March, 1903
Circa 1940
April, 1905
Peninsula Enterprise
PPE Footnote: Bloomtown was located in north central Accomack County and was renamed Makemie Park in 1908.
(Reader comment)
Anonymous said...Bloomtown almost certainly was in northern Accomack County but it being in Makemie Park is doubtful as a steamer from there to Chincoteague would be a journey of at least 24 hours because the distance by water is about 150 miles.
tk for PPE says: I'll see if I can retrace my info source. Could there have been more than one Makemie Park?
tk for PPE says: Reader Comment raises a puzzling question about the time schedule presented in the Ad. The source I used for Bloomtown/Makemie Park was from GHOTES Eastern Shore Gazetteer Eastern Shore (esva.net)
"Makemie Park - a small community in north central part of county, n of Hallwood and w of Temperanceville; post office established here as Bloomtown in 1892 and renamed as Makemie Park in 1908; post office discontinued 1935"
(Reader comment)
Anonymous said...Mystery solved. I had mistakenly assumed Harry White was offering boat service from his hotel to Chincoteague when he was offering transportation that *included* boat service along with carriage service.
We know Makemie Park (Bloomtown) was situated on the main line of the NYP&N Railroad and it was about 5 miles from there to Wisharts Point or about 1 1/2 to 2 hours by horse and carriage. We know the distance from Wisharts Point to Chincoteague via Four Mouths is about 8 miles or a little over an hour by steamers in that time. We also know Mr. White was advertising travel times between Bloomtown and Chincoteague to be 3 to 4 hours so the ad makes sense.
What I find curious was that there was already established service to Chincoteague via Franklin City; train to Franklin City and barge or other boat to Chincoteague. I know all freight into and out of Chincoteague went by this route, perhaps Mr. White was just trying to compete on passenger traffic and fill his hotel at the same time.
tk for PPE says: Ah ha! Thank you. While I go meandering here and there down bunny trails our reader's knowledge of the subject matter makes sense of it all. By the way wasn't "Knowledge is power" the motto displayed in the old (Market Street) Pocomoke High School auditorium?
June, 1921 (See enlargements beneath ad)
PPE Footnote: Here's a present day potato harvester:
2 comments:
Bloomtown almost certainly was in northern Accomack County but it being in Makemie Park is doubtful as a steamer from there to Chincoteague would be a journey of at least 24 hours because the distance by water is about 150 miles.
Mystery solved. I had mistakenly assumed Harry White was offering boat service from his hotel to Chincoteague when he was offering transportation that *included* boat service along with carriage service.
We know Makemie Park (Bloomtown) was situated on the main line of the NYP&N Railroad and it was about 5 miles from there to Wisharts Point or about 1 1/2 to 2 hours by horse and carriage. We know the distance from Wisharts Point to Chincoteague via Four Mouths is about 8 miles or a little over an hour by steamers in that time. We also know Mr. White was advertising travel times between Bloomtown and Chincoteague to be 3 to 4 hours so the ad makes sense.
What I find curious was that there was already established service to Chincoteague via Franklin City; train to Franklin City and barge or other boat to Chincoteague. I know all freight into and out of Chincoteague went by this route, perhaps Mr. White was just trying to compete on passenger traffic and fill his hotel at the same time.
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