Eastern Shore of Virginia

“ The area across the Bay had also escaped the "foull distemper" that swept along the James plantations about this time. Mortality had been high from the epidemic that probably came from the newly arriving immigrants to Virginia.
The Eastern Shore was now well established. In 1624 its first representatives, Captain John Willcox and Henry Watkins, were sent to the Assembly which met at Jamestown in March. It appears that a minister, the Rev. Francis Bolton, served here for a time. Others moved over from the western shore including Lady Elizabeth, widow of Sir Thomas Dale. ”

“ There were numerous places in Virginia where shipbuilding was carried on during 1776 and 1779. Vessels were built and equipped on the Eastern Shore, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, Chickahominy and James Rivers; at Hampton, Gosport in Norfolk County, South Quay on the Blackwater near the Carolina line, Frazier's Ferry on the Mattaponi, and Cumberland on the Pamunkey. This last shipyard was discontinued at the suggestion of Thomas Jefferson in 1779 because of the enormous expense attending its support. There was also a shipyard in Gloucester County owned by John Hudgens. ”

“ Virginia is bounded on the east by the Atlantic; on the north by a line of latitude, crossing the eastern shore through Watkins's point, being about 37° 57, north latitude; from thence by a straight line to Cinquac, near the mouth of Patowmac; thence by the Patowmac, which is common to Virginia and Maryland, to the first fountain of its northern branch; thence by a meridian line, passing through that fountain till it intersects a line running east and west, in latitude 39°.43′.42.4′′. ”

“ Some sloops were made large enough to hold as many as fifty hogsheads of tobacco, and could sail outside the coast. The sloop Amy, with fourteen hogsheads of tobacco, sailed from Virginia to London in 1690.
Dr. Lyon G. Tyler in The Cradle of the Republic wrote that as early as 1690, ships of 300 tons were built in Virginia, and trade in the West Indies was conducted in small sloops. Lieutenant John West of the Eastern Shore, stating that he had built a vessel of forty-five tons, decked and fitted for sea, petitioned the court for a certificate to the Assembly as encouragement for so doing. ”

“ The shores being opposite to Maryland Point, the reach above and below with the mouths of the two creeks on this side form a sweep, both tides upon them, that must collect for fish; and they are kept in by a kind of pound on the Virginia shore's trend. There apparent advantages accord with the experiment for, with a desperate patched-up seine that always breaks with a good haul, we have contrived to land 20,000 a day, every day we can haul. ”

“ Not long after, a Boat going abroad to seeke out some releefe amongst the Plantations, by Nuports-newes met such ill weather, though the men were saved they lost their boat, which the storme and waves cast upon the shore of Nandsamund, where Edward Waters one of the three that first stayed in Summer Iles, and found the great peece of Amber-greece, dwelling in Virginia at this [IV.154.] ”

“ We are nearer to the Fredericksburg and Falmouth Virginia markets than any shore that is or can be opened on the river by 10 miles notwithstanding every discouragement and particularly the activity and lies practiced against us by the Little Creek fisheries on each side, who must fail with our success. ”

“ The rapids at the lower end of the city cover the whole width of the river, and go down twenty-six feet in two miles, making a series of foaming cascades in ordinary stages of water, but being almost entirely obliterated in times of freshet, when the steamboats can pass down them. A long canal cut through the rocks provides safe navigation around them. An expedition of thirteen families of Virginia, under Colonel George Rogers Clarke, floated down the Ohio on flatboats in 1778, and halting at the falls, settled there, at first on an island, but afterwards on the southern shore. ”

“ The shores of the Bay had a counterpart in safety in the whole of the coast line of Virginia. It was bold but uniform, and so free from all obstructions throughout the year that a ship could approach it by night as well as by day without taking soundings. Knowledge of the latitude alone was required on the part of the mariner to shape his course. ”

“ Much of the Eastern Shore is a very poor country, and were it not for the fish and oysters that abound in Chesapeake bay, part of that region would be an uninhabited desert, at least, till the soil was improved, for the farmers in those days merely scratched over the ground, and exhausted it more and more every year. ”

“ The deflection north-ward from the normal course of the ship as she approached the coast, bound for the latitude of the Hudson, required only to be so trifling that the best sailor of the Pilgrim leaders would not be likely to note or criticise it, and it was by no means uncommon to make Cape Cod as the first landfall on Virginia voyages. The lateness of the arrival on the coast, and the difficulties ever attendant on doubling Cape Cod, properly turned to account, would increase the anxiety for almost any landing-place, and render it easy to retain the sea-worn colonists when once on shore. ”

“ The eastern portion, which lies between the Alleghanies and the Atlantic, is characterized by a succession of rivers that rise in the mountains and flow in a southeasterly direction nearly parallel with the Potomac and James. To advance through Virginia to Richmond, it was possible for the Union forces to go by water to the mouth of the James and then ascend along the river, or to cross the Rappahannock, the Rapidan, the York, and the Chickahominy, besides a large number of smaller streams which were sometimes swollen to the volume of navigable rivers. ”

“ LOST RIVER.
This is a small but very clear and beautiful stream in Hardy County, West Virginia. It flows through a rich and delightful valley between Church mountain on its eastern side next to Shenandoah County, Virginia, and the South Branch mountain on its western side. After a course of about twenty miles in a northeasterly direction it suddenly disappears at the base of a mountain extending like a huge dam across the valley. After a subterranean passage of a few miles it reappears on the opposite side "clear as crystal." ”

“ One can go surprisingly far inland on sea-faring craft, while with a boat there are but few plantations on the old York peninsula to which one cannot approach very near. In the absence of good roads this ubiquity of navigable water was a great convenience, but doubtless the very convenience of it may have delayed the arduous work of breaking good land-routes through the wilderness, and thus have tended to maintain the partial isolation of the planters' estates, to which so many characteristic features of life in Old Virginia may be traced. ”

“ THE SHORES OF VIRGINIA I rested quietly in my berth for a long time, staring blankly up at the dark deck above, unable to sleep, and endeavoring to figure out the true meaning of all these occurrences. It began to rain, torrents sweeping the planks overhead, while vivid flashes of lightning illumined the open hatch, before it could be hastily closed, revealing the squalidness of the interior in which we were quartered. Then someone, growling and stumbling through the darkness, lit a slush lantern, dangling from a blackened beam, its faint flicker barely discernible. ”

“ And it is owing to this, that the water view, is finer from its summit, than from the Pine Orchard. The distance is sufficient to "lend enchantment to the view"—not so great as to prevent a spectator from seeing any beautiful object that a nearer view would embrace, with all the distinctness that is desirable. A Virginian, who has high authority for supposing that a visit to Harper's Ferry is worth a trip across the Atlantic, may ask if Mount Holyoke surpasses this famous Virginia scene. State pride must yield to candor, and acknowledge that it does. ”

“ James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers, all which are full of convenient and safe harbors. There are also abundance of lesser rivers, many of which are capable of receiving the biggest merchant ships, viz: Elizabeth river, Nansemond, Chickahominy, Pocoson, Pamunkey, Mattapony, (which two last are the two upper branches of York river,) North river, Eastermost river, Corotoman, Wiccocomoco, Pocomoke, Chissenessick, Pungotegue, and many others. But because they are so well described in the large maps of Virginia, I shall forbear any farther description of them. ”

“ Prior to the coming of good roads to Virginia and the building of the bridges across the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers what is known as the Northern Neck, although actually a peninsula, was to those living in the eastern portion almost an island and it was but natural that marked peculiarities of the people of this section distinguished them not only from those who lived in other sections of the country but to a less extent from those living in other parts of Virginia. ”

“ A large river of West Virginia. It rises between the Blue Ridge and Iron Mountains, in northwestern North Carolina, whence it flows north-northeast under the name of the New River through the western part of Virginia ”

“ The water is excellent except in the swamp regions in the eastern part, and the soil of about two-thirds of the State is fertile except where worn out by long tobacco culture without proper use of fertilizers and alternation of crops. Virginia can produce anything that grows in the temperate zone. ”

“ The ground on the south side rises very gradually.
The Tanissee, Cherokee or Hogohege river is 600 yards wide at its mouth, 1⁄4 of a mile at the mouth of Holston, and 200 yards at Chotee, which is 20 miles above Holston, and 300 miles above the mouth of the Tanissee. This river crosses the southern boundary of Virginia, 58 miles from the Missisipi. Its current is moderate. It is navigable for loaded boats of any burthen to the Muscle shoals, where the river passes through the Cumberland mountain. ”

“ Virginia ranks close to Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland in the importance of sea fisheries. In 1897 there were 28,000 men employed in the industry, this being a decided increase over the beginning of the decade. ”

“ The width of the plateau varies from forty miles in Northern Virginia to one hundred ninety miles in the southern part, gradually broadening as one travels southward. The plateau rises gradually from an elevation of 200-700 feet at the eastern end of the plateau until, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it reaches approximately 1500 feet near the Virginia-North Carolina border. The Piedmont area located south of the James River is known as the Southside. Agriculture is the chief occupation because, in general, this land is fertile due to the presence of limestone soils and clay deposits. ”

“ They are called by the hunters and settlers upon their outskirts, the Alleghany Levels. In them are the principal sources of all the great waters of Virginia. The North and South Branches of Potomac, Jackson's river, and the Shenandoah, Greenbrier and Gauley, Cheat and Tygart's Valley—which flow north, east, west and south, seeking by long and winding courses, the Ohio or the Atlantic Ocean.
The greatest singularity of this country consists in its primeval appearance: the ground is carpeted throughout with an elastic and verdant moss ”

“ Long after the waters of Chesapeake Bay were dotted with sails, and the creeks of Maryland and Virginia gay with skiffs, the land communication was still in an exceedingly primitive condition. The roads were little more than bridle-paths. The surveyors deemed their duty done if the logs and fallen trees were cleared away, and all Virginia could not boast of a single engineer. Bridges there were none; and the traveller, arriving at a river bank, must find a ford, or swim his horse across, counting himself fortunate if he kept his pouch of tobacco dry. ”

“ In 1624 the colony of Virginia extended from the mouth of James River up nearly as far as the site of Richmond, with plantations on both banks; and it spread over the peninsula between the James and the broad stream next to the north of it, which at that time was called the Charles, [Pg 224] but since 1642 has been known as the York River. There were also a few settlements on the Accomac peninsula east of Chesapeake Bay. It would be hard to find elsewhere upon the North American coast any region where the land is so generally and easily penetrable by streams that can be navigated. ”

“ From Staunton to the Springs in western Virginia the route is, via Buffalo Gap 10 miles, Deerfield 12 miles, Cloverdale 8 miles, thence to Bath Alum Springs, 15 miles.
"This new and elegant establishment is situated at the eastern base of the Warm Spring Mountain, on the route through Virginia by way of the Valley of the great Kanawha to Point Pleasant and Guyandotte on the Ohio River. It is very pleasantly located both in point of climate and scenery; the atmosphere is pure, bracing, and exhilarating; the mountain scenery diversified and picturesque. ”

“ The shores are generally covered with bushes and pine trees, are hilly, and afford a pleasing prospect. At the village of Shoreham, twelve miles above Crownpoint, on the eastern shore of Vermont, we left the Phœnix, which went twenty miles further to Whitehall, the southern point of Lake Champlain, and landed to see Lake George, which is celebrated for its romantic situation and shores. Sir Michael and Lady Clare continued with us, and resolved not to part from us till we arrived at Albany, after which they would travel to Boston. ”