stations along the banks between Oregon and Hatteras Inlets provide assistance to motorists.
This route is recommended for the adventurous.
The constantly shifting dunes of this long narrow reef created by the restless currents of the Atlantic form fantastic shadows, contrasting with the gray-green or blue of the waters in a scene of primitive splendor.
Bodie Island Lighthouse, 5 m., was built in 1872. The first light bearing this name was erected in 1848 when there was an urgent appeal for the marking of the dangerous coast between Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras, on which many vessels had been wrecked. It was
rebuilt in 1859, but was entirely destroyed in the Civil War; during this war the Confederates erected Fort Oregon near the lighthouse site. When the present light was built it was placed on a new site, on the northern side of Oregon Inlet, which had recently opened. Five sailing vessels were wrecked in the vicinity during the time this tower was under construction. The lighthouse is 163 feet high and throws a 160,000-candlepower beam, visible for 19 miles.
OREGON INLET, 8 m., 1 mile wide, is crossed by a toll ferry ($2 round trip for car and driver; extra passengers 25¢ each way) capable of carrying 10 cars at a time. This is one of the best points on the coast for drum (channel bass) fishing. During the runs of channel bass and bluefish scores of fishing boats with shining lures trailing astern pass in and out of the inlet. Every year millions of pounds of choice fish pour through the waters of the inlet, providing commercial fishermen with many rich hauls. Surf casting is practiced the entire length of the coast.
The territory between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe has been set aside as a Game Sanctuary under control of the U. S. Biological Survey and is a part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (see below).
Pea Island Station, 15 m., is the only Coast Guard Station in the service manned entirely by Negroes. In the surf near the station is the rusty cast-iron boiler of a Confederate blockade runner, grounded during the Civil War.
NEW INLET, 16 m., crossed by free bridges, was opened in 1933 during a severe storm.
RODANTHE, 21 m. (420 pop.), is the most eastern point on the coast of North Carolina. The isolated fisherfolk of this village still celebrate Old Christmas, or January 6.
Chicamacomico Coast Guard Station is here where the coast is especially dangerous. At the station is the wooden surfboat in which, on August 16, 1918, Capt. John Allen Midgett and a crew of five men from the station braved a sea covered with blazing oil and gasoline to rescue 42 persons from the torpedoed British tanker Mirlo. For this deed Congress awarded them the bronze Medal of Honor, for “unusual and extraordinary heroism of maximum degree.” Close by the station is the mound under which are buried British seamen carried ashore after the wreck of the St. Catharis, on April 16, 1891, in which 90 lives were lost.
At SALVO, 29 m., on a barren sandhill, grows an immense fig tree that until 1933, when it was damaged during a storm, produced from 50 to 100 bushels of figs annually.
AVON, 39 m. (489 pop.), a fishing village, is also known locally as Kinnakeet, the Indian name for the section. The Big Kinnakeet Coast Guard Station is here. Tons of bluefish are caught near here every season. Fruit trees, vineyards, and truck gardens bear evidence of the fertility of this stretch of ground.
South of Avon the beach road winds through woods where palmettos grow in abundance, the trees are hung with Spanish moss, and the vegetation is subtropical. The open beach is strewn with the wreckage of ships. Planking, timbers, and the hull of the Kohler, one of the last of the four-masted schooners, attest the aptness of the name by which the waters off Cape Hatteras are known — the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
CAPE HATTERAS, 45 m., is more than 30 miles from the mainland across Pamlico Sound. Wild life is abundant here. Herds of ponies, cattle, and hogs range at will. Tradition is that the banker pony is a descendant of Barbary ponies either brought over by Sir Walter Ralegh's colonists or rescued from wrecked Portuguese ships. Whatever their antecedents, these wiry little creatures live a wild free life of their own, and resist attempts to tame them. In winter the sound waters are dotted with ducks and geese, and frequently the gleam of a white swan is seen. Sandpipers and gulls feed in flocks on the beach, undisturbed by the busy sandfiddlers scurrying from hole to hole. Eagles and ospreys are on the lookout for their prey, and schools of porpoises sport just beyond the breakers of the roaring Atlantic.
Hatteras cats are a distinctive breed. They are large, bushy-tailed animals, said to be the descendants of an island Maltese and a brown bush-tailed Norwegian cat, sole survivor of a wreck many years ago.
At the tip of the cape 1,200 acres, including the gently shelving beach on the south, were donated to the Federal Government by Frank Stick and J. S. Phipps to be developed as the CAPE HATTERAS NATIONAL SEASHORE, which will eventually be included in a greater recreational area embracing 50 miles or more of beachland and bordering sound.
Within the park is Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, abandoned in 1936. Spirally painted black and white, the structure rises to a height
of 193 feet and commands a view of that section of the Atlantic coast where the most shipwrecks have occurred. Within 125 yards, 15 or more skeletons of ships protrude from the sand.
Among the more notable wrecks that have occurred off Hatteras are: the coastal steamer Pulaski, which went down on June 14, 1838, with the loss of 140 lives; the Kensington in collision with the bark Templar, on Jan. 27, 1871, with the loss of 150 lives; the Emily B. Sonder, wrecked Dec. 10, 1878, with the loss of 38; and the Ward Line ship Santiago, wrecked Mar. 11, 1924, with the loss of 25 lives.
After the engagement between the Merrimac and the Monitor in Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862 (see MAIN ROUTE, Section 5), it was decided to dispatch the Monitor to Charleston harbor. She accordingly set off December 29 in tow of the side-wheel steamer Rhode Island. Between 11 p.m. and midnight the following night the stout but clumsy little “cheese-box” floundered in a gale off Hatteras, with a loss of 4 officers and 12 men. Forty-nine of her crew were saved by the sailors of the Rhode Island.
The first lighthouse at this point, built in 1798, was blown up during the Civil War. The present one was built in 1869-70. Its foundation of pine timber extends 30 feet into the ground, but during heavy gales it sways as much as nine inches. The revolving 450,000-candlepower fresnel lens of 24 panels radiated brilliant white beams 20 miles out to sea every 60 seconds. Many birds migrating southward, dazzled by the light, struck the tower, enabling collectors to obtain rare specimens. When built, this lighthouse was 2 miles inland, but the water gradually encroached upon it. When the Atlantic was only 100 feet away, the Government abandoned the 66-year old structure, retreating to higher ground, where a skeleton tower now replaces the older, more picturesque light.
DIAMOND SHOALS lie offshore at this point. The white spray of the breakers on these treacherous shallows is visible for miles at sea. They are vast shifting ridges of sand, swept down the coast by powerful ocean tides.
Few ships that run aground on the shoals can ever be refloated. The Maurice R. Thurlow, however, proved to be an exception. On October 13, 1927, this schooner, valued at $50,000 and carrying a $30,000 cargo of lumber and a crew of nine, grounded on the shoals during a storm. Certain that their ship would soon be broken up, the crew signaled for help, and were taken off by the coast guardsmen in
their surfboat. By this time the sea had become so violent that efforts to reach shore were abandoned and the surfboat crew took the men to the lightship until the storm abated.
The Coast Guard headquarters at Norfolk, Va., had meanwhile dispatched the cutter Mascoutin to assist the schooner. Upon arriving, the cutter found no trace of the Maurice R. Thurlow and reported her a total loss. This was on October 14. Thirteen days later the Dutch tanker Sleidrecht wirelessed that she had sighted the schooner more than 500 miles away. She carried no sail but was apparently making about two knots. Later another steamer reported sighting the derelict.
A general order to run down the modern Flying Dutchman was broadcast and numerous craft joined the hunt, but to this day no further trace of the sea wanderer has been found.
The shoals are marked and guarded by Diamond Shoals Lightship, moored 13 miles off the tip of Cape Hatteras by chains capable of withstanding a 40-ton drag. Even a West India hurricane passing up the coast seldom breaks these moorings. During one such gale, in September 1933, this ship dragged her 5,500-pound mushroom anchor 5 miles without breaking the mooring chain. This ship with radio signals and with a 480,000-candlepower beacon, serves passing vessels continuously for a year, at the end of which she and her crew of 16 are relieved by another “wave wallower.”
One of the first lightships of the country was placed here in 1824, but three years later broke from her mooring and was wrecked. It was 70 years before another lightship was stationed at the shoals. Unsuccessful attempts were made to keep both bell-boats and buoys on the spot; Congress even authorized the construction of a lighthouse on the shoals, but the work was abandoned when the sea partly destroyed the foundation. Since a lightship was placed here in 1897, one has been maintained almost continuously.
One period when the watch was not maintained occurred during the World War, on August 8, 1918, the ship on duty was sunk by a German submarine. The lightship crew escaped in small boats, watched the ship sink, and landed safely on Cape Hatteras.
In September 1936 hurricane tides accompanying a storm uncovered the bow of the Carroll A. Deering at Ocracoke, some 15 miles S. of Cape Hatteras, recalling the story of the ghost ship of Diamond Shoals. In September 1920, coast guardsmen discovered the Carroll A. Deering, a five masted schooner with all sails set, reeling helplessly
under heavy seas, off the shoals. The coast guardsmen put out to rescue the crew, but upon boarding the vessel were astonished to find the ship deserted except for a gray cat. Everywhere were evidences that the ship had been recently occupied. Food was in the galley; a coffee pot was on the stove. What had become of her crew of ten men has remained an unsolved mystery to this day. A story was circulated that a bottle, picked up from the sea nearby, contained a message signed by Captain Wormsley, the ship's master, stating that the crew had been captured by pirates and taken away on another vessel. Government officials worked on the case without results. The dynamiting of the wreck to remove the hazard was authorized but before the orders were carried out, another storm blew up, beat the vessel to pieces, and cast the wreckage along the shore.
South of Cape Hatteras Park the road leads through sand hills whose ridges are clothed with a thick growth of loblolly pine, liveoak, and magnificent holly, including the yaupon, or cassena holly. The trees incline westward, bent by the prevailing winds. These woods have large numbers of deer and small game.
Yaupon (Ilex cassine and Ilex vomitoria) is a dark evergreen with bright red berries. The small glossy leaves are dried and used for tea that causes violent nausea. The Creeks drank it at their annual “busk”, or green-corn thanksgiving, and for a ceremonial purification.
An early writer thus described the Indians’ use of yaupon:
“At a certain time of the year they (the Indians) came down in droves from a distance of some 100 miles to the coast for the leaves of this tree. They make a fire on the ground, and putting a great kettle of water on it, they throw in a large quantity of these leaves, and setting themselves around the fire, from a bowl that holds a pint they begin drinking large draughts, which in a short time occasions them to vomit freely and easily. Thus they continue drinking and vomiting for the space of two or three days, until they have sufficiently cleansed themselves; and then everyone taking a bundle of the tree, they all retire to their habitations.”
BUXTON, 47 m. (315 pop.), is (R) in a growth of unusually fine pine. The village consists of weathered fishing shacks, for the most part, but houses and premises are always neat and shipshape.
In FRISCO, 50 m. (115 pop.), on the sound side of the highway, the neat white houses with bright blue blinds are enclosed by white
TREES IN AVON, North CarolinaWRECK OF THE KOHLER OFF HATTERAS
picket fences; dooryards are gay with flowers. Beside the road here, which is thick with pine needles, yucca and palmetto mingle with the pines and live-oaks. The Frisco Coast Guard Station is on the beach (L).
South of Frisco the route continues through the woods, which at length gives way to open beachland strewn with still more wreckage.
HATTERAS, 54 m. (5 alt., 1,132 pop.), is the largest community on the beach. Sportsmen resorting here for deep-sea fishing have brought considerable revenue to the place. The only other sources of income are fishing and working for the coast guard and lighthouse services. The houses stand among scrubby, stunted live-oaks and bushes teeming with mocking birds. Some of the houses are flamboyantly painted, others flaunt new and shiny lightning rods, and in summer nearly all have bright flower gardens. Plants seldom have to be housed, for the winters are very mild, because of the proximity of the Gulf stream. Here and there amidst the more somber foliage of the palms and pines is the gaudy bloom of the crape-myrtle or the red gleam of the yaupon berry. Nearly all the roads are little more than lanes thickly carpeted with pine needles.
The people of this section are weathered and bronzed, and have unusual independence and self-reliance. They speak in broad Devon accents. Many of the older families believe they are descended from English sailors who were shipwrecked on this lonely shore. Most are members of well defined clans. Archaic words and phrases have survived, and the distinctive banker enunciation gives them a special quality.
“Couthy” is the local word for capable; “heerd” is the pronunciation for “heard.” “Don't fault me if I'm scunnered” means “Don't blame me if I'm disgusted.” The mainland is usually referred to as “the country,” and day begins at “calm daylight.” “Disremember and “disencourage” are frequently used. “Fleech” means to flatter, not a complimentary term since the native is sparing with his praise. His pocket is “a poke,” a kiss is a “buss,” and a man's sweetheart is his “may.”
In this neighborhood a model T is driven as if it were a ship in sail. To turn left is to “port the helm,” and when the right front tire blows out, “she's listin’ by the starb'rd beam.” A wife riding in the rear seat is “supercargo in the stern sheets.”
Towns are “neighborhoods,” and though there are no formal
boarding houses, visitors, or “comers n'goers” can find shelter along the way. Graves are usually in the yards close by the houses, but there is always the chance that the bones of the departed may “blow out” if the winds are high. A canoe is a “cunner,” and some of the houses “rest on blocks because of the toids.”
The spit turns W. here and at the western end the woods disappear and the ground is low and wet.
HATTERAS INLET, 55 m., the principal one on the North Carolina coast, is a spot famous among anglers (boats available for trips to the Gulf Stream, 20 m. off shore). Dolphin, amberjack, tarpon, sailfish, and marlin swordfish, provide excitement for the deep-sea fisherman (fishing best in late May, early June, and Oct.).
Where the marsh and beach converge to a bare point at the inlet are traces of Fort Hatteras and its outlying flank defense, Battery Clark. They were originally sand redoubts, held in place by earth from the adjoining marshes, and pitifully inadequate to guard the strategic position that provided the only protection for Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. Col. W. F. Martin was in charge of Fort Hatteras when, on August 27, 1861, a Federal fleet, equipped with Dahlgren guns, appeared beyond the range of the old-style smooth bore pieces of the Confederate defenders. On August 29th, after most of the fort's guns had been silenced, Federal troops landed on the beach, and Colonel Martin surrendered.
SIDE ROUTE B SOUTH CAROLINAMount Pleasant — Sullivan's Island — Isle of Palms, 9.6 m. State 703.
Accommodations available at Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms during summer months.
State 703 branches S. from US 17 in Mount Pleasant (see MAIN ROUTE, SECTION 9).
Cove Inlet Bridge, 3 m., is a draw-bridge spanning a channel between the mainland and Sullivan's Island. In Revolutionary days there was a pontoon bridge here.
SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, 3.1 m. (1,378 pop.), on the northern side of Charleston Harbor, fronts on the Atlantic Ocean. Because the island has been set aside as part of the national coastal defense, the title to those parts not now occupied by Federal reservations is vested in the State of South Carolina and leases to private persons can be terminated at any time if the land is needed for military purposes. The Federal tracts embrace Fort Moultrie, a Coast Guard Station, fortifications along the beach, and a rifle range. The permanent population, consisting chiefly of people serving or working on the reservations, is much increased in summer by cottagers seeking relief from the inland heat. The eastern end of the island, for the most part uninhabitated, is covered with myrtle and palmettos.
FORT MOULTRIE RESERVATION, containing 40 acres, has barracks, officers’ homes, a golf course, and a theater. A series of batteries extends along the eastern side of the island. The present fort, which has been modernized at intervals, was established in 1811 to protect Charleston Harbor. The first military structure erected on the island was Fort Sullivan, which stood a little southwest of the present fort.
Charles Town, as Charleston was called in Colonial days, was the first southern city to join the American Revolution and the British almost immediately sent a fleet under Sir Peter Parker to capture it. The Colonials had started to fortify the harbor and assigned Col. William Moultrie to the Sullivan's Island end of the defense; the little structure, made of palmetto logs and sand, was not yet completed
when the Americans moved in. The British attack, on June 28th, 1776, did not greatly harm the primitive structure, the balls burying themselves in the soft walls. One shot, however, broke off the staff carrying the flag of South Carolina; impetuous Serg. William Jasper jumped over the low earthworks, snatched up the flag and, under fire, fastened it to a new pole before leaping back unhurt. This event made him a popular hero.
British forces had been gathered on Long Island — now called Isle of Palms — with the idea of having them cross Breach Inlet and attack the fort by land on the exposed side; the American Col. William Thomson was sent to the inlet to prevent the movement. As the British troops — some in boats and others, having mistaken the depth of the water, attempting to wade — approached Sullivan's Island, Thomson's force was able to repel them. The successful defense of the fort greatly strengthened American morale.
During the critical days of December 1860, Major Anderson, the Federal commander of the fort, moved his troops to the stronger Fort Sumter. Secessionists seized Moultrie and used it to subdue Sumter. Moultrie was not abandoned by the southern forces until 1865.
At 3.7 m. (R) is the Old Fort (soldiers guide visitors), used during the Civil War. Here are the old barracks and the prison; the mine control room was under a large mound of earth.
Outside the fort is the Grave of Osceola, the Seminole chief, who was confined in the dungeon within the walls. Osceola, the son of a white man and his Creek wife, was born in Georgia but moved to Florida at an early age, where he became a chief of the Seminoles; when the Government attempted to move the tribe west of the Mississippi, Osceola persuaded the Indians to resist. In 1835 warfare resulted and during the hostilities, Osceola was induced to visit General Jesup's camp under a flag of truce; the truce was violated and he was seized. Later he was sent to Fort Moultrie, where he died of a fever. On the grave is a stone slab engraved: “Osceola, Patriot and Warrior. Died at Fort Moultrie January 30, 1838.”
By the side of Osceola's grave is a simple granite shaft erected to the memory of the crew of the Patapsco, which was blown up in Charleston harbor on January 15, 1866. Sixty-six names are inscribed on the monument.
Edgar Allan Poe was stationed on Sullivan's Island as a soldier in
1828 and there wrote Israfel; he later used the island as the scene of The Gold Bug.
State 703 passes the cottages of the large summer colony.
THE ISLE OF PALMS, 8 m. (25 pop.), has a broad smooth beach 7 miles long that makes it a popular summer and fishing resort. Many Charlestonians still call it by its old name of Long Island.
Isle of Palms Pavillion, 9.6 m., the social center of the summer community, is used for dances and other forms of entertainments.
SIDE ROUTE CJunction with US 17 — Folly Beach, 8.8 m. Folly Beach Rd.
Hard-surfaced roadbed.
The Folly Beach Rd. branches S. from US 17, 2 miles W. of Charleston (see MAIN ROUTE, SECTION 10).
At 0.5 m. is WAPPOO HEIGHTS, a wooded residential area inhabited chiefly by people whose business takes them to Charleston.
The McLeod House, 1.4 m. (L), with large columns and a formal entrance-avenue of oaks, was a hospital in the Civil War and later headquarters of the Bureau for Protection of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, popularly called the Freedmen's Bureau, that was conducted (1865-1872) by the Government under the War Department.
At 1.5 m. is a junction with the paved Wappoo Hall Rd.
Right on this road to the Municipal Golf Course (L), 1.3 m., an 18-hole course with grass greens. (Adm. 50¢.)
At 4.1 m. are the side gates (R) of Fenwick Hall (private), built in 1730 by the seventh John Fenwick. The “castle” has an underground passage to a creek emptying into Stono River.
The ninth Edward Fenwick, a lover of horses, built a race track on his estate and imported trainers and grooms from England to care for his stud. One of the grooms won the heart of Fenwick's daughter; when the indignant father refused to give permission for their marriage, the young people eloped but were caught and brought back to the hall. The daughter, according to the story, was imprisoned in a room overlooking the yard in which her lover was hanged. Since then the place has been endowed with strange noises and sights; silken skirts are said to rustle in the dead of night, wails and moans echo through the upper rooms, sometimes a chair is heard rocking and bumping in an empty chamber, and, local people declare, a white wraith at times floats out of an upper window, dropping to earth at the place where the groom died.
The northerners who now own Fenwick Hall have planted and developed a Cactus Garden, containing many imported plants; come of these cacti, grotesque in appearance, have reached a height of 25 feet. Many are rare night-blooming varieties. Contrary to the usual practice, the owners spend their summers, rather than their winters, here in order to enjoy their unusual garden.
Fenwick Hall faces Johns Island Road. In 1778 a company of Americans was stationed on Johns Island across Stono River from a British encampment. One night Thomas Fenwick, who at the time was not known as a Royalist, came into the American camp for supper with the officers, who discussed their plans with him. In the night the British crossed the river in two divisions, one surrounding the quarters and taking every man prisoner and the other capturing a company stationed at Matthew's Landing. The latter company, under command of Col. John Barnwell, surrendered to a British sergeant, who then proceeded to violate the rules of warfare by killing most of the men.
At 8.1 m. is the junction with marked Angel Oak Rd.; L. here 0.3 m. to Angel Oak in an enclosure (adults 10¢, children 5¢) on the former Angel plantation. This tree, estimated to be 1,000 years old, is 60 feet high; its trunk is 21 feet in circumference and the longest of its low-hanging branches is 76 feet long. The home of the Angel family was burned during the Civil War.
ROCKVILLE, 20.3 m., on Wadmalaw Island, ships out large quantities of shrimp, oysters, and vegetables by water to points north. Boat races are held here during the summer.
It is said that here in 1666 Capt. Robert Sandford claimed the territory of Carolina for the English by the turf and twig ceremony. This custom was one that endured for many years in the Colony and consisted of passing a handful of earth and a twig from the old to the new owner of the tract.
At 3.5 m. on the Folly Beach Rd. is a junction with a marked hard surfaced road.
Left on this road 1.7 m. to the end of the road, which is at the gates of the Agricultural Society Plot on the intersecting King's Highway.
The gates are a memorial to Samuel Gaillard Stoney, president for many years of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina, which was organized in 1785. The United States Agricultural Field Station was established here in 1925.
Left on the King's Highway, a broad dirt, tree-lined road that was a thoroughfare in Colonial days; at 3.6 m. is a junction with another dirt road; R. here to LIGHTHOUSE POINT, a new residential development so named because the Charleston Light can be seen from it across a short stretch of water.
At 5.4 m. on King's Highway are the Remains of Fort Johnson, beside the U. S. Quarantine Station. Here are a brick building, formerly the powder magazine, and batteries; there is also an old tabby wall about 200 years old. The individual gun mountings, made of tabby, are now used for children's playhouses and for chicken coops.
Fort Johnson was on the site of the oldest fortifications of Charleston Harbor, built in 1704-08 and named for the Governor, Sir Nathaniel Johnson. In 1765,
a British sloop bringing in the hated tax stamps was threatened by colonists who had imprisoned the garrison and put themselves in command of Fort Johnson; they forced the sloop to return the stamps to England. During the Civil War Fort Johnson helped guard the harbor entrance. Like Fort Moultrie it was never surrendered, though it was evacuated in 1865.
The Quarantine Station was built here in 1878. Harbor quarantine regulations have been in effect since 1712, when incoming ships were ordered “to lie under the guns of Fort Johnson” until inspected for disease. The Federal Government took over this station in 1908.
A map of the fort as it appeared during the Civil War is now in the office of the Quarantine Station.
East of the powder magazine and across the water is a clump of bushes on the Site of Battery Simkins, from which the first shot at Fort Sumter was fired. A splendid view of Charleston Harbor and the Battery is had from this spot.
At 4 m. on the Folly Beach Rd. after it rounds a curve, is another junction with the King's Highway.
Left on the King's Highway at 0.6 m. is a brick church beside a junction with a side road; R. on this road to a junction with another dirt road at 1.4 m.; L. on this to SECESSIONVILLE, 3.2 m., named long before 1860 because of the secession of planters from their plantations to this site during the summer.
At Secessionville on June 16, 1862 occurred a serious skirmish that has been commemorated by a monument.
At 8.2 m. on Folly Beach Rd. is a Tollgate (20¢ round trip), at the head of the long causeway. Tiny palmetto-crowned islands dot the expanse of marsh grass that changes in appearance with the tide. Herons, gulls, and other sea birds hunt on the edge of the mudflats and sandbanks.
FOLLY ISLAND, 8.8 m., is laid out in residential lots and streets. Summer homes, inns, and camps lie among the hillocks and dense growths of trees that rise above the ten-mile stretch of beach. From Folly the Union troops laid siege to Morris Island in 1863. On the eastern end of the island is a U. S. Army Radio Station.
Across the intervening Lighthouse Inlet Morris Island is visible; it is at the southern extremity of Charleston Harbor. This lighthouse is the third erected here, the first having been built in 1767. From Morris Island on January 9, 1861, three months before the bombarding of Fort Sumter, an impetuous corps of Citadel cadets fired on a ship bringing supplies to Anderson who had withdrawn from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter (see above). This was actually the first shot in the Civil War.
SIDE ROUTE D
Junction with US 17 — Magnolia Gardens — Middleton Gardens — Summerville, 22.9 m. State 61.
Paved and dirt roads.
Accommodations available only in Summerville.
This Garden Tour traverses country marked by the natural beauty that is typical of South Carolina Low Country. Paralleling the Ashley River most of the distance, the road runs through a swampy region with dense forests of spreading live-oaks, and over little bridges that span cypress-shaded waters mirroring misty banners of Spanish moss.
State 61 branches NW. from US 17, 3 miles W. of Charleston (see MAIN ROUTE, SECTION 10).
St. Andrew's Parish Church, 5.6 m. (R), a white structure with a red roof and green blinds, is one of the notable early buildings of this region. The first minister was assigned in 1707, a year after the parish was established on the banks of the Ashley River. The first church on the present site, known to have been here in 1719, was a brick rectangle surrounded by a burial ground of three acres. This structure, which was enlarged and made cruciform in 1722, was destroyed by fire about 1760. To help defray the cost of rebuilding, an act was passed in 1764 authorizing the vestry to sell pews; because those near the front were more costly than those in the rear, the position of a parishioner's seat became an approximate index to his wealth. Slaves were allowed to sit in the small gallery. Since the death of the Reverend John Grimke Drayton in 1891, there has been no rector at St. Andrew's. The gravestones surrounding the church itself bear many inscriptions of interest.
Drayton Hall (R), 8.2 m., approached through an avenue of fine trees, is visible through the locked gates. This large house, one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in the State, is a two-story brick structure on a high basement; double entrance steps lead to the two-story pedimented portico, which is partly recessed. The house, built before the Revolution, is owned and occupied by descendants of the builder.
This, the only one of the Ashley River estates not marred by vandalism of Federal soldiers during the Civil War, was saved by the
action of a Confederate officer, who, when he learned of the Yankees’ approach, transferred a number of slaves, ill with smallpox, from their homes to the big house. Fear of the deadly disease kept the Northerners away.
Adjoining the Drayton Hall property, (R) at 8.9 m., is Magnolia Gardens (open Jan. 1 to May 1; best season late Feb. to mid-Apr.; ample time should be allowed for a leisurely survey of the 25 acres; adm. $2).
The color and charm of this wonder spot have challenged generations of painters and writers. Galsworthy referred to it as “the most beautiful of all the gardens planted by the sons of men.” The estate has been in possession of the Drayton family since the early years of the 18th century. The early mansion, burned during the Revolution, was replaced by a second fine building, which was destroyed in the Civil War. The present house stands upon the old foundations but is architecturally unimportant.
The garden was planned and started toward its present perfection by the Reverend John Grimke Drayton. The present owners, his descendants, have inherited his genius for developing a garden of extreme informality, where exotic plants flourish among the rich flora of the Carolina coast.
The fame of the gardens rests not upon its native magnolias, but upon the azaleas, camellias, and wistaria, the first of which were imported by Mr. Drayton in 1843. The azaleas have reached an amazing size and their extraordinary range of color runs from cool white through shades of lavender and coral to a bonfire blaze of scarlet, harmonized and tempered by drooping cypresses and live-oaks, garlanded with gray moss, and by the reflections from the waters of the pool and the river. In addition to its superb native trees, the gardens have fine specimens of California redwood, Chinese yew, and Spanish and French cypresses.
Runnymede Plantation (R), 9.4 m. (season: Mar.-Apr.; small adm. fee), laid out on the site of an Indian village, was first called Greenfields, later Susan's Place and subsequently Runnymede because of some topographical similarity to the estate of that name on the Thames in England. Its history begins with a royal grant to John Cattell, issued in 1705. The landscape is informal but impressive. The lawns, covering several hundred acres, are shaded by towering trees of many varieties. One giant live-oak, growing in front of the house, is unusual for its symmetry and the wide spread of its branches.
Vistas of the winding Ashley River and across the black waters of picturesque lagoons are impressive. Azaleas blazing against the dark background of the forest are charmingly grouped with camellias and roses; the native jasmine, dogwood, and wistaria add their beauty to the scene. The present home, built by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who operated phosphate mines in the vicinity, is the third structure to stand on the foundations. The first, of pre-Revolutionary construction, was destroyed by fire; near the end of the Civil War the handsome second residence also burned.
A feature of Runnymede is Alphabet Avenue, created according to a fanciful idea of Captain Pinckney's. Each side of this driveway is bordered with trees, planted so that the first letter of their names form the alphabet; the line begins with an ash, a beech, and a chestnut. One of these trees, the Koelreuteria, was brought from the Orient. Another avenue, shaded by large magnolias, leads to a bluff on the river that was the site of another plantation, now a part of Runnymede. The boundary between Magnolia and Runnymede traverses an Indian mound from which many relics have been collected. Prehistoric fossils have been excavated from phosphate mines here.
John Galsworthy, the English novelist, was a guest at Runnymede during one of his visits to America. While here he was charmed with the gardens of the State and published numerous articles about them. Scenes of some of his novels are laid in the vicinity.
Middleton Place, 12.4 m. (R), also has famous old gardens (best in Mar. and Apr.; open Feb.-May; adm. $2). The property, granted to Jacob Wayte in 1695, was the dowry of the bride of Henry Middleton (1717-1784), who was later elected President of the Continental Congress but resigned from that body in 1776 when his policy of moderate resistance was overruled by the more radical members. Although he sought protection from the British when they held Charleston, his estates were not confiscated after the Revolution as were those of nearly all loyalists. About 1740 Mr. Middleton sent to England for an experienced landscape gardener to design and develop a formal setting for the great brick manor house he was building; only the right wing of this structure is standing today, the left wing and three-story central unit having been destroyed by Federal troops in February 1865. The remaining wing with its curved gable-end topped by a stone coping is reminiscent of many Oxford colleges.
This house with its gardens covering 60 acres demonstrates more clearly than any historical treatise the completeness of the ties between tidewater Carolina and the mother country. The Colonial gentlemen transplanted bits of England to the marshes of the New World.
Many southern Colonial gardens were planned as carefully as were the houses they surrounded; often indeed the gardens were partly designed before the house. When plantation tracts were being selected the first requirement was fertile land near a navigable stream and the second a site suitable for the domestic unit. For the latter purpose an elevation not too far from the river was considered most desirable because it raised the dwelling above the swamp miasmas and to a position receiving breezes during the hot months; further, such a site offered great opportunity for the development of impressive approaches, charming vistas and formal landscaping. Having acquired his plantation the owner then gave attention to the design of the domestic yard, usually studying one or more of the many books on estate landscaping fashionable in England at the time; these had formulas based on French and Italian plans. In most cases such gardens were either square or rectangular, the relation of length to breadth in the latter being worked out by mathematical computations; the shape of this unit was often cunningly disguised by the use of circular and elliptical plantings and paths. Having determined the outline and location of the domestic tract the owner then considered river and land approaches, then the placement of wings, kitchens, the schoolhouse, the stables, the washhouse, and cabins for the domestic servants. Frequently, he also set aside a space for a family burial ground.
Often considerable leveling and building up was done before construction of the house was started; some South Carolinians spent much effort to obtain the terraces or “falls” that were so fashionable for the river front.
The gardens themselves were never finished because most planters added to them constantly, trying out new effects and experimenting with new varieties and species of plant life. It is said that the making of the Middleton gardens required the labor of 100 slaves for ten years.
The sweeping terraces, dropping to the river, the bordered paths, and “butterfly” lakes, date from the time of the first Henry Middleton. His son Arthur, who succeeded his father as a delegate to the
Continental Congress and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is buried in the gardens. The second Henry, son of Arthur, and a Governor of South Carolina, added much to the beauty of Middleton Place. The French botanist, Andre Michaux, visited him and procured for him many new plants — the first camellia japonica brought to the United States, Chinese azaleas, mimosas, ginkgos, and varnish and candleberry trees. William Middleton, son of the second Henry, in the years preceding the Civil War, added the first azalea indica. The estate is not only rich in these imported shrubs and trees but has been called a “botanical paradise of native American plant life.”
The camellia japonicas are the special glory of the estate. Hundreds of them, of many varieties, bloom from late fall through early spring. The three original plants are still here. Many camellias are notable specimens 20 or 30 feet in height, while others form long green tunnels above ancient sun-flecked brick walks.
The huge moss-draped Middleton Oak, with a circumference of 37 feet at a point 4 feet above the ground, is estimated to be 900 years old.
At 19.7 m. is a junction with a neighborhood road.
Right on this road are the Ruins of Old White Meeting House (L), 0.5 m. At 2.2 m. on this road is a junction with a narrow lane; R. here to the Ruins of Fort Dorchester and the Site of the Town of Dorchester, 2.4 m. The town was named for Dorchester, Mass., whence the first settlers came in 1696. Today only the ruins of the meeting house and the remnants of the old fort mark the site of a town that had 1,000 people and that endured for more than half a century. When the town was abandoned the lumber and bricks of the buildings were carried away to construct others.
SUMMERVILLE, 22.9 m. (75 alt., 2,579 pop.), is largely a residential winter resort attracting visitors by its beauty. In the spring it is as much a mecca for garden lovers as are Magnolia and Middleton Gardens. Azaleas, camellias, and wistaria bloom lavishly against the dark blue-green of the pines, and give the town an almost theatrical color.
The city ordinance forbidding the cutting of pine trees even on private property has not only preserved the trees but caused the streets to curve and ramble in avoiding them.
Two blocks from the business section of Summerville is the Azalea Park, on the far side of which is a Bird Sanctuary. Native birds are
seen here at all times, and thousands of migrants arrive in the spring and fall. Among the more than 800 plants in the park are many trees and shrubs having berries; these were planted to supply food for the birds during the winter.
Right from Summerville on State 64 to Pinehurst Tea Farm (open usually Mar. 31 and Apr.1). Planted in 1890 by Dr. Charles U. Shepard for experimentation in commercial tea growing, it was the first place in the United States where tea was grown for profit. Tea plants remain as hedges and ornamental shrubs. Doctor Shepard became interested in the “Brass Ankles” of Dorchester County, founding a mission school for the children about 1900.
The “Brass Ankles” are a racial group resulting from the intermingling of white, Negro, and some Indian blood. They are a people apart, unwelcome in white society and shunning Negro companionship. Their skins are usually darker and muddier than that of whites, but their hair and eyes vary in color.
The name is said to have come from the fact that Negro slaves with Indian blood were made to wear brass rings about their ankles. DuBose Heyward's novel Brass Ankle deals with them.
SIDE ROUTE EAdams Run — Edisto Beach, 20.3 m. Edisto Beach Rd.
Surfaced roadbed; Dawhoo Causeway unsafe during high tides and rainy weather.
Accommodations at Edisto Beach in summer.
The large oaks and subtropical vegetation along this route near US 17 thin out to pine barrens a few miles from the Federal highway. Along the road are occasional glimpses of salt creek and green marsh lands.
The Edisto Island Rd. branches S. from US 17 in Adams Run (see MAIN ROUTE, SECTION 10).
BARRELVILLE, 2.8 m. (15 pop.), where barrels and containers of many kinds are manufactured for the Meggetts section, is near the crossing of the Seaboard Airline Ry. and is the only village on the mainland through which this route passes.
The Dawhoo River causeway that connects the mainland with
Whooping Island, was made of layer on layer of oyster shells, placed on a precarious foundation of slimy black mud, and for years has been gradually sinking. In 1937 it was rebuilt with clay and sand.
WHOOPING ISLAND 6.2 m. It is said that in earlier days the ferryman at this point usually stayed on the mainland bank of the river and people bound inland from Edisto Island summoned him by yelling at the top of their voices — hence the name, Whooping Island.
LITTLE EDISTO ISLAND, 6.8 m., is between Whooping Island and Big Edisto. On both sides are vast stretches of marsh, and occasional truck farms with the usual barns and packing sheds.
At 8.9 m. is the old Whaley Plantation Home (L), fronting on Russell Creek, which divides Little Edisto from Big Edisto Island. The late J. Swinton Whaley, last of his line to live here, was an outstanding authority on the cultivation of sea-island cotton. As late as 1934 he planted a small patch of this staple, contending that the crop would be revived.
At 9 m. is EDISTO ISLAND (1,675 pop.), bounded on the northeast by the North Edisto River, on the northwest by Walls Cut and Russell Creek, on the west by the South Edisto River and on the south and southeast by the Atlantic Ocean. When there was still some hesitancy about signing the Ordinance of Secession, the delegate from Edisto Island walked to the table and before signing said, “Even if South Carolina refuses to secede from the Union, Edisto Island will!” I. Jenkins Mikell wrote in Rumbling of the Chariot Wheels, “Evidently that settled the matter, for South Carolina voted to leave the Union of States and thus saved Edisto from the distinction of being ‘The Independent Republic of Edisto Island’ with fifty square miles of territory and with 5,000 inhabitants — 4,600 being slaves.”
At 10 m. is the junction with the Edisto Island Public Rd., old before the Revolution. This winding road, that toward the N. loses itself among the live-oaks, was probably used soon after the English settlers came to these shores. Left on this road through a long green tunnel formed by overhanging boughs shrouded with gray moss, over a slight dip into a little savannah where bamboo vines like huge snakes twine in and out of the luxuriant undergrowth.
At 10.8 m. is a junction with Brick House Ave.
Left on this road to Brick House Plantation, 1.7 m.; here the walls of a brick house erected in 1883, as the seat of the Jenkins family, stand in a grove of live oak and pine. A lawn spreads to a salt creek that almost surrounds the place.
At 12.7 m. (L) is the Edisto Island Presbyterian Church, erected in 1831 by a congregation organized in the early part of the 18th century. The white building is vivid against a background of dark green foliage. The churchyard contains many interesting tombstones, among them one designed for the grave of an Italian prince.
At 13.4 m. is the junction with the Steamboat Landing Rd.
Left on this road to the Sanctify Church (L), 0.4 m. In this little building which was once a country store, worship a group of Negroes who call themselves “The Sanctify.” Their religious services are held at irregular intervals, beginning a little after dark and continuing sometimes even until morning. In these weird rites — reminiscent of the Congo — drums beat, slowly at first, then with a steadily increasing tempo until the tum-tum-tum is one wild prolonged roll; feet pound the floor faster and faster; hands clap; women sway; little girls keep time with tambourines; and the priestess raises her voice in a high obbligato of praise audible above the vibrating accompaniment of the drums.
A few leaders begin the movements; then as the beat of the drums continues, other dusky forms begin to sway, dance, and whirl madly, until the little building seems to overflow with frenzied worshippers, many of whom fall to the floor from exhaustion.
At 0.9 m. on the Steamboat Landing Rd. is a junction with Mail Route Rd.; L. on Mail Route Rd. 0.7 m. to Seabrook Mansion (private), partly visible through the trees. Although constructed in the period immediately following the Revolutionary War, it is excellently preserved. Stories are told of how the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained here while touring the South in 1825. The distinguished Frenchman stepped ashore on carpets covering the quarter of a mile between the boat landing and the house. Lafayette requested the honor of naming William Seabrook's infant daughter, whom he called Carolina de Lafayette.
The old house is simple, dignified and attractively proportioned. Double steps lead to the front porch where wrought iron railings with the initials of the Seabrook family guard the entrance. The dwelling was the scene of many Confederate reunions.
At 2.1 m. on the Mail Route Rd. is a junction with Oak Island Ave.; L. here 0.9 m. to Oak Island Plantation (open by special permission), the former seat of the Seabrook family. A rambling Colonial house stands near the river. Before the Civil War the Seabrook family owned more than a thousand slaves; a dozen Negro urchins were assigned the task of picking up the leaves as they fell from the trees in the 10-acre formal gardens that were later devastated by raiders from Sherman's army.
At 3.3 m. on the Mail Route Rd. is a junction with Point of Pines Rd.; L. on this road 1 m. to Point of Pines Plantation (private). It is thought that the ruins of a tabby house standing on the river front here in a little grove of trees are the remains of a dwelling built by Paul Grimball, secretary to the Lords Proprietors.
Across the broad North Edisto River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean a few miles farther east, WADMALAW ISLAND is visible. Robert Sandford
and his party explored this country before the settlement of the original Charles Town and it was on Wadmalaw Island that he claimed the Carolinas westward from the Atlantic Ocean to the “South Seas” for the King and Lords Proprietors. Here also he met the friendly Indians ruled by the Cassique of Kiawah. The pirate, Yeats, operated in these waters before he surrendered to the English in Charles Town.
At 14.6 m. on the Edisto Island Public Rd. is Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church (R), founded about two centuries ago. The original building, modeled after St. Michael's Church in Charleston, was burned in recent years. Towering live-oaks and laurels shade many ancient graves in the church cemetery.
At 15.6 m. is the junction with the Peter's Point Plantation Rd.
Right on this road to Peter's Point Plantation, 4.1 m., a typical antebellum southern planter's home.
It is still in the possession of the Mikell family, who have owned the place for generations. The house is in an excellent state of preservation. The grounds border St. Pierre's Creek, which flows into the South Edisto River. On the banks of this river Spanish Jesuits conducted a mission school for Indians before English colonists settled on the North American continent.
At 16.1 m. is the junction with the Edisto Beach Rd., which swings R. and is the main route.
Left at this junction on a road formerly used by the planters as a race track for their blooded horses.
HAMILTON'S HILL, 0.4 m., a little elevation, was the starting point for the races, and is known for a wide variety of ghosts including such fearsome creatures as a 10-foot cat that explodes before the beholder's eyes, plat-eyes in the guise of three-legged hogs and two-headed cows, boo-daddies, boo-hags, and drolls. The drolls are supposed to be the spirits of infants who died painful deaths. Edisto Negroes say their crying can be heard in the dank green malarial swamps during the hour just before sunrise.
At 16.6 m. on the Edisto Beach Rd. is the junction with Bay or Cowper's Rd.
Left on Bay Rd. to a landing, 1.3 m., at the end of the road (row boats sometimes available for use to Edingsville Beach). From here Edingsville Beach, a barrier island, is visible 1.4 miles south.
EDINGSVILLE BEACH, offshore, was, between 1825 and 1885, a flourishing village of 60 houses where planters and their families spent the summer. The buildings were destroyed by a series of hurricanes and Edingsville is now a desolate waste, inhabited only by sand crabs, rabbits, wild cats, and waterfowl. The beach is said to be haunted by a woman in white who walks the strand on bright moonlight nights and disappears in the surf when followed.
At 19.5 m. is a junction with a sandy road.
Right on this road to a junction with a winding single track lane at 0.4 m.; R. to the end of this road where are the remains of a large Indian Mound, surrounded by palmettos, oaks, and a tangled web of subtropical vegetation.
At 20.2 m. is the entrance to the winding Jungle Rd.
Right on the Jungle Rd., through a thick grove of palmetto, myrtle, oak, pine, and yaupon, to the junction, 2.2 m., with the central route to Edisto Beach.
EDISTO BEACH, 20.3 m. (bait, boats, and guides secured here for fishing expeditions), is a summer resort where are about a hundred cottages, a store, a filling station, and a clubhouse.
EDISTO STATE PARK, covering an area of 800 acres, almost surrounds Edisto Beach and extends southwest to Big Bay Creek; it was given to the State Commission of Forestry by the Edisto Beach Corporation. An additional tract of land lies along the beach to the left of the settlement. A mile and a half of excellent beach is included in this recreational area in addition to a large tract in which sea-island cotton was formerly grown; the cotton fields are now covered with a young growth of poplar, yucca, yaupon, and other vegetation.
This park, now under development, will have a bathhouse, public camping grounds, boathouse, picnicking grounds, cabins and facilities for bathing, boating and salt-water fishing. Extensive landscaping will be done on the dunes.
Tabby, an early form of concrete for which the lime was obtained by burning oyster shells, was used extensively in this area in early days; the park authorities are therefore using a modern version of tabby in the construction of park buildings.
SIDE ROUTE FWalterboro — Ritter — Combahee River, 19.5 m. State 303, State 32.
Paved roadbed; limited accommodations.
Beautiful old plantations constitute the main interest of this route. Delightful vistas and wooded stretches appear suddenly near down-at-the-heel villages; ante-bellum homes and their charming gardens are hidden behind high brick walls.
State 303 branches S. from US 17 at the southwestern end of Walterboro (see MAIN ROUTE, SECTION 10).
RITTER, 7.7 m. (30 pop.), is a small rural settlement where a few Negroes around the store offer the only evidence of life in the neighborhood.
Left from Ritter on a dirt road at 1.2 m. are entrances to two plantations.
Left is Beech Hill (private), one of the few plantations in the Low Country that has been continuously occupied and cultivated by the same family for more than a century. A stately avenue of palmettos leads up to the house which is visible from the road.
Beech Hill, though visited nine times by Sherman's raiders, escaped destruction, largely owing to the courage of the owner's wife, who met every attempt at intimidation with calm and unruffled serenity. On one occasion, after repeated threats from the raiders, who were trying to evict her in order to destroy the house, she turned to them and said, “Gentlemen, this is my home. As often as you come here you will find me here.”
Shortly afterward, a Federal officer found her sitting on the porch. “Beautiful day, Madam,” he greeted her. “Maybe for you, but not for me,” she retorted, relating the story of the hardships suffered at the hands of his men. He then asked if she spoke French, and promised her in that language that she should be molested no more.
Right opposite the entrance to Beech Hill, 5.6 m., on a private lane shaded by ancient live-oaks to the house of Bonnie Doone (private). The estate was part of a land grant made by George I in 1722. The gateway at the entrance is made of old English bricks dug up on the plantation; ancient live-oaks form a stately avenue leading to the white brick home, designed in the Colonial style but of modern construction.
Only a pile of brick remained from the original plantation house after Sherman's raiders had left.
On the right side of the lane is an ante-bellum rice field.
At 13.5 m. is the junction with State 32; R. on State 32 from this point.
Left on State 32 at 2.1 m. is a junction with the Airy Hall Rd.; here 0.5 m. to (L) the entrance lane of Poco Sabo Plantation (private), part of the vast Bellinger barony on Ashepoo River. The first Landgrave, Edmund Bellinger, left the barony intact and willed it to his son Thomas, who, dying intestate, left it to his brother, Edmund Bellinger. He died in 1768 and his son, the fourth land-grave, who was born in 1743 and died in 1801, inherited the estate.
On the plantation in an area enclosed by a high brick wall is a slab laid in memory of Edmund Bellinger (1743-1801), his wife, and his seven children; it gives a brief history of his life and is the only marker in this section erected to a landgrave.
The present two-story white house with its red roof and storm windows is a typical present-day plantation home; many chimneys extend high above the
roof lines. The front is terraced and there is a delicate lattice work on each side of the doorway. Unlike most of the modern plantation homes, this one is long and narrow; the rooms have charming views of the river and woods and are exceptionally light.
On State 32 near ASHEPOO RIVER, 4.1 m., is the LOST TOWN OF EDMUNDSBURY, laid out in 1740 upon a tract of 600 acres, part of the original grant to the first Landgrave Edmund Bellinger, for whom the town was named. Mention of its appears in the Statutes of March 8, 1741, at which time the commissioners were directed to “lay out and keep in repair a road from the Town of Edmundsbury near the Ashepoo River bridge into Salt Catcher road.” The plan for the town was approved in May 1742, and construction of a chapel of ease to the church of Bartholomew's Parish, created November 30, 1706, was begun here in 1753.
At 14.2 m. on State 32 is a junction with a dirt road by a filling station.
Left on this deep sandy road at 4.7 m. is Stock Cemetery (L). Here the body of John Laurens (1753-1782), the Revolutionary soldier, was buried temporarily before being removed to Mepkin, the Laurens plantation on the Cooper River.
One of the old moss-covered tombs bears this inscription: “Sacred to the memory of John Stock, Esq., a gentleman whose many virtues ender'd him to all who knew him, in whom were united the Son, tender Husband, affectionate Parent, and sincere Friend. He has left those to lament their several losses, having left the world the early Period of 24 years on the 27th of June, 1784.”
The Remains of Earthworks constructed during the Civil War are here.
At 16.1 m. is a junction with a marked dirt road.
Right on this road to (L) White Hall (private), 5.2 m., one of the loveliest of the Low Country plantations. The house, of the Colonial type, is surrounded by live-oaks and green lawns. The owner, C. L. Lawrence, designed the motor of the Lindbergh plane, Spirit of St. Louis.
At 17.4 m. is a junction with a marked dirt road.
Left on this road at 3 m. are the gates of Long Brow Plantation (private). The rambling white house, 1 m. from the gate, is an enlargement of the original building.
At 17.7 m. (L) is Laurel Spring Plantation, where Theodore Ravenel, last of South Carolina's rice growers, planted his crops.
Back water rice fields still exist about halfway between Laurel Spring and the adjoining Oakland.
Both Laurel Spring and Oakland were part of the old Lowndes Place, a grant made to the Lowndes family. At Oakland, the antebellum house, large, square, and white, is still standing. Some of the
mantels and mouldings are said to have been imported. The house, constructed of cypress and heart pine, has a charming window halfway up the graceful mahogany stairway.
The last commercial rice fields in the State are behind this house.
The Lowndes Place is the only large ante-bellum home by the Combahee River spared during Sherman's march to the sea. A brother-in-law of the owner was an officer in the Federal army. Charred embers said to have been found in the attic are considered evidence that orders to burn the house were countermanded at the last minute. On the estate are also an ancient carriage house, stables, a barn and a kitchen, with outside stairs to its attic. All were built in the first quarter of the 18th century.
The Lodge of the present owner of the Lowndes Place, is a white painted brick structure built in the shape of a Z, and surrounded by beautiful trees, a number of camellias and azaleas, and a wide expanse of green lawn. Right of the lodge is the Tomb of Dr. James Lynah, a surgeon-general in the Revolutionary War.
At 19.5 m. is a drawbridge over the COMBAHEE RIVER, called the River Jordan by the Spaniards when they visited this coast in 1525. When crossing in their flat boats, the early planters, so the story goes, believed it to be one of the purest rivers in the world and used to drink a toast in Combahee water to “God's Country.”
On both sides of the causeway approaching the bridge are old rice fields, now frequented by duck hunters; an old rice-mill chimney in Cypress Plantation is visible across the field (R).
Near the Combahee is the SITE OF THE LOST TOWN OF RADNOR, laid out in 1734 by William Bull. Radnor, like Edmundsbury (see above), apparently did not thrive, for in 1763 a petition from the people of Granville and Colleton Counties stated that if only the town of Radnor were made a port of entry, people would be encouraged to settle there.
SIDE ROUTE G GEORGIAJunction US 17 — St. Simon Island — Sea Island, 11.5 m. St. Simon Causeway, Sea Island Rd., and Frederica Rd.
Bell Bus Line from Brunswick to Sea Island in summer; fare 50¢, round trip 75¢. Shell and paved highways. Good hotel, boarding houses, cottages, and lunch rooms on St. Simon Island; luxurious hotel on Sea Island.
St. Simon Island, including the small adjacent Sea Island, is, with the exception of Tybee, Georgia's only coastal island open to the public. For many years St. Simon has been a popular summer resort for Georgia people; Sea Island, more recently developed, is a winter playground for Northern visitors, offering luxurious facilities.
On these beautiful islands, wooded stretches of moss-draped live-oaks and glossy-leafed cassenas mingle with rows of cerise crapemyrtles and pink and white oleanders. Evergreens and vivid flowers grow the year round in the mild island air.
History has made these Golden Isles important landmarks in the New World. Since its occupation by the white man four centuries ago, St. Simon Island has been successively under the dominion of Spain, England, the United States, the Confederate States of America, and again the United States. As early as 1575 American commodities were being shipped to Europe from the mouth of the Frederica River; when English settlers arrived in 1736 they found flourishing orange and olive groves that had been planted by Spanish missionaries.
The Spanish, who at one time laid claim to all America, had gradually given up attempts to establish sovereignty over the territory far north of Florida but when the British set up the Georgia Colony they met determined resistance. Both the English and the Spanish established forts and there were several minor clashes not far from the present boundary between Georgia and Florida before the Battle of Bloody Marsh, which took place on this island in 1742, put an end to the Spanish attempts to hold the Georgia coast.
With the defeat of the Spanish, the military importance of the island was ended. The English soldiers were subsequently given small grants of land. This was the beginning of the plantation regime that
made St. Simon Island, from the early 18th century until the Civil War, one of the most highly developed contiguous agricultural areas in the country, almost all of its 30,000 acres being under cultivation. The Civil War put an end to the gay life of the island, many of the homes being burned, the church used for stabling horses, and the fields laid waste. Few of the old families returned later to the scene of their former affluence. In the early 1900's, wealthy northerners became interested in St. Simon, and its new era of prosperity began.
East of its junction with US 17 at the Visitors Club, 0 m., just N. of Brunswick (see SECTION 11), the route crosses the St. Simon Causeway (toll 30¢ a round trip for car and driver; 10¢ for each additional person). Bordered by sea myrtles and palmettos, the causeway stretches across land reclaimed from the Marshes of Glynn and the tidewater rivers.
GASCOIGNE BLUFF, 4.5 m. (L), is a low, wooded, shell-covered bank overlooking the Frederica River. It is named for Captain Gascoigne, commander of the man-of-war Hawk, which convoyed the two ships bringing settlers to Georgia in 1736. Known as the Great Embarkation, this group included Oglethorpe, making his second trip to America, John and Charles Wesley, and many Salzburgers and Moravians. After taking his charge to Savannah, Gascoigne brought his ship to St. Simon where it reënforced the defense offered by Fort Frederica. This bluff was the scene of numerous encounters between the settlers and the Spanish and Indians. During the era of lumbering activity along the coast, there were two large saw mills on the bluff; in the early days of the Republic timber was cut on St. Simon for use in building vessels for the navy, timbers shipped from this bluff going into the construction of the Constitution. When the historic ship was rebuilt in later years, timbers from St. Simon were again used.
Left from Gascoigne Bluff on a shell road to Hamilton Plantation (private), 0.5 m., the winter home of Eugene W. Lewis of Detroit. The two-story residence was built about 1880 but was remodeled after Mr. Lewis bought it in 1927. The grounds include rose and azalea gardens, a formal garden, lily pools, and extensive lawns. The plantation was established about 1793 by James Hamilton, one of the wealthiest planters of the island, on land granted by King George II to Captain Gascoigne after his arrival here in 1736.
At 4.7 m. at the intersection with the paved Kings Way, is the junction with a private road.
Right on the private road to the Sea Island Yacht Club, 0.5 m. (reservations made), a white frame structure set on landscaped lawns broken by curving shell roads. The north entrance opens into a spacious lounge decorated with ships, lanterns, and other nautical objects. During the winter season many dances are held in the lounge. About 200 yards W. of the club is the Frederica River, part of the Intracoastal Waterway, between Cape Cod, Mass., and Rio Grande, Tex.
JEWTOWN, 5.5 m., is a Negro hamlet with small, shabby frame houses, surrounded by rambling flower gardens and small vegetable patches. The inhabitants, descendants of slaves, speak an almost unintelligible dialect; they derive most of their meager incomes from fishing and crabbing. The village is so named because of the Jewish merchants who were in business here during the lumbering period.
At the junction with Retreat Ave. and Demere Rd., 5.8 m., is a Tabby Hut (R), a low cabin, the only remaining Retreat Plantation slave house. Its thick tabby walls, which have a rough, grayish appearance, blend into a background of moss-covered oaks.
Sea Island Rd. turns L. at this point.
Right from this junction on Retreat Ave. 1 m. to the junction with Kings Way; R. (straight ahead) here 0.5 m. on Retreat Ave. to the Riding Academy (horses for rent).
The Sea Island Golf Club (R), 0.8 m. (greens fee $3) from the Kings Way junction on Retreat Ave., has two nine-hole courses: one is the usual type of inland links, with fairways bordered by massive oaks and pines, the other, built along the river edge, resembling an English seaside course, has sand traps and difficult water hazards. The two-story clubhouse, with a hanging balcony above the front entrance, is set in a cluster of large palms. It is built around the tabby walls of an old barn which was an appurtenance of Retreat Plantation. This estate, at first covering the southern part of the island, was granted to James Spalding, a Scotsman who came to America in 1760. About 1775 the plantation was bought by Major William Page, of South Carolina, who left it to his daughter, Anne, wife of Thomas Butler King, Congressman and planter. An olive tree, a few rare plants, and a majestic avenue of live-oaks are reminders of the beautiful grounds that John James Audubon greatly admired. The old slave cemetery of the Retreat Plantation lies near the ninth green of the golf course. Retreat was well known for the high quality of its sea-island cotton.
Left from Retreat Ave. on Kings Way.
ST. SIMON VILLAGE, 2.8 m. from Sea Island Road, is a year-round resort (hotels, boarding houses, cottages; fishing and crabbing equipment rented at piers; deep-sea fishing trips about $2 per person; stores, small restaurants, casino with usual resort amusement facilities). This village is on the blunt southern end of the island overlooking St. Simon Sound at the point where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. From the foot of
Mallory St., Jekyll Island (see MAIN ROUTE, SECTION 11) is visible across the Sound.
St. Simon Lighthouse rises above Neptune Park (R). A light was first established at this point in 1804, guiding boats into the port of Brunswick. During the Civil War all the buildings at the light-station were destroyed by Confederate forces, and it was not until 1871 that a new tower was completed.
The Site of Fort St. Simon, Oglethorpe's fortification on the south end of the island, is adjacent to the lighthouse. This fort was connected with Fort Frederica, farther north, by a military road. Oglethorpe kept a guard on a bluff to protect the northern end of the island and erected Fort Delegal on the eastern side.
North of St. Simon Village runs Ocean Shore Drive on the smooth white sand of St. Simon Beach. The beach slopes gently to the water, which is warm throughout the year. (Bathers should be on guard against deep inlets worked by the waves; they are dangerous at certain stages of the tide.)
Left from St. Simon Village on Demere Rd., which returns to Sea Island Rd.
The BLOODY MARSH BATTLEFIELD MONUMENT, 5 m., marks the site of the final conflict between the Spanish and the English for sovereignty in Georgia. In 1742 a Spanish fleet of more than 50 vessels anchored in St. Simon Sound and after a brief engagement destroyed the garrison there. Elated over this victory, the Spanish forces pursued Oglethorpe, who had withdrawn toward Frederica (see below). The British commander rallied his forces, waited in ambush, and drove the Spanish into the marsh where almost all of them were either killed or wounded. The battle is thought to have received its name from the bloody appearance of the marsh after the struggle.
The battle took place on what became Kelvin Grove Plantation, which was first owned by Thomas Cator, and later became the property of the Postell family. The plantation is now (1937) owned by Mrs. Maxfield Parrish wife of the painter. Mrs. Parrish, who spends the winters here, has made valuable contributions toward a knowledge of Negro folk music by preserving the spirituals, work songs, and play songs of the island Negroes. Because these Negroes were long isolated here, their music is distinctive. By bringing the Negroes together in the evenings in a cabin on her plantation, where they are encouraged to sing, Mrs. Parrish has rediscovered many forgotten melodies.
At 6 m. on Demere Rd. is the junction with Sea Island Rd. by the Retreat Plantation tabby hut (see above).
On Sea Island Road at 8 m. is Twitty Park, a triangular wood plot. Here is the junction with Sea Island Causeway and with Frederica Rd.
Right from Twitty Park on Sea Island Causeway is SEA ISLAND, 1.8 m., a luxurious resort developed by the late Howard Coffin. (Tennis, badminton, archery, golf, trapshooting, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, and fresh- and salt-water swimming.)
At the center of a group of stuccoed buildings is (L) the Cloister Hotel, designed by Addison Mizner in a modified Spanish style. The three-story tile-roofed building is built around courtyards filled with tropical plants. The main group of buildings stands on landscaped grounds in which are bowling greens,
archery courts and other amusement areas. The terrace of the Cloister Apartment Annex is by the river, where private boats can be anchored. Beside the hotel is the Casino, overlooking the ocean; adjoining it is an outdoor swimming pool.
Left from the Cloister Hotel, on Sea Island Dr. through an ocean-beach residential colony where are many white stuccoed houses of types seen along the Riviera.
At 6.3 m. on a shell extension of Sea Island Dr. is the Sea Island Fishing Camp (fishing equipment and guides available), a rustic camp overlooking the Hampton River, which affords good sport for fishermen.
GLYNN HAVEN ESTATES, 8.5 m., on Frederica Rd., is a summer colony of small houses surrounding a lake well stocked with fresh-water fish.
Left from Glynn Haven on a dirt road to Ebo Landing, 0.5 m., on Dunbar Creek, where cargoes of slaves were landed. On one occasion a group of Ebo tribesmen arrived who refused to submit to slavery. Trusting that the waters that brought them to this country would carry them back to their native land, they were led by their chief into the water and, singing tribal songs, disappeared under the waves. Even today Negroes will not fish in these waters; they imagine they hear in the murmer of the river the songs of the Eboes.
At the junction with unpaved Couper Rd., 10 m., Frederica Rd. turns L.
Right on Couper Rd. 0.5 m. to the junction with another dirt road; R. here 1 m. to the SITE OF THE SALZBURGER VILLAGE, a settlement made by a group of persecuted Lutherans from Austria who accompanied Oglethorpe to St. Simon Island. These industrious people lived almost entirely from the yield of their lands; they grew foodstuffs and raised mulberry trees for the culture of silkworms.
At 5 m., on Couper Rd. is a fork.
1. Left from the fork 2 m. to Hampton Point, at the northern tip of the island. Here are the ruins of the house and garden of the old Hampton Plantation, established by Major Pierce Butler of South Carolina. Aaron Burr, after his duel with Alexander Hamilton, visited this estate; and Pierce Butler, the grandson of the founder, later lived here with his wife, the English actress, Fanny Kemble. Mrs. Butler was so repelled by the institution of slavery that she voiced her hostility in bitter letters to her friends in England. Although she always remained unwavering in her opposition to slavery, later her attitude softened toward the people of the island, as is shown in her book, Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation (1838-39).
2. Right from the fork 1.5 m. to where John Couper of Scotland developed the plantation that has been called Georgia's first agricultural experiment station, because he planted here every tree, flower, and shrub that he thought would grow in this semi-tropical climate. He was especially interested in his olive grove. The trees imported from France throve so well that 300 bottles of good grade olive oil were produced in one year from their fruit. Only a few shrubs and a Persian
date palm — which still bears — remain of this fine early garden. The kitchen fireplace in the ruins of the old mansion has been rebuilt by the Cloister Hotel, whose guests use this picturesque spot for barbecues and oyster roasts.
Little St. Simon Island, across the Hampton River, is visible from this point.
The Site of General Oglethorpe's Farm (L), 10.2 m., on Frederica Rd., is indicated by a stone marker. The orange trees nearby are said to be descendants of those planted by Oglethorpe on his 50-acre estate; here Oglethorpe erected a small tabby dwelling and planted an orchard of oranges, figs, and grapes. This farm was the only home Oglethorpe ever owned in America; he preferred the military atmosphere of Frederica to the agricultural and religious activities of Savannah.
Christ Episcopal Church, 10.5 m. (L), a low, gabled, frame structure, is surrounded by the graves of early settlers and soldiers, and a grove of moss-hung, giant live-oaks. The present church, in which regular services are held, was erected in 1875 to replace the first church, in which both John and Charles Wesley served as rectors. It was while he was fulfilling his duties as secretary to Oglethorpe on St. Simon Island that Charles had his historic quarrel with Oglethorpe, which resulted in Charles’ departure for Savannah and, later, for England. Wesley Oak, a large tree shading the churchyard, marks the place where the Wesleys preached to the colonists and to the friendly Indians.
The Ruins of Fort Frederica, 11.5 m. (R), consist of two small chambers surmounted by a low parapet. These tabby ruins, covered with vines, have been worn by the passage of years and the wash of the nearby river. In 1736 Oglethorpe established here, as a military outpost, the town and fort which he named in honor of Frederick, the only son of George II of England. Selecting a site on the southern branch of the Altamaha River, known locally as the Frederica River, he erected a fort on a small bluff 10 feet above high water, at a point that commanded almost the entire length of the river. In a short time this temporary fort was replaced by one constructed of tabby, with four bastions. Oglethorpe built the town of Frederica behind the fort in the shape of a crescent. With its thickly wooded forests to the N. and E. and the boggy marshes of the river to the W., the site was well protected from attack. Today nothing remains of the town that at one time boasted a thousand inhabitants.
BARLOW'S DESCRIPTION OF THE NORTH CAROLINA COASTThe 27 day of Aprill, in the yeere of our redemption, 1584, we departed the West of England, with two barkes well furnished with men and victuals, having received our last and perfect directions by your letters, confirming the former instructions, and commandments delivered by your selfe at our leaving the river of Thames. And I think it is a matter both unnecessary, for the manifest discoverie of the Countrey, as also for tediousnesse sake, remember unto you the diurnall of our course, sayling thither and returning; onely I have presumed to present unto you this briefe discourse, by which you may judge how profitable this land is likely to succeede, as well to your selfe, by whose direction and charge, and by whose servantes this our discoverie hath beene performed, as also to her Highnesse, and the Commonwealth, in which we hope your wisdome wilbe satisfied, considering that as much by us hath bene brought to light, as by those smal meanes, and number of men we had, could any way have bene expected, or hoped for.
The tenth of May we arrived at the Canaries, and the tenth of June in this present yeere, we were fallen with the Islands of the West Indies, keeping a more Southeasterly course then was needefull, because wee doubted that the current of the Bay of Mexico, disbogging betweene the Cape of Florida and Havana, had bene of greater force than afterwards we found it to bee. At which Islands we found the ayre very unwholesome, and our men grew for the most part ill disposed: so that having refreshed our selves with sweet water, & fresh victuall, we departed the twelfth day of our arrivall there. These islands, with the rest adjoining, are so well knowen to your selfe, and to many others, as I will not trouble you with the rememberance of them.
The second of July we found shole water, wher we smelt so sweet, and so strong a smel, as if we had bene in the midst of some delicate garden abounding with all kinde of odoriferous flowers, by which we were assured, that the land could not be farre distant: and keeping good watch, and bearing but slacke saile, the fourth of the same moneth we arrived upon the coast, which we supposed to be a continent and firme lande, and we sayled along the same a hundred and twentie English miles before we could finde any entrance, or river issuing into the Sea. The first that appeared unto us, we entred,
though not without some difficultie, & cast anker about three harquebuz-shot within the havens mouth on the left hand of the same; and after thanks given to God for our safe arrivall thither, we manned our boats, and went to view the land next adjoyning, and to take possession of the same, in the right of the Queenes most excellent Majestie, and rightfull Queene, and Princess of the same, and after delivered the same over to your use, according to her Majesties grant, and letters patents, under her Highnesse great seale. Which being performed, according to the ceremonies used in such enterprises, we viewed the land about us, being, whereas we first landed, very sandie and low towards the waters side, but so full of grapes, as the very beating and surge of the Sea overflowed them, of which we found such plentie, as well there as in all places else, both on the sand and on the greene soile on the hils, as in the plaines, as well on every little shrubbe, as also climing towardes the tope of high Cedars, that I thinke in all the world the like abundance is not to be found; and my selfe having seene those parts of Europe that most abound, find such difference as were incredible to be written.
We passed from the Sea side towardes the toppes of those hilles next adjoyning, being but of meane higth, and from thence wee behelde the Sea on both sides to the North, and to the South, finding no ende any of both wayes. This lande laye stretching it selfe to the West, which after wee found to bee but an Island of twentie miles long, and not above sixe miles broade. Under the banke or hill whereon we stoode, we behelde the valleys replenished with goodly Cedar trees, and having discharged our harquebuz-shot, such a flocke of Cranes (the most part white), arose under us, with such a cry redoubled by many ecchoes, as if an armie of men had showted all together.
This Island had many goodly woodes full of Deere, Conies, Hares, and Fowle, even in the middest of Summer in incredible abundance. The woodes are not such as you finde in Bohemia, Moscouia, or Hercynia, barren and fruitless, but the highest and reddest Cedars of the world, farre bettering the Cedars of the Acores, of the Indies, or Lybanus, Pynes, Cypres, Sassaphras, the Lentisk, or the tree that beareth the Masticke, the tree that beareth the rine of blacke Sinamon, of which Master Winter brought from the streights of Magellan, and many other of excellent smell and qualitie. We
remained by the side of this Island two whole dayes before we saw any people of the Countrey; the third day we espied one small boate rowing towardes us having in it three persons: this boat came to the Island side, foure harquebuz-shot from our shippes, and there two of the people remaining, and third came along the shoreside towards us, and wee being then all within boord, he walked up and downe upon the point of the land next unto us: then the Master and the Pilot of the Admirall, Simon Ferdinando, and the Captaine Philip Amadas, my selfe, and others rowed to the land, whose comming this fellow attended, never making any shewe of fear or doubt. And after he had spoken of many things not understood by us, we brought him with his owne good liking, aboord the ships, and gave him a shirt, a hat & some other things, and made him taste of our wine, and our meat, which he liked very wel: and after having viewed both barks, he departed, and went to his owne boat againe, which hee had left in a little Cove or Creeke adjoyning: assoone as hee was two bow shoot in the water, hee fell to fishing, and in lesse than halfe an houre, he had laden his boate as deepe as it could swimme, with which hee came againe to the point of the lande, and there he divided his fish into two parts, pointing one part to the ship, and the other to the pinnesse: which, after he had, as much as he might, requited the former benefites received, departed out of our sight.
The next day there came unto us divers boates, and in one of them the Kings brother, accompanied with fortie or fiftie men, very handsome and goodly people, and in their behaviour as mannerly and civill as any of Europe. His name was Granganimeo, and the king is called Wingina, the countrey Wingandacoa, and now by her Majestie Virginia. The manner of his comming was in this sort: hee left his boates altogether as the first man did a little from the shippes by the shore, and came along to the place over against the shipes, followed with fortie men. When he came to the place, his servants spread a long matte upon the ground, on which he sate downe, and at the other ende of the matte foure others of his companie did the like, the rest of his men stood round about him, somewhat a farre off: when we came to the shore to him with our weapons, hee never mooved from his place, nor any of the other foure, nor never mistrusted any harme to be offered from us, but sitting still he beckoned us to come and sit by him, which we performed: and
being set hee made all signes of joy and welcome, striking on his head and his breast and afterwardes on ours to shew wee were all one, smiling and making shewe the best he could of al love, and familiaritie. After hee had made a long speech unto us, wee presented him with divers things, which hee received very joyfully, and thankefully. None of the company, durst speake one worde all the time: only the foure which were at the other ende, spake one in the others eare very softly.
The King is greatly obeyed, and his brothers and children reverenced: the King himself in person was at our being there, sore wounded in a fight which hee had with the King of the next countrey, called Wingina, and was shot in two places through the body, and once cleane through the thigh, but yet he recovered: by reason whereof and for that hee lay at the chief towne of the countrey, being sixe dayes journey off, we saw him not at all.
After we had presented this his brother with such things as we thought he liked, wee likewise gave somewhat to the other that sat with him on the matte: but presently he arose and tooke all from them and put it into his owne basket, making signes and tokens, that all things ought to bee delivered unto him, and the rest were but his servants, and followers. A day or two after this, we fell to trading with them, exchanging some things that we had, for Chamoys, Buffe, and Deere skinnes: when we shewed him all our packet of merchandize, of all things that he sawe, a bright tinne dish most pleased him, which hee presently tooke up and clapt it before his breast, and after made a hole in the brimme thereof and hung it about his necke, making signes that it would defende him against his enemies arrowes: for those people maintaine a deadly and terrible warre, with the people and King adjoyning. We exchanged our tinne dish for twentie skinnes, woorth twentie Crownes, or twentie Nobles: and a copper kettle for fiftie skins woorth fifty Crownes. They offered us good exchange for our hatchets, and axes, and for knives, and would have given any thing for swordes: but wee would not depart with any. After two or three dayes the Kings brother came aboord the shippes, and dranke wine, and eat of our meat and of our bread, and liked exceedingly thereof: and after a few days overpassed, he brought his wife with him to the ships, his daughter and two or three children: his wife was very well favoured, of meane stature, and very bashfull: shee had on her backe a long cloake of
leather, with the furre side next to her body, and before her a piece of the same: about her forehead she had a bande of white Corall, and so had her husband many times: in her eares shee had bracelets of pearles hanging down to her middle, whereof wee delivered your worship a little bracelet, and those were of the bignes of good pease. The rest of her women of the better sort had pendants of copper hanging in either eare, and some of the children of the Kings brother and other noble men, have five or sixe in either eare: he himselfe had upon his head a broad plate of golde, or copper, for being unpolished we knew not what mettal it should be, neither would he by any means suffer us to take it off his head, but feeling it, it would bow very easily. His apparell was as his wives, onely the women weare their haire long on both sides, and the men but on one. They are of colour yellowish, and their haire black for the most part, and yet we saw children that had very fine auburne and chestnut coloured haire.
After that these women had bene there, there came downe from all parts great store of people, bringing with them leather, corall, divers kindes of dies, very excellent, and exchanged with us: but when Granganimeo the kings brother was present, none durst trade but himselfe: except such as weare red pieces of copper on their heads like himselfe: for that is the difference betweene the noble men, and the gouvernours of countreys, and the meaner sort. And we both noted there, and you have understood since by these men, which we brought home, that no people in the worlde cary more respect to their King, Nobilitie, and Governours, than these do. The Kings brothers wife, when she came to us, as she did many times, was followed with forty or fifty women alwayes: and when she came into the shippe, she left them all on land, saving her two daughters, her nurse and one or two more. The kings brother alwayes kept this order, as many boates as he would come withall to the shippes, so many fires would he make on the shore a farre off, to the end we might understand with what strength and company he approached. Their boates are made of one tree, either of Pine or of Pitch trees: a wood not commonly knowen to our people, nor found growing in England. They have no edge-tooles to have them withall: if they have any they are very fewe, and those it seemes they had twentie yeres since, which, as those two men declared, was out of a wrake which happened upon their coast of some Christian ship,
being beaten that way by some storme and outragious weather, whereof none of the people were saved, but only the ship, or some part of her being cast upon the sand, out of whose sides they drew the nayles and the spikes, and with those they made their best instruments. The manner of making their boates is thus: they burne down some great tree, or take such as are winde fallen, and putting gumme and rosen upon one side thereof, they set fire into it, and when it hath burnt it hollow, they cut out the coale with their shels, and ever where they would burne it deeper or wider they lay on gummes, which burne away the timber, and by this means they fashion very fine boates, and such as will transport twentie men. Their oares are like scoopes, and many times they set with long poles, as the depth serveth.
The Kings brother had great liking of our armour, a sword, and divers other things which we had: and offered to lay a great boxe of pearls in gage for them: but we refused it for this time, because we would not make them knowe, that we esteemed thereof, untill we had understoode in what places of the countrey the pearle grew: which now your Worshippe doeth very well understand.
He was very just of his promise: for many times we delivered him merchandize upon his worde, but ever he came within the day and performed his promise. He sent us every day a brase or two of fat Bucks, Conies, Hares, Fish and best of the world. He sent us divers kindes of fruites, Melons, Walnuts, Cucumbers, Gourdes, Pease, and divers rootes, and fruites very excellent good, and of their Countrey corne, which is very white, faire and well tasted, and groweth three times in five moneths: in May they sow, in July they reape; in June they sow, in August they reape; in July they sow, in September they reape: onely they caste the corne into the ground, breaking a little of the soft turfe with a wodden mattock, or pickaxe; our selves prooved the soile, and put some of our Pease in the ground, and in tenne dayes they were of fourteene ynches high: they have also Beanes very faire of divers colours and wonderfull plentie: some growing naturally, and some in their gardens, and so have they both wheat and oates.
The soile is the most plentifull, sweete, fruitfull and wholesome of all the worlde: there are above fourteene severall sweete smelling timber trees, and the most part of their underwoods are Bayes and such like: they have those Okes that we have, but farre greater and
better. After they had bene divers times aboord our shippes, my selfe, and seven more went twentie mile into the River, that runneth towarde the Citie of Skicoak, which River they call Occam: and the evening following wee came to an Island which they call Roanoak, distant from the harbour by which we entred, seven leagues: and at the North end thereof was a village of nine houses, built of Cedar, and fortified round about with sharpe trees, to keepe out their enemies, and the entrance into it made like a turnepike very artificially; when wee came towardes it, standing neere unto the waters side, the wife of Granganimo the Kings brother came running out to meete us very cheerfully and friendly, her husband was not then in the village; some of her people shee commanded to drawe our boate on shore for the beating of the billoe: others she appointed to carry us on their backes to the dry ground, and others to bring our oares into the house for feare of stealing. When we were come into the utter roome, having five roomes in her house, she caused us to sit downe by a great fire, and after tooke off our clothes and washed them, and dryed them againe: some of the women plucked off our stockings and washed them, some washed our feete in warme water, and she herselfe tooke great paines to see all things ordered in the best maner shee could, making great haste to dresse some meate for us to eate.
After we had thus dryed ourselves, she brought us into the inner roome, where shee set on the boord standing along the house, some wheate like furmentie, sodden Venison, and roasted, fish sodden, boyled and roasted, Melons rawe, and sodden, rootes of divers kindes and divers fruites: their drinke is commonly water, but while the grape lasteth, they drinke wine, and for want of caskes to keepe it, all the yere after they drink water, but it is sodden with Ginger in it and blacke Sinamon, and sometimes Sassaphras, and divers other wholesome, and medicinable hearbes and trees. We were entertained with all love and kindnesse, and with much bountie, after their maner, as they could possibly devise. We found the people most gentle, loving and faithfull, voide of all guile and treason, and such as live after the manner of the golden age. The people onely care howe to defend themselves from the cold in their short winter, and to feed themselves with such meat as the soile affoordeth: there meat is very well sodden and they make broth very sweet and savorie: their vessels are earthen pots, very large, white and sweete,
their dishes are wooden platters of sweet timber: within the place where they feede was their lodging, and within that their Idoll, which they worship, of whome they speake incredible things. While we were at meate, there came in at the gates two or three men with their bowes and arrowes from hunting, whom when wee espied, we beganne to looke one towardes another, and offered to reach our weapons: but as soone as shee espied our mistrust, shee was very much mooved, and caused some of her men to runne out, and take away their bowes and arrowes and breake them, and withall beate the poore fellowes out of the gate againe. When we departed in the evening and would not tary all night she was very sorry, and gave us into our boate our supper halfe dressed, pottes and all, and brought us to our boate side, in which wee lay all night, remooving the same a prettie distance from the shoare: shee perceiving our jealousie, was much grieved, and sent divers men and thirtie women, to sit all night on the banke side by us, and sent us into our boates five mattes to cover us from the raine, using very many wordes, to entreat us to rest in their houses: but because we were fewe men, and if wee had miscarried, the voyage had bene in very great danger, wee durst not adventure any thing, although there was no cause of doubt: for a more kinde and loving people there can not be found in the worlde, as farre as we have hitherto had triall.
Beyond this Island there is the maine lande, and over against this Island falleth into this spacious water the great river called Occam by the inhabitants, on which standeth a towne called Pomeiock, & sixe days journey from the same is situate their greatest citie, called Skicoak, which this people affirme to be very great: but the Savages were never at it, only they speake of it by the report of their fathers and other men, whom they have heard affirme it to bee above one houres journey about.
Into this river falleth another great river, called Cipo, in which there is found great store of Muskles in which there are pearles: likewise there descendeth into this Occam, another river, called Nomopana, on the one side whereof standeth a great towne called Chawanook, and the Lord of that towne and countrey is called Pooneno: this Pooneno is not subject to the King of Wingandacoa, but is a free Lord: beyond this country is there another king, whom they cal Menatonon, and these three kings are in league with each other. Towards the Southwest, foure dayes journey is situate a
towne called Sequotan, which is the Southermost towne of Wingandacoa, neere unto which, sixe and twentie yeres past there was a ship cast away, whereof some of the people were saved, and those were white people whom the countrey people preserved.
And after ten days remaining in an out Island unhabited, called Wocokon, they with the help of some of the dwellers of Sequotan fastened two boates of the countrey together & made mastes unto them and sailes of their shirtes, and having taken into them such victuals as the countrey yeelded, they departed after they had remained in this out Island 3 weekes: but shortly after it seemed they were cast away, for the boates were found upon the coast cast a land in another Island adjoyning: other than these, there was never any people apparelled, or white of colour, either seene or heard of amongst these people, and these aforesaid were seene onely of the inhabitantes of Secotan, which appeared to be very true, for they wondred marvelously when we were amongst them at the whitenes of our skins, ever coveting to touch our breasts, and to view the same. Besides they had our ships in marvelous admiration, & all things els were so strange unto them, as it appeared that none of them had ever seene the like. When we discharged any piece, were it but an hargubuz, they would tremble thereat for very feare and for the strangenesse of the same: for the weapons which themselves use are bowes and arrowes: the arrowes are but of small canes, headed with a sharpe shell or tooth of a fish sufficient ynough to kill a naked man. Their swordes be of wood hardened: likewise they use wooden breastplates for their defence. They have beside a kinde of club, in the end whereof they fasten the sharpe horns of a stagge, or other beast. When they goe to warres they cary about with them their idol, of whom they aske counsel, as the Romans were woont of the Oracle of Apollo. They sing songs as they march towardes the battell in stead of drummes and trumpets: their warres are very cruell and bloody, by reason whereof, and of their civill dissentions which have happened of late yeeres amongst them, the people are marvelously wasted, and in some places the countrey left desolate.
Adjoyning to this countrey aforesaid called Secotan beginneth a countrey called Pomouik, belonging to another king whom they call Piamacum, and this king is in league with the next king adjoyning towards the setting of the Sunne, and the countrey Newsiok,
situate upon a goodly river called Neus: these kings have mortall warre with Wingina king of Wingandacoa: but about two yeeres past there was a peace made betweene the King Piemacum, and the Lord of Secotan, as these men which we have brought with us to England, have given us to understand: but there remaineth a mortall malice in the Secotanes, for many injuries & slaughters done upon them by this Piemacum. They invited divers men, and thirtie women of the best of his countrey to their towne to a feast: and when they were altogether merry, & praying before their Idoll, which is nothing els but a meer illusion of the devill, the captaine or Lord of the town came suddenly upon thē, and slewe them every one, reserving the women and children: and these two have oftentimes since perswaded us to surprise Piemacum in his towne, having promised and assured us, that there will be found in it great store of commodities. But whether their perswasion be to the ende they may be revenged of their enemies, or for the love they beare to us, we leave that to the tryall hereafter.
Beyond this Island called Roanoak, are maine Islands, very plentifull of fruits and other naturall increases, together with many townes, and villages, along the side of the continent, some bounding upon the Islands, and some stretching up further into the land.
When we first had sight of this countrey, some thought the first land we saw to bee the continent: but after we entred into the Haven, we saw before us another mighty long Sea: for there lyeth along the coast a tracte of Islands, two hundreth miles in length, adjoyning to the Ocean sea, and between the Islands, two or three entrances: when you are entred betweene them, these Islands being very narrow for the most part, as in most places sixe miles broad, in some places lesse, in few more, then there appeareth another great sea, containing in bredth in some places, forty, and in some fifty, in some twenty miles over, before you come unto the continent: and in this inclosed Sea there are above an hundreth Islands of divers bignesses, whereof one is sixteene miles long, at which we were, finding it a most pleasant and fertile ground; replenished with goodly Cedars, and divers other sweetewoods, full of Corrants, of flaxe, and many other notable commodities, which we at that time had no leasure to view. Besides this island there are many, as I have sayd, some of two, or three, or foure, of five miles, some more, some lesse, most beautifull and pleasant to behold, replenished with Deere, Conies, Hares and divers
beasts, and about them the goodliest and best fish in the world, and in greatest abundance.
Thus, Sir, we have acquainted you with the particulars of our discovery made this present voyage, as farre foorth as the shortnesse of the time we there continued would affoord us to take viewe of: and so contenting our selves with this service at this time, which wee hope here after to inlarge, as occasion and assistance shalbe given, we resolved to leave the countrey, and to apply ourselves to returne for England, which we did accordingly, and arrived safely in the West of England about the middest of September.
And whereas wee have above certified you of the countrey taken in possession by us to her Majesties use, and so to yours by her Majesties grant, wee thought good for the better assurance thereof to record some of the particular Gentlemen & men of accompt, who then were present, as witnesses of the same, that thereby all occasion of cavill to the title of the countrey in her Majesties behalfe may be prevented, which otherwise, such as like not the action may use and pretend, whose names are:
Master Philip Amadas, Captaines
Master Arthur Barlow, Captaines
William Greenvile, John Wood, James Browewich, Henry Greene, Benjamin Wood, Simon Ferdinando, Nicholas Petman, John Hewes, of the companie.
We brought home also two of the Savages, being lustie men, whose names were Wanchese and Manteo.
ANNUAL EVENTS ALONG THE OCEAN HIGHWAY
January, St. Cecilia Ball, Charleston, S. C.
January-May, Magnolia Gardens Open, near Charleston, S. C.
January 1, Emancipation Day Parade (Negro), Savannah, Ga.
February-May, Middleton Gardens Open, near Charleston, S. C.
February-May, Belle Isle Gardens Open, Georgetown, S. C.
February 12, Georgia Day, Pageant Commemorating Oglethorpe's Landing, Savannah, Ga.
February 14, Twilight Concert, New Brunswick, N. J.
March-April, Weekly Negro Singing in the Municipal Auditorium, Savannah, Ga.
March-May, Runnymede Gardens Open, Near Charleston, S. C.
Spring, Flower Show, Salisbury, Md.
Easter Sunday, Sunrise Services at Ribaut Monument, Jacksonville, Fla.
Easter Sunday, Sunrise Services, Palmyra, N. J.
April, Azalea Festival, Charleston, S. C.
April, Sailboat Races, Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, S. C.
April, Flower Show, Jacksonville, Fla.
April, Huckster Contest (Negro peddlers repeat their street calls), Forsyth Park, Savannah, Ga.
April, Dog Show in Municipal Auditorium, Savannah, Ga.
April, Duval County Fair, Jacksonville, Fla.
April 24-26, Cape Henry Pilgrimage Commemorating the Landing of the First Permanent English Settlers in America, Cape Henry, Va.
April 25-30, Garden Week and Tours of Private Homes and Gardens, Va.
April 26, Memorial Service at Old Midway Church, Midway, Ga.
April 26, Confederate Memorial Day Services, Former Confederate States.
April 26, Confederate Memorial Pilgrimage, Finns Point, N. J.
April 27, Hampton Roads Kennel Club Show, Norfolk, Va.
May, Racing Pigeon Club Show, Elizabeth City, N.C.
May, Outdoor Art Exhibit, Charleston, S. C.
May, Pageant and Horse Show, New Brunswick, N. J.
May 1-15, Blossom Time, Camden and Gloucester Counties, N. J.
May, 1st or 2nd Saturday, Dover Day, Dover, Del.
May 1-4 (approx.) Schützenfest (Shooting Festival), Charleston, S. C.
May 1, Chatham Artillery Anniversary Service in Armory, Savannah, Ga.
May 8-9, Cavalier Horse Show, Virginia Beach, Va.
May 13, Jamestown Day, Religious Services Commemorating the Founding of Jamestown, Jamestown, Va.
May 14-15, Hampton Horse Show, Hampton, Va.
May 14-15, Rose Show, Virginia Beach, Va.
May 15 or 30, Beauty Contest, Tybee Island, Ga.
May 20, Wilmington Light Infantry Celebration and Drill, Wrightsville Beach, N.C.
May 21-23, Tidewater Horse Show, Norfolk, Va.
May 22, National Maritime Day, Boat Races and Street Dance, Brunswick, Ga.
May, 3rd Saturday (approx.), New Castle Day, New Castle, Del.
May 30, Summer Seashore Season Opens, Virginia Beach, Va.
May 31, Walt Whitman's Birthday Celebration, Camden, N. J.
Whitsunday (7th Sunday after Easter), Christ Church, Open, Sermon at 2:30 E.S.T., Broad Creek Hundred, Del.
June, 1st Sunday, Clover Sunday Celebrated at Drawyers Church, near Odessa, Del.
June, American Legion Outdoor Mass, Camden, N. J.
June, Services at Old Moravian Church, Swedesboro, N. J.
June, Sailboat Regatta, Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, S. C.
June 4-5 (approx.), Potato Blossom Festival, Keller Fair Grounds, Va.
July-September, Weekly Sailboat Races, Isle of Hope, Ga.
July, Automobile Races, Folly Beach, S. C.
July, Motorboat Regatta, Charleston, S. C.
July, Sailboat Regatta, Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, S. C.
July, Poultrymen's Field Day, New Brunswick, N. J.
July 3-4, Hampton Yacht Club Regatta, Hampton, Va.
July 4, Canoe and Outboard Motorboat Races, St. Simon Island, Ga.
July, 2nd Thursday, Interstate Sailboat Regatta off Wilmington Island, Savannah, Ga.
July 28-August 3 (approx.), Kent and Sussex Fair, Harrington, Del.
July 30 (approx.), Pony Penning Day, Chincoteague Island, Va.
August, Swimming Races, Charleston, S. C.
August, Sailboat Regatta, Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, S. C.
August 1-15, Delmarva Camp Meeting, Laurel, Del.
August 8, Founders’ Day Celebration, Salisbury, Md.
Fall, Flower Show, Salisbury, Md.
Fall, Farm and Home Show, Salisbury, Md.
September, Florida Yacht Club Regatta, Jacksonville, Fla.
September, Feast of Lights (Italian), Trenton, N. J.
September, Regatta, Newport News, Va.
September, Labor Day, Boat Races, New Bern, N.C.
September, 4th Week, State Fair, Trenton, N. J.
October, Chrysanthemum Day, New Brunswick, N. J.
October 11, Pulaski Day, Camden, N. J.
October 15, International Moth Class Association Regatta, Elizabeth City, N.C.
October 18, Virginia Dare's Birthday Celebration, Manteo, N.C.
October 31, Hallowe'en Costume Parade and Street Dance, Brunswick, Ga.
December, Racing Pigeon Club Show, Elizabeth City, N.C.
December-April, Dog Racing, Jacksonville, Fla.
December 24, Christmas Celebration, Bethesda Orphanage, Savannah, Ga.
December 31, New Year's Eve Bonfires, Savannah, Ga.
INDEX
INDEX
Accomac Episcopal Rectory..... 70
Accomac, Va...... 68
Adams Run, S. C...... 136
Agricultural Society Plot..... 194
Airports:
Camden..... 7
Jacksonville Municipal..... 163
Salisbury..... 47
Albemarle, The..... 94
Allen House..... 70
Allen, Md...... 50
Alphabet Avenue..... 198
Alston, Theodosia Burr.....128, 175
Altama..... 155
Altamaha River.....153, 154
Amadas, Philip.....180, 181, 217, 225
Amelia Island..... 160
Amish Colony..... 170
Amstel House Museum..... 12
Anderson Residence..... 119
Angel Oak..... 194
Appoquinimink..... 25
Arbuckle's Landing..... 88
Arlington Cemetery, Cinnaminson..... 6
Asbury, Francis.....XIII, 121, 128
Ashepoo River..... 207
Ashland..... 98
Ashley River Bridge..... 135
Assateague Island..... 63
Atlantic Beach, S. C...... 123
Auction Block..... 44
Augusta, The..... 8
Aury, Louis..... 161
Avoca, N. C...... 102
Avon, N. C...... 185
Azalea Gardens, Gerbing's..... 162
Azalea Park, Summerville..... 200
Bacon's Rebellion 71, 74, 77, 80, 82, 88
Bagwell, Obelisk to John..... 71
Baker, Elijah..... 70
Ballad of Kill Devil Hills..... 176
Bamboo Farm..... 147
Bandon..... 101
Barlow, Arthur....180, 181, 215, 225
Barrelville, S. C...... 201
Barton School, Clara..... 4
Bartram, William.....XII, 122, 161
Battle of:
Amelia..... 161
Barges, The..... 71, 72
Bloody Marsh..... 209
Honey Hill..... 140
Red Bank..... 7
Roanoke Island..... 179
Sawyers’ Lane..... 92
Spencer Hill..... 151
Battery Clark..... 190
Battery Simkins..... 195
Battery White..... 129
Batts Island..... 101
Baymeade, N. C...... 119
Beard House, Duncan..... 25
Beech Hill..... 206
Belgrade Mansion..... 98
Bellamy Mansion..... 119
Bellanca Field..... 12
Belle Isle Gardens..... 129
Bellevue..... 157
Bell's Island..... 172
Belmont Hall..... 29
Belvidere, N. C...... 96
Bendigo, The..... 120
Berkeley, William...71, 77, 80, 82, 88
Bertha, N. C...... 173
Beveridge House..... 95
Beverly..... 57
Beverly Farm..... 53
Biggs Home, Asa..... 104
Biological Station, U. S...... 144
Bird Refuge, Cape Romain Migratory..... 131
Bird Sanctuary, Summerville... 200
Birdsnest, Va...... 76
Black April, Peterkin..... 126
Blackbeard (Edward Teach)... 26, 92, 152
Blackbeard Island..... 152
Blackbird, Del...... 25
Bluffton, S. C...... 141
Blythe Island..... 156
Bodie Island Lighthouse..... 183
Bonaparte, Napoleon.....54, 107
Bonaparte Park..... 4
Bonner's Grave, James..... 107
Bonnie Doone..... 206
Bordentown Military Institute.. 4
Bordentown, N. J...... 4
Borough Hall..... 9
Bowman's Folly..... 67
Brainerd, David..... 2
Brainerd Lake..... 2
Brass Ankle, Heyward..... 201
Brentwood..... 51
Brewton House, Miles..... 134
Brewton House, Robert..... 134
Brick House, Old..... 92
Brick House Plantation..... 202
Bridgeboro, N. J...... 5
Bridgeport, N. J...... 9
Bridgeton, N. C...... 110
Bridgeville, Del...... 39
Brighton Beach..... 141
Brookfield..... 16
Brookgreen Gardens.....XII, 126
Brown House..... 109
Brownsville..... 75
Brunswick Canal..... 154
Brunswick City Hall..... 156
Brunswick, Ga...... 155
Buena Vista..... 14
Burberry's Berry..... 36
Burgess, Grave of Dempsey..... 169
Burlington, N. J...... 5
Burns House..... 117
Burnside, Ambrose E...112, 179, 181
Burnside Headquarters..... 181
Burr, Aaron.....2, 54, 128, 175, 213
Burroughs, The..... 126
Butler Island.....153, 154
Butler, Pierce.....XII, 154, 213
Buxton, N. C...... 188
Byrd, William..... 87
Cabarrus, Home of Stephen.... 102
Cabbage Row..... 134
Cactus Garden..... 194
Camden Courthouse, N. C..... 168
Camden, Del...... 34
Camden, N. C...... 168
Camden, N. J...... 7
Camden Park Race Track..... 157
Cannon, Grave of William..... 40
Cannon's Tavern, Patty..... 40
Canterbury, Del...... 36
Cape Charles, Va...... 83
Cape Hatteras..... 185
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse..... 185
Cape Hatteras National Seashore 185
Cape Romain Lighthouse..... 131
Carl Gerhard, The..... 176
Carney's Point..... 10
Carroll A. Deering, The..... 187
Casino, Sea Island..... 213
Castle William..... 23
Cedar Island..... 73
Cedar Hill..... 151
Cellar House..... 56
Cessford..... 79
Champney Island..... 153
Charles House..... 94
Charleston Museum..... 134
Charleston, S. C...... 134
Charlton, Stephen..... 76
Chase House..... 50, 53
Chase, Samuel.....50, 52, 53, 54
Chatham..... 76
Cherry Grove Beach..... 123
Cherry Hill, Ga..... 148
Cherry Hill, Md...... 50
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal 17
Cheswold, Del...... 30
Chicamacomico Coast Guard Station..... 184
Chincoteague Crossroads, Va... 61
Chincoteague Island..... 62
Chocowinity, N. C...... 110
Chowan Courthouse, Edenton..... 99
Chuckatuck..... 56
Churches and Other Places of Worship:
African Baptist, Georgia..... 145
All Saints Chapel..... 126
Bluffton Episcopal..... 141
Bethel Presbyterian..... 137
Bethel Presbyterian, Walterboro..... 138
Burned Church..... 137
Chester B'Nai Sholem Temple 113
Christ, Eastville..... 78
Christ, Elizabeth, N. C...... 95
Christ, Savannah..... 146
Christ, S. C...... 132
Christ Episcopal, Ga...... 214
Christ Episcopal, New Bern, N. C...... 113
Christ Episcopal, Old, Del... 44
Cranbury Presbyterian, First. 2
Darien Presbyterian..... 153
Drawyers Presbyterian, Old, Del...... 20
Edisto Island Presbyterian... 203
Fernandina Episcopal..... 161
Friends Meeting House, Camden..... 35
Friends Meeting House, Cinnaminson..... 6
Friends Meeting House, Odessa 24
Hungar's..... 76
Immanuel, New Castle..... 12
Independent Presbyterian, St. Mary, Ga...... 158
Magothy Bay..... 83
Manokin Presbyterian, Princess Anne..... 52
Midway Church, Ga...... 149
Mount Pleasant Presbyterian. 133
Mount Pleasant Baptist..... 133
Negro Church, Midway..... 150
New Bern Baptist..... 113
New Bern Presbyterian..... 113
Pilmoor Memorial Methodist, Currituck..... 172
Pitts Creek Presbyterian..... 57
Rehoboth Presbyterian..... 56
St. Andrew's Episcopal, Mount Pleasant..... 133
St. Andrew's Parish, S. C..... 196
St. Andrew's P. E. Princess Anne..... 53
St. George's, Pungoteague... 74
St. James, Santee..... 130
St. James, Wilmington, N. C. 119
St. Mary's, Burlington, N. J.. 5
St. Michael's Episcopal, Charleston..... 134
St. Paul's, Edenton..... 100
St. Paul's, Norfolk..... 86
St. Peter's Episcopal, Washington, N. C...... 108
St. Philip's Episcopal, Charleston, S. C...... 134
Sanctify Church, S. C...... 203
Shiloh Baptist, N. C...... 169
Trinity, Chocowinity..... 110
Trinity, P. E., S. C...... 204
White Brick Church, S. C.... 132
White Meeting House, Old.. 200
Wicomico Presbyterian..... 49
Winyah P. E...... 128
Woodbine Episcopal..... 157
Church's Island..... 172
Cinnaminson, N. J...... 6
Clark House..... 95
Clark, House of Archibald..... 158
Clayton, John M...... 14
Clayton Place..... 71
Clifton, Md...... 54
Cloister Hotel, Sea Island..... 212
Coastal Experiment Station, Ga. State..... 154
Cockburn, George..... 74
Coinjock, N. C...... 172
Cokesbury..... 72
Colington, N. C...... 177
Collins House..... 44
Collins, Thomas..... 30
Colonel's Island..... 150
Combahee River..... 208
Concord, Del...... 42
Confederate Cemetery, Mount Pleasant..... 133
Confederate Monument, Edenton..... 99
Confederate Monument, Walterboro..... 138
Congress, The..... 85
Constitution, The (Old Ironsides)137, 210
Cooper House..... 35
Cooper House Museum, Joseph. 7
Cooper, Birthplace of James Fenimore..... 5
Cooper River Bridge..... 134
Coosawhatchie, S. C...... 139
Corbin Hall..... 61
Corbit, Charles..... 16
Corbit Library..... 23
Corliss Hunting Preserve..... 141
Cornwallis Headquarters..... 119
Corolla, N. C...... 173
Corporation Laws, Del...... 32
Costen Station, Md...... 55
Cotton Compress..... 164
Cotton, William.....76, 83
Courthouse Bay, N. C...... 118
Cove Road..... 6
Cranbury Inn..... 2
Cranbury, N. J...... 2
Craney Island..... 86
Creighton Island..... 151
Crescent, Ga...... 151
Crisfield House, John W...... 53
Croatan..... 182
Croatan National Forest, N. C.. 116
Cropper, John.....67, 68, 72
Crosswicks Creek..... 4
Custis IV, John..... 78, 82
Custis Tomb..... 81
Cumberland, The..... 85
Cummins House..... 27
Cupola House..... 100
Currituck Beach Lighthouse... 173
Currituck Courthouse..... 172
Currituck, N. C...... 170
Curtin House, L. P...... 2
Damascus, Del..... 16
Daniell's Island..... 134
Daniels, Birthplace of Josephus. 109
Dant, Grave of John..... 137
Dare, The..... 120
Dare, Virginia.....178, 179, 182
Darien, Ga...... 152
Davis, Jefferson..... 84
Dayton, Jonathan..... 1
Dayton, N. J...... 1
Deans, N. J...... 1
Debtor's Prison..... 70
Deep Creek, Va...... 87
Deepwater, N. J...... 10
De Graffenried, Christopher... 111
Delmar, Del...... 45
Delmar, Md...... 47
Delmarva Camp..... 43
Del. State College for Colored Students..... 31
Del. State Teachers College.... 49
Del. State Welfare Home..... 29
De Medici, Cosimo..... 107
De Mille House..... 109
De Rossett House..... 119
Desire, The..... XVI
Diamond Shoals..... 186
Diamond Shoals Lightship.... 187
Dimock, Home of Dr. Susan.... 109
Dismal Swamp.....87, 91, 170
Dismal Swamp Canal..... 87
Dorchester..... 200
Dorchester Village, Ga...... 150
Dover, Del...... 31
Drawyers Creek..... 20
Drayton Hall..... 196
Drummond House, George.... 70
Drummond's Mill..... 71
Drummond's Point..... 101
Drummond, William.....88, 101
Duck Creek..... 26
Duck Creek, Del...... 28
Duck Island..... 180
Dudley Home..... 119
Du Pont, Alfred I...... 28
Durant, Geo......95, 97
Durant's Neck..... 95
Dutch House, Old..... 12
Eagle Tavern, Old..... 97
Earle, Daniel..... 101
East Glen..... 53
Eastville, Va...... 78
Ebo Landing..... 213
Eden, Home of Charles..... 102
Edenhouse Beach..... 102
Edenhouse Point..... 102
Eden, Md...... 51
Edenton, N. C...... 98
Edenton Tea Party Marker.... 99
Edingsville, Beach..... 204
Edisto Beach..... 205
Edisto Island, S. C...... 202
Edisto State Park..... 205
Edmundsbury..... 207
Edmundson-Fox Memorial.... 96
El Dorado Plantation..... 129
Elizabeth City, N. C...... 93
Elizabeth City Shipyards..... 95
Elizabeth, The..... 120
Elkington..... 80
Elmwood..... 109
Emancipation Proclamation... XX
Emily B. Sonder, The..... 186
Emperor, N. C...... 102
Engagement Hill..... 179
Entailed Hat, The, Townsend...53, 75
Eulonia, Ga...... 151
Exchange Building..... 134
Eyre Hall..... 81
Eyreville..... 80
Fairfax Hall..... 169
Fairfield Plantation..... 129
Fairview..... 25
Farmington, Del...... 37
Farm Life School, Craven County 110
Fearing House..... 94
Fenwick Hall, John..... 193
Fernandina Beach..... 162
Fernandina, Fla...... 160
Ferries:
Cape Charles-Little Creek.....84, 86
Chester, Pa...... 9
Norfolk..... 84
Pennsgrove..... 10
Pennsville..... 10
Portsmouth-Norfolk..... 86
Reading..... 50
Snead's..... 118
Ferry Swamp..... 167
Ferry Trolley Wharf, Old..... 133
Fiddler's Bridge..... 19
Fireproof Building..... 134
Fishery, Cape Hart..... 102
Fish Hatchery, Henry Ford.... 149
Fish Hatchery, Pembroke, U. S. 102
Fishing Camp, Sea Island..... 213
Floating Road..... 167
Floating Theater..... 109
Floyd, Charles..... 157
Flying Dutchman, The..... 187
Folkstone, N. C...... 118
Folly Island..... 195
Ford, Henry.....147, 148
Forsgate Farms..... 2
Forsyth Park..... 146
Foscue House..... 115
Fort Clinch State Park..... 162
Fort George Island..... 163
Fort Moultrie Reservation..... 191
Forts:
Collins..... 164
Dorchester..... 200
Frederica..... 214
Hatteras..... 190
Johnson.....194, 195
McAllister..... 149
Mercer..... 7
Monroe..... 84
Morris..... 150
Moultrie..... 192
Norfolk..... 86
Raleigh..... 181
Randall..... 123
St. Simon..... 212
San Carlos..... 160
Union..... 101
Wool..... 85
Fox, George.....XIII, 50, 51, 97
Franklin, William..... 5
Fraser House..... 138
Freedman's Grove..... 149
Freedmen's Bureau..... 193
Frisco, N. C...... 188
Frisco Coast Guard Station.... 189
Fruitland, Md...... 50
Galsworthy, John..... 198
Game Sanctuary, U. S...... 184
Garrison's Lake..... 30
Gascoigne Bluff..... 210
General Island..... 153
General Store, Windsor..... 3
Georgetown Courthouse, S. C... 128
Georgetown, S. C...... 127
Georgiana McCaw, The..... 120
Gibbstown, N. J...... 9
Gillisonville, S. C...... 140
Girard, Stephen..... 78
Glebe..... 76
Glynn Haven Estates, Ga...... 213
Goat Island..... 167
Gold Bug, The, Poe..... 193
Golden Isles..... 144
Gonzales Home..... 136
Grahamville, S. C...... 140
Gray, Headquarters of Edmund 157
Green Bank..... 5
Greenbush, Va...... 71
Green Hill Picnic Area..... 55
Green, The..... 33
Grice Home, Charles..... 169
Grist Mill, Tonytank..... 49
Grove Hill Plantation..... 147
Guale.....151, 155
Gwinnett, Button..... 151
Hackland..... 51
Halfway House..... 91
Hall's Knoll, Lyman..... 149
Hamilton's Hill..... 204
Hamilton, N. C...... 105
Hamilton Plantation..... 210
Hampstead, N. C...... 118
Hampton Plantation..... 130
Hampton Point..... 213
Hampton Roads..... 85
Hampton, Va...... 85
Handy, Isaac..... 48
Hardeeville, S. C...... 141
Hardwick..... 149
Hare's Corner, Del...... 14
Harrietta..... 129
Harrington, Del...... 36
Harvest Moon, The..... 129
Harvey Home..... 97
Harvey's Neck..... 98
Hassell Home, C. B...... 104
Hastings Barn, E. Guy..... 46
Hatteras Inlet..... 190
Hatteras, N. C...... 189
Havens House..... 109
Hawk, The..... 210
Hayes..... 101
Hayne Monument, Isaac..... 137
Hearn's Pond, Del...... 40
Hecklefield Farm, John..... 95
Hedra Cottage..... 74
Hemming Park..... 164
Henry, Patrick..... 88
Hermitage, S. C...... 125
Hermitage, Ga...... 145
Hertford, N. C...... 96
Herty, Charles..... XX, 145
Hewes, Joseph Monument..... 99
Heyward Tomb, Thomas..... 140
Hibben House, Andrew..... 133
Hibernian Hall..... 134
Hicksites..... 24
Hightstown, N. J...... 2
Hill Farm..... 71
History of the Church of God, from Creation to 1885..... 104
History of the Dividing Line, Byrd 87, 176
Hobcaw..... 127
Hog Island, Va...... 75
Hog Island, S. C...... 134
Hollywood, S. C...... 135
Holmes, Abiel..... 150
Honey Hill, S. C...... 131
Hooper House..... 42
Hope House..... 103
Hopeton Plantation..... 155
Hopeton, Ga...... 147
Hopsewee..... 129
Hornblower's Point..... 100
Horntown, Va...... 60
Hubert, N. C...... 117
Huger Monument, Daniel..... 130
Hungar's Wharf..... 77
Huntington, Archer Milton .... 126
Huron, The..... 178
Huston, T. L...... 153
Indian Mounds, Fernandina... 161
Indian Mound, Edisto Island.. 205
Indian Woods..... 103
Industrial City Gardens, Ga.... 145
Ingleside..... 79
Iredell House, James..... 100
Irene, Site of..... 145
Irwin..... 161
Isle of Palms Pavilion..... 193
Isle of Palms, S. C...... 193
Israfel, Poe..... 193
Ivy Hill..... 55
Izard House..... 134
Jacksonboro, S. C...... 136
Jackson, Mrs. Andrew..... 66
Jacksonville City Zoo..... 163
Jacksonville Courthouse, N. C.. 117
Jacksonville, Fla.... 164
Jacksonville Memorial Park..... 164
Jacksonville, N. C...... 116
Japanese Beetle Laboratory.... 6
Jarvisburg, N. C...... 173
Jarvis-Hand House..... 112
Jasper Spring..... 146
Jasper, William..... 146, 192
Jefferson, Thomas (on slavery). XVI
Jekyll Island..... 156
Jersey Homesteads..... 3
Jewtown, Ga...... 211
Jockey's Ridge..... 179
John Bull Locomotive Monument 4
Johnston House..... 108
Johnston..... 118
Jones House, Paul..... 50
Jones-Lipman House..... 114
Joseph Cooper House Museum. 7
Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation, Kemble XII, XIX, 213
Jumping Juniper, The..... 93
Justiceville..... 71
Keller Fairgrounds..... 73
Keller, Va...... 73
Kellum, N. C...... 116
Kelvin Grove Plantation..... 212
Kemble, Fanny.. XII, XIX, 154, 213
Kendall Grove..... 77
Kendall, William..... 74, 77
Kensington, The..... 186
Kent County Courthouse..... 34
Kent and Sussex Fairgrounds.. 36
Kerr Place..... 71
King, Nehemiah..... 54
King's Creek, Md...... 53
Kingsland, Ga...... 157
Kinnakeet Coast Guard Station, Big..... 185
Kiptopeke..... 83
Kitty Hawk, N. C...... 174
Knott's Island..... 172
Kohler, The..... 185
Lafayette, Marquis de..... 127, 203
Lafayette Bridge..... 127
Lafitte, Pierre..... 161
Lake of the Dismal Swamp, The, Moore..... 89
Lake Drummond..... 88
Lake Como..... 28
Lanier's Oak, Sidney..... 155
Laurel, Del...... 43
Laurel Spring Plantation..... 207
Lawrence, Del...... 40
Lebanon..... 147
Lee, Robert E...... 85
Leigh Home, James..... 95
Leonard's Mill..... 47
Lighthouse Point..... 194
Lincoln, Abraham..... 80
Lincoln Park..... 9
Linden..... 79
Liston Range..... 19
Litchfield..... 127
Little Edisto Island..... 202
Little River Neck..... 123
Little River, S. C...... 123
Locke, John..... 124
Lockwood House..... 27
Lockwood's Folly Inlet..... 119
Long Brow Plantation..... 207
Loretto, Md...... 51
Louisiana House..... 112
Lovers’ Oak..... 156
Lowe House..... 146
Lucas House..... 138
Lynch, Thomas..... 129
Macdonough, Del...... 19
Macdonough House, Thomas.. 20
MacGregor, Gregor..... 161
Machelhe..... 167
Mackey's Island..... 172
Mackey's Point..... 100
Magnolia Gardens..... 197
Makemie, Francis.....49, 52, 55, 57, 64, 65, 71
Makemie Monument..... 65
Manteo, N. C...... 180
Manual Training School, N. J.. 4
Marines, N. C...... 118
Maritime Signal Tower, Elizabeth City..... 95
Marriage Tree..... 58
Marshes of Glynn, The, Lanier.... 155
Martin, Luther..... 54
Maryland, The..... 53
Mascoutin, The..... 187
Mason-Dixon Line.....25, 45
Masonic Hall, Cranbury..... 2
Masonic Temple, Georgetown, S. C...... 128
Masonic Temple, New Bern... 114
Mattawoman Creek..... 77
Maurice R. Thurlow, The.....186, 187
Maysville, N. C...... 116
McClellanville, S. C...... 130
McCullum House..... 98
McGuire, Grave of Peter J..... 6
McIntosh House..... 146
McLeod House..... 193
Meggetts, S. C...... 135
Menendez de Aviles, Pedro 151, 155, 157, 158
Merlin, The..... 8
Merrimac, The.....85, 186
Metropolis, The..... 173
Michaux, Andre..... 200
Middleton, Arthur.....199, 200
Middleton Place..... 198
Midway Cemetery..... 150
Midway, Ga...... 149
Mifflin House, Daniel..... 35
Milhado House..... 86
Mill Landing Farm..... 102
Mineola, N. C...... 105
Minnesota, The..... 85
Mirlo, The..... 184
Mitchell C, The..... 126
Monitor, The.....85, 186
Monkey Island..... 172
Moore, John Bassett..... 28
Moravians.....145, 210
Morrill Act..... 31
Morris Island..... 195
Morris Island Lighthouse..... 195
Morse, Jedediah..... 150
Mother Vineyard..... 181
Mount Custis..... 67
Mount Pleasant, S. C...... 132
Mount Wharton..... 66
Murrells Inlet..... 125
Musgrove, Mary..... 151
Myers House, Norfolk, Va...... 86
Myers House, Washington, N. C. 108
Myrtle Beach..... 124
Myrtle Beach State Park..... 124
Nags Head Beach..... 178
Nags Head, N. C...... 178
Nash Home..... 94
Nassawadox, Va...... 75
Nassau River..... 162
Naval Operating Base, U. S.... 85
Naval Stores Yards, Jacksonville 164
New Bern Academy..... 113
New Bern, N. C...... 110
New Castle Common..... 12
New Castle Courthouse, Del.... 11
New Castle, Del...... 11
New Church, Va...... 60
New Hope, N. C...... 95
New Inlet..... 184
New Jersey Manual Training School..... 4
Newport, Christopher.....80, 84
Newport News, Va...... 85
Norfolk Museum of Arts and Science..... 86
Norfolk Tidewater Terminals.. 85
Norfolk, Va...... 86
North Carolina Gazette..... 112
Northampton County Courthouse, Eastville..... 78
North Island..... 127
Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, N. C...... 119
Oak Island Plantation..... 203
Oakland..... 207
Oaksmith House..... 111
Ocean Forest Hotel..... 123
Odessa, Del...... 22
Ogeechee River, Little..... 146
Oglethorpe Hotel, Brunswick... 156
Oglethorpe, James.....144, 152, 155, 210, 212, 213, 214
Oglethorpe's Farm..... 214
Oglethorpe's Oak..... 153
Okeetee Club..... 140
Old Castle..... 80
Old House Settlement..... 140
Old Ironsides (The Constitution).137, 210
Old Point Comfort..... 84
Old Trap, N. C...... 169
Onancock, Va...... 71
Onley, Va...... 73
Orange Hall..... 158
Oregon Inlet..... 184
Osceola, Grave of..... 192
Ossabaw Island..... 150
Oyster Farms, Gerbing's..... 162
Palmetto Bluff Plantation..... 141
Paraguay, The..... 176
Parksley, Va...... 66
Parsons Home for the Aged, John B...... 49
Pastoria, Va...... 66
Patapsco, The..... 192
Patriot, The..... 175
Paulsboro, N. J...... 8
Pawley's Island..... 127
Peachtree or Bowman..... 129
Pea Island Station..... 184
Peddie Lake..... 2
Pembroke Creek..... 102
Pennsgrove, N. J...... 10
Pennsville, N. J...... 10
Penn, William.....12, 32
Perquimans County Courthouse, N. C...... 97
Peter's Point Plantation..... 204
Philadelphia Navy Yard..... 7
Phoebus, Va...... 85
Pierce House, Abraham..... 27
Pilot Town, Fla...... 163
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth.. 198
Pinckney, Grave of Charles.... 132
Pinehurst Tea Farm..... 201
Pipemakers’ Creek..... 145
Pocahontas Farm..... 79
Pocomoke City, Md...... 57
Poco Sabo Plantation..... 206
Point Harbor, N. C...... 173
Point of Pines Plantation..... 203
Pollocksville, N. C...... 115
Pomona Hall..... 7
Poplar Branch, N. C...... 173
Poplar Hill..... 49
Porter, John..... 64
Portsmouth Navy Yard..... 87
Portsmouth, Va...... 87
Pory, John..... 71
Potato Blossom Festival..... 73
Powhatan..... 80
Princess Anne, Md...... 52
Princeton, The..... 77
Pritchardville, S. C...... 141
Pudding Ridge, N. C...... 170
Pulaski, The..... 186
Pungoteague, Va...... 73
Purrysburg Cemetery..... 141
Pyatt House..... 128
Quaker Burial Ground, Old.... 5
Quarantine Station, U. S...... 194
Quinby, Va...... 74
Radio Station, U. S. Army..... 195
Radnor, S. C...... 208
Rainbow Banks, N. C...... 105
Raleigh, Walter ..... 101, 179, 180, 181, 185
Rancocas Creek..... 5
Ranger, The..... 120
Rantowles, S. C...... 135
Raven, Poe..... 92
Read House..... 12
Records Pond..... 44
Red Bank Battlefield National Park..... 7
Red Lion Creek..... 15
Red Lion Hundred..... 15
Refuge Plantation..... 156
Rehobeth Village, Md...... 56
Reliance, Del...... 40
Revel House, Thomas..... 5
Rhode Island, The..... 186
Ribault, Jean..... 158
Riceboro, Ga...... 151
Rice Mill Tavern..... 142
Richardson House..... 112
Richmond..... 148
Ridge..... 152
Ridgeland, S. C...... 139
Ridgley House..... 34
Ritter, S. C...... 206
Riverview Beach..... 10
Roanoke Island..... 179, 221, 224
Robbinsville, N. J...... 3
Robinson, William..... 75
Rocks, The..... 124
Rockville, S. C...... 194
Rodanthe, N. C...... 184
Rodman Quarters..... 110
Roebling, N. J...... 4
Roosevelt, Mrs. Franklin D..... 151
Roosevelt, Theodore..... 151
Rosefield..... 103
Rose Hill Plantation..... 141
Roseland..... 70
Rumbling of the Chariot Wheels, Mikell..... 202
Runnymede Plantation..... 197
Rural Hill..... 71
Russell, Home of Daniel..... 116
Rutledge, Archibald..... 130
St. Catharis, The..... 184
St. Catherines Island..... 150
St. Marys Cemetery, Ga...... 158
St. Mary's Cemetery, N. J...... 5
St. Marys, Ga...... 157
St. Marys River..... 160
St. Simon Lighthouse..... 212
St. Simon Village, Ga...... 211
Salisbury, Md...... 47
Salisbury Municipal Park..... 49
Salvo, N. C...... 185
Salzburgers..... 210
Salzburger Village..... 213
Samson Against the Philistines, Higgins..... 16
Sams House..... 86
Sandford, Robert..... 194, 103
Santa Clara, The ..... 129
Santee, S. C...... 129
Santiago, The..... 186
Santo Domingo State Park..... 154
Sapelo Island..... 151
Saratoga, The..... 20
Satilla River..... 157
Savage, Thomas..... 80
Savannah, Ga...... 146
Savannah River..... 144
Savannah Sugar Refinery..... 144
Saxis Island..... 65
Scarburgh, Edmund. 55, 68, 71, 74, 76
Scarlet Sister Mary, Peterkin..... 126
Scott Hall..... 71
Scotts Hill, N. C...... 119
Screven and Stewart Monument 150
Sea Island..... 212
Sea Island Golf Club..... 211
Seabrook Mansion..... 203
Seaford, Del...... 40
Secession Oak..... 141
Secessionville, S. C...... 195
Secretary's Plantation..... 81
Shad Point, Md...... 50
Shallotte, N. C...... 120
Shawboro, N. C...... 169
Shepard-Pruden Memorial Library..... 100
Shepherd's Inn..... 61
Sherman's Headquarters..... 146
Shiloh, N. C...... 169
Shingle House, Old..... 116
Show Boat, Ferber..... 109
Silk Hope Plantation..... 146
Silver Lake, Del...... 31
Slave Burial Grounds..... 154
Slave Market..... 128
Sligo, N. C...... 170
Slover-Guion House..... 112
Small Home, Walter L...... 94
Smallwood-Ward House..... 112
Smith, Francis Hopkinson..... 79
Smith House, Sarah B...... 2
Smith Island..... 83
Smith, John..... 72, 83
Smyrna, Del...... 26
Sothel, Gravestone of Seth..... 95
South End..... 152
South Mills, N. C...... 92
Spaight-Stanly Duel..... 114
Spalding, James..... 211
Spalding, Thomas..... 152
Spirit of St. Louis..... 207
Spivey Beach..... 124
Spring Bluff..... 156
Spruance House, Enoch..... 26
Spruance House, Presley..... 28
Spunky, The..... 120
Stanly House, John Wright.... 113
Stevens Home, William..... 55
Starkey, John..... 116
Stock Cemetery..... 207
Stone House, Old..... 88
Strathy Hall..... 148
Stratton Manor..... 81
Stuyvesant, Peter..... 11
Sullivan's Island..... 191
Summerville, S. C...... 200
Sunbury, Ga...... 150
Sunnyside..... 125
Supply, N. C...... 119
Sutton House, James W...... 17
Swansboro, N. C...... 117
Tabby House..... 151
Tabby Hut..... 211
Tabby Ruins..... 143, 152, 154, 157
Tacony-Palmyra Bridge..... 6
Taillade, Louis..... 107
Tangier Island, Va...... 72
Tasley, Va...... 71
Taylor Tavern..... 79
Teackle Mansion..... 52
Teackle, Thomas..... 74
Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences..... 146
Telfair House..... 108
Temperanceville, Va...... 64
Templar, The..... 186
Thalian Hall..... 119
Tharp House, William..... 37
Thistle Tender, The..... 67
Timothy Grass..... 171
Tonytank Creek..... 49
Tonytank Manor..... 50
Tonytank, Md...... 49
Townsend House, Betsy..... 56
Trenton, N. C...... 115
Tryon Palace..... 114
Turtle River..... 156
Twin House..... 169
Twitty Park..... 212
Union Bag and Paper Company Factory..... 145
Upshur, Abel Parker..... 77
Vallambrosa..... 147
Vanceboro, N. C...... 110
Verona, N. C...... 118
Vasquez de Ayllon, Lucas..... 128
Vaucluse..... 77
Vegetable Breeding Laboratory, U. S. Regional..... 135
Verrazzano, Giovanni da..... 83
Vesta, The..... 120
Viola, Del...... 36
Visitors’ Club..... 155
Wachaprague, Va...... 73
Wachawampe..... 63
Wachesaw Plantation..... 125
Wadmalaw Island..... 203
Waggaman Cut Farm..... 51
Wallacetown, Va...... 88
Walterboro Courthouse, S. C...... 138
Walterboro Library..... 138
Walterboro, S. C...... 137
Wanchese, N. C...... 179
Wando, S. C...... 132
Wappetaw Cemetery..... 132
Wappoo Heights..... 193
Warner Museum, Mary Corbit. 23
War of 1812 Monument..... 133
Warwick..... 74
Wash Tubbs, Crane..... 158
Washington Academy..... 54
Washington Chair..... 99
Washington Courthouse, N. C.. 107
Washington Field Museum, N. C...... 108
Washington, George..... 88, 121
Washington, Grave of William A...... 135
Washington Hotel, Princess Anne..... 52
Washington, N. C...... 105
Washington Tree..... 119
Washington Tree and Pump, George..... 158
Wash Tubbs, Crane..... 158
Ways, Ga...... 148
Webber House, Thomas..... 116
Weems, Mason Locke....XVIII, 121
Weir Point..... 183
Welbourne..... 61
Wesley, John and Charles 145, 210, 214
Wetter House..... 146
Whalebone Filling Station..... 179
Whaley Monument..... 71
Whaley Plantation Home..... 202
Wharton Place, John..... 65
Whipping Posts..... 34
Whistling Swans..... 171
White Cliff..... 80
Whitehall..... 148
White Hall..... 207
Whitehall House, Ann..... 8
Whitehall Plantation..... 140
Whitehall Plantation..... 145
Whitington, William..... 63
Whitman House Museum, Walt 7
Whooping Island..... 202
Wicomico State Game Farm... 49
Wild Horn Plantation..... 147
Wild Life Refuge, Savannah River..... 142
Wild Ponies..... 63, 185
Willbrook Plantation..... 127
Williamston, N. C...... 104
Willis Wharf..... 75
Willoughby Spit..... 85
Wilmar, N. C...... 110
Wilmington, N. C...... 119
Wilson House, David..... 23
Windsor Castle..... 103
Windsor, N. C...... 102
Windsor, N. J...... 3
Winfall, N. C...... 96
Wingfield..... 101
Wise, Henry A...... 73
Witches’ Tree..... 5
Woodbine, Ga...... 157
Woodburn..... 34
Woodbury Bag-Loading Plant.. 7
Woodlawn..... 30
Woodside, Del...... 36
Wrangle Hill..... 16
Wright Brothers..... 173, 176, 177
Wright Memorial Bridge..... 173
Wright Memorial Monument.. 176
Yamacraw, Old..... 146
Yardville, N. J...... 4
Yaupon Beach..... 124
Yaupon (Cassina Holly)....124, 188
Yellowhouse Field..... 116
Yemassee, S. C...... 139
Yulee, David L...... 160
Yulee, Fla...... 160
A COMPLETE LIST OF Modern Age Booksvignette
NOTE: Except where otherwise indicated, all MODERN AGE BOOKS are of the same general size and style as this one, bound in durable card covers.
NEW BOOKS, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHEDFICTION — General
Order by This Number
2. OLD HELL by EMMETT GOWEN. Authoritative portrait of a hillbilly Casanova. Illustrated by Howard Simon. “Almost every line seems uproariously right and splittingly good.” — N. Y. Times Book Review 25¢
5. ALL'S FAIR by RICHARD WORMSER. An exciting story of conflict between love and duty, with a realistic background of labor struggles. 25¢
24. THE STORY OF ODYSSEUS: A New Translation by W. H. D. ROUSE with decorations by Lynd Ward. “The greatest adventure story ever told, in the liveliest English prose version ever made.” — Los Angeles Times 50¢
33. THE WALL OF MEN, by WILLIAM ROLLINS. A grand adventure story with a moving love theme, set against the background of the Spanish Civil War. 25¢
SHORT STORIES6. BABIES WITHOUT TAILS, by WALTER DURANTY. Dramatic stories, mostly about the new Russia, by the author of I WRITE AS I PLEASE. 25¢
39. LOVE, HERE IS MY HAT by WILLIAM SAROYAN. Twenty-one new and provocative stories by the author of THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (see SEAL BOOK No. 17) 25¢
FOR MYSTERY FANS4. MURDER STRIKES THREE by DAVID MACDUFF. A terse mystery of the hard-boiled, Dashiell Hammett school. 25¢
23. DEATH SLAMS THE DOOR by PAUL CADE. “Fine for readers who like to unravel a case through the medium of police interrogation.” — New Yorker 25¢
40. GRAVEYARD WATCH by JOHN ESTEVEN. A rookie cop gets the goods on a big dope ring and discovers a murderer. 25¢
HISTORY
11. THE UNITED STATES: A Graphic History by LOUIS M. HACKER, RUDOLF MODLEY and GEORGE R. TAYLOR. Size 8¼ by 11¼ inches; with 76 pictorial charts. An entirely new type of history — sound and at the same time lively — which even those will like who “do not like history.” “Epoch-making.” — Hartford Times. “An extraordinary bargain.” — Malcolm Cowley in The New Republic 75¢
CURRENT AFFAIRS7. MEN WHO LEAD LABOR by BRUCE MINTON and JOHN STUART. Candid, unsparing and concise portraits of the key men in the C. I. O. and the A. F. of L. “Thousands of people want just the information that is in this book, and they are very foolish if they don't spend 35¢ to get it.” — Granville Hicks 35¢
8. THE LABOR SPY RACKET by LEO HUBERMAN. The infamous story of industrial espionage, as revealed before the La Follette Committee. “Should be read by every student of labor, but especially by every American worker.” — The New Republic 35¢
9. KALTENBORN EDITS THE NEWS by H. V. KALTENBORN. Clear-headed interpretation of events behind the news, by a famous radio commentator. “Vivid and thrilling. . . . A new method of reporting.” — Saturday Review of Literature 35¢
10. FROM SPANISH TRENCHES compiled by MARCEL ACIER. Vivid eye-witness accounts from men of many nations fighting with the Loyalist Army in Spain. 35¢
28. YOU HAVE SEEN THEIR FACES by ERSKINE CALDWELL and MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE. Size 8¼ by 11¼ inches; 64 pages of photographs. Brilliant pen and camera portraits of the Southern sharecropper. “Deserves the audience of another Uncle Tom's Cabin.” — Editorial in N. Y. Post 75¢
48. YOU CAN'T DO THAT by GEORGE SELDES. The full story of how and by whom our democratic rights are flouted, by the hard-hitting author of YOU CAN'T PRINT THAT! and SAWDUST CAESAR. 50¢
59. LABOR'S NEW MILLIONS by MARY HEATON VORSE. Presents a graphic, human picture of the labor movement as it is today and of the way in which it is reflected in the life and culture of America. 50¢
60. THE RIGHT TO WORK by NELS ANDERSON. Discusses the problem of unemployment in America and makes a plea for public employment where it is needed. 50¢
61. I LIKE AMERICA by GRANVILLE HICKS. One of America's most brilliant young critics gives an exciting account of his particular brand of constructive patriotism. 50¢
BIOGRAPHY22. LaGUARDIA: A Biography by JAY FRANKLIN. A vivid portrait of one of the most colorful men on the American scene today, and the possibilities that lie before him. Note: At the request of New York's Mayor two passages have been excised. 35¢
COOK BOOKS3. MEALS ON WHEELS by LOU WILLSON and OLIVE HOOVER. A practical cook book for kitchenettes and trailers. “Offers many food surprises and time-saving tricks.” — Miami News 25¢
30. MOST FOR YOUR MONEY COOK BOOK by CORA, ROSE and BOB BROWN. Bound in washable cloth. How to make inexpensive materials into delicious and exciting meals, by a famous family of experts. 50¢
GUIDE BOOK32. U. S. ONE: Maine to Florida compiled by the W.P.A. FEDERAL WRITERS’ PROJECT. Bound in cloth. A new and lively guide that gives the tourist in a hurry all the facts he needs, with a wide variety of entertaining detail about this important highway. 95¢
MISCELLANEOUS27. ALMANAC FOR NEW YORKERS 1938 by the W.P.A. FEDERAL WRITERS’ PROJECT. Sprightly comment and handy information for the year. Second annual edition of this popular almanac. 25¢
29. TICKETS TO FORTUNE by ERIC BENDER. Colorful history of lotteries, sweepstakes, and contests, showing the pitfalls besetting the amateur entrant. 35¢
31. HOW TO KNOW PEOPLE BY THEIR HANDS by JOSEF RANALD, Ph.D. Bound in cloth. Human hands and how they reveal character, by one of the world's foremost authorities. 95¢
50. BETTER THAN BEAUTY: A Guide to Charm by HELEN VALENTINE and ALICE THOMPSON. Lively and common-sense advice on how to look nice and be nice — how to make the best of what one has. 50¢
53. PUZZLE OMNIBUS by HAROLD HART. Sixty different kinds of puzzles — a rich feast for every puzzle fan — by one of the greatest puzzle-makers of our time. A grand party, vacation, and gift book for any time of year. 50¢
FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
1. RED FEATHER by MARJORIE FISCHER. “A fairy tale as delicate as moonlight, which yet has tenderness and a wisdom born of true humor.” — Ellen Lewis Buell in N. Y. Times Book Review 25¢
25. PIXIE PETE'S CHRISTMAS PARTY by PHINEAS O'MELLISH and SAM BERMAN. Size 7⅜ by 8¼ inches, with mailing envelope. A gay picture book for use as a unique Christmas card or for fun the year round. 25¢
26. YOU ARE . . . by EMERY I. GONDOR. Size 7⅜ by 8¼ inches. Bound in boards. A charming picture puzzle book, in which a famous Hungarian artist shows youngsters just how clever “You Are . . .” 75¢
45. ADVENTURES IN STEEL by LAVINIA DAVIS. Bound in boards. Real stories of what happens where steel is made and used, for boys — and girls too — from 12 to 16. 75¢
46. TALES OF LIVING PLAYTHINGS by ANTONIORROBLES. Size 7⅜ by 8¼ inches. Bound in boards. First American appearance of an author known for his delightful children's stories throughout the Spanish-speaking world. 50¢
New Editions of Popular FavoritesOriginal Editions were $2 to $5
FICTION — General16. THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH by MORLEY CALLAGHAN. A simple and deep-felt story of Americans in the Depression. 25¢
18. THE HONORABLE PICNIC by THOMAS RAUCAT. A gay French farce, with a dash of satire, in which East meets West. 25¢
20. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E. M. FORSTER. A superbly written story of race antagonism in India. One of the great novels of our time. 25¢
19. MR. WESTON'S GOOD WINE by T. F. POWYS. “Recommended to connoisseurs of rare vintages.” — William McFee 25¢
21. THE BLOOD OF THE CONQUERORS by HARVEY FERGUSSON. A romantic tale of the clash between Latin and northern civilizations in the Southwest. 25¢
38. LIGHTSHIP by ARCHIE BINNS. The drama of nine men anchored out in the Pacific. 35¢
34. LITTLE CAESAR by W. R. BURNETT. Hard-hitting classic of the Chicago gang era. 25¢
35. GOD'S ANGRY MAN by LEONARD EHRLICH. The grandeur and tragedy of John Brown's singlehanded fight to free the slaves. “Seems to me the finest American historical novel I have read.”—Granville Hicks 50¢
42. FONTAMARA by IGNAZIO SILONE. The greatest of recent novels about Fascist Italy. 35¢
43. THE PASTURES OF HEAVEN by JOHN STEINBECK. This early novel by the author of TORTILLA FLAT and OF MICE AND MEN is generally considered his finest. 25¢
SHORT STORIES17. THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE by WILLIAM SAROYAN. These are the stories which made Saroyan a literary sensation (see also SEAL BOOK No. 39) 25¢
FOR MYSTERY FANS14. SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS by DOROTHY L. SAYERS. One of the finest stories by a past master of the art of detective fiction. 25¢
15. THE LEAVENWORTH CASE by ANNA KATHARINE GREEN. The classic of American mystery fiction, by which all others are measured. 25¢
36. PERIL AT END HOUSE by AGATHA CHRISTIE. Agatha Christie and her famous detective, Hercule Poirot, at their best. 25¢
BIOGRAPHY13. TWELVE AGAINST THE GODS by WILLIAM BOLITHO. Lucid portraits of great adventurers by one of the most distinguished of modern writers. 25¢
37. BURTON: Arabian Nights Adventurer by FAIRFAX DOWNEY. The story of an altogether incredible man, whose story is as astonishing as that of T. E. Lawrence. 35¢
51. THREE TITANS by EMIL LUDWIG. Biographies of Michael Angelo, Rembrandt and Beethoven, by the most famous of living biographers. 35¢
TRAVEL12. TRAVELS IN THE CONGO by ANDRE GIDE. A unique travel record, free from all bias and romantic distortion. “A book to place beside one's set of Conrad.” — N. Y. Times 25¢
41. CITIES OF SIN by HENDRIK DeLEEUW. The story of prostitution and the white slave traffic in six great cities of the Orient. 35¢
Map of Southeastern United States
