This place (Newtown) is a pretty snug little village, containing about 500 clever and hospitable inhabitants; it has good wide streets, quite clear of that "eye sore," known mostly over the Peninsula by the name of "deep sand"; the houses, though built of frame, are generally built substantially and with some discretion and taste; there are two neat, new, and quite handsome frame churches in it; as for the merchants of the place, suffice it to state that they are very clever and hospitable. F. Mezick, Esq., the landlord with whom I stopped, and his very obliging and jolly assistant, are richly deserving of a passing notice, for the good treatment and the extension of the many civilities to "the stranger."
(Reader-friendly viewing of news archives/historical archives material)
November, 1961
(The Salisbury Times)
Memories of Steamboat Days
Myra Lorene Boggs. "Memories of Steamboat Days" Peninsula Enterprise (Accomac, Va.: July 5, 1956)
In the Sunday Sun Magazine of June 17, 1956, there was an article, "I remember — Old Eastern Shore Steamboat Landings" by G. H. Leaverton.
Steamboat days were a part of my life. Though I did not know the steamboat landings in Mr. Leaverton's area, I thoroughly enjoyed the article. It brought back memories of the steamboat days on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I agree with Mr. Leaverton, "The world held no greater adventure for me" — and for many other children and adults — "than a trip to Baltimore on the steamboat, and if steamboats were still running" — I and many others — "would still regard these trips with the same excitement and enthusiasm."
Unfortunately or otherwise — this steamboat traffic was swallowed up in the progress of the years. Folk living in this area today have missed something beyond description, their elders greatly enjoyed. My memory goes back a little further than Mr. Leaverton's.
Previous to steamboat days, my father and his five brothers had a Bay and coastal trade in sailing craft. Their uncle was one of the best known pilots in coastal and ocean travel. I was born and am still living at Nandua beside the river Nandua. With this background and having always lived near the water, naturally, I inherit a love for watercraft and their times.
First of all I'll go as far as I can trace my memory and stories passed on by my elders — to the early steamboat days on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Capt. George Raynor made the first trip from Cape Charles to Old Point on the steamer Old Point. From Capt. Raynor or some other source, I've been told that prior to this, Capt. Raynor, in charge of the steamer Old Point, touched at landings in lower Northampton County, including Hungars, en route to Baltimore. There may have been landings in Accomack County, but I have not been able to verify this.
Before this time, the coming of the Sue into Pungoteague Creek, where Martin's Wharf was the principal stop, created quite a sensation. Before the Sue there was a little junket of some kind, but I do not recall the name.
The Sue was built in 1867.
My mother, then a young lady, lived on the North Shore of Pungoteague Creek, a little west of the present Harborton. I've heard her tell of the Sue, for its time a seemingly floating palace, and of the excitement, as in later years, whenever the steamboat arrived at different landings. I'm not sure if Hoffman's Wharf was in existence in Sue's time. It eventually became Harborton as it is now.
Also, on Pungoteague Creek is Dock View on an original grant to the Hutchinson Family. That has always been called "Dock View". At this time "Dock View" is used for loading pulp wood. It was originally built as a landing for sailing craft; was at one time the site of a fish factory and has in its day been a steamboat landing.
Evans Wharf and Boggs Wharf were other landings on Pungoteague Creek. The water was not too deep near Boggs' Wharf. The officials said a steamboat could not land there. My uncle, Capt. Frank Boggs, insisted it could. He persuaded them to let him try it. He took over the wheel, brought the craft up the stream, turned the steamboat around and made the landing without a hitch.
The wharf at Nandua was a part of our home property — and only several hundred yards from the house. In my childhood the shore line was of beautiful hard sand. Between the water's edge and the road to the wharf was a wide stretch of white sand. This is now grown up in grass and the shore is muddy. In former years the children of Nandua gathered here and built villages of sand houses, some of them with hallways big enough to crawl through. When the steamboat came to the wharf all the children would go to the shore and jump the waves.
(Conclusion of this article next Sunday)
This is how Walmart started.. Sam Walton's first store in 1962.
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I remember when Governor Tawes dedicated the bridge in 1961. Tawes arrived on the State yacht, "Sea Level" which was docked just south of the drawbridge. It was a fairly large vessel and the crew was not familiar with the entrance to Pocomoke River so the late Everett James was retained as pilot to guide the boat through the cut from Pocomoke Sound into the river.
ReplyDeleteThe "Sea Level" was replaced in 1986 by a refurbished Canadian Navy patrol boat and named "Maryland Independence". Governor Marvin Mandel used this boat extensively but when Robert Erlich became governor he sold her in 2003 for about $270,000, about $100,000 below her true value.
Your friend,
Slim
I also remember when Evelyn Parsons was the mayor. She was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. In later years she married Carmel Wilson, a hard-core Democrat. They lived in a home on Winter Quarters Drive and got along quite well except on election days. Carmel refused to allow her ride to the polls with him and insisted she drive herself. He told me, "I love Evelyn but I'll be damned if I'm going to help the Republicans get even one vote."
ReplyDeleteYour friend,
Slim