The Steamboat Era Museum - Irvington, Virginia

THE STEAMBOAT ERA

STEAMBOAT ERA DAY IN VIRGINIA

"STEAMBOAT STORIES" BY ANNE LONG MCCLINTOCK

Steamboat Era Day Resolution As the museum historian, I'd like to share the stories and history of the people and events of the steamboat era. You see, I am the granddaughter of well-known steamboat Captain Archibald Long, better known as Captain Arch, who for 26 years piloted steamboats up and down the Chesapeake Bay, from Baltimore to Norfolk.

When I was a girl, I would sit and listen to tales of his travels and adventures.

Steamboats changed the way of life for all living on the Bay and its tributaries and stories abound about those changes. These fascinating stories have been collected from my grandfather, relatives and friends and recount happy times, as well as sad.

You may recognize some of the names in the stories; you may have stories for me to tell. I hope to make them educational, fun and heartwarming. So please join me as I take you into the past to a time that is almost forgotten, but loved by those who remember.

If you have your own steamboat story to share, send it to Anne!

Steamers On Fire
September 28, 2011

If you had lived during the golden age of steamboats and you had seen a great white steamer cutting through the water, going out or coming into harbor, you would automatically think how beautiful it was. Flags flying, people strolling or sitting on the upper decks taking in the scenery and the captain and his crew going about their jobs keeping this magnificent steamboat cruising down the Chesapeake Bay to different destinations. You would never think how vulnerable the ship could be.

But there was an ever present danger with fires. You see, most of the steamboats were fired by coal and some of the older ones were fired by wood that emitted cinders, spewing from the boilers below through the tall black smokestacks. Most all of the steamers had wooden decks and some with painted canvas. How did they deal with the possibility of fires on those wooden decks? There were a number of red ice cream cone shaped buckets filled with sand hanging in different places on the ships, so if there was a small cinder fire, the crew could grab the red bucket and throw sand on the fire and that snuffed it out. The buckets were designed to be hung; having a pointed bottom they could not be set on the floor. This insured that the bucket could not be used for any other purpose. But one thing the crew had to remember was to put that red bucket back where it belonged.

Sometimes the boilers would become so hot that they would blow their stack, so to speak. The ship owners had learned from previous fires how to deal with these calamities. In order to save the wharves from burning and spreading the fires up to the general store and on to the town, they would cut the lines and push the boats out into the river or creek. On November 14, 1901, the City of Richmond tied up alongside the wharf at Fredericksburg endured such a fire and the red buckets did not help. The fire did not start in the boiler. It started by a careless passenger throwing a match among papers in a trash can in a forward cabin. The fire spread quickly; the passengers managed to get off the ship with their luggage and belongings, but the crew lost everything. The purser grabbed the money and ship's papers but little else was saved including a large cargo. The steamer was shoved out into the water and at the height of the fire a flagpole fell across the whistle cord that caused a long mournful wailing as if crying for the City of Richmond steamer. It took almost a year before they could raise her hull and haul it away.

Summer Camp Meetings
July 21, 2011

This is just the time to tell you about the summer camp meetings at Wharton Grove on the Corrotoman River in Weems. Whew, it’s hot now and it was just as hot then, even in the shade of the great oaks and the tabernacle.

Dr. Henry Marvin Wharton of Baltimore and Rev. F.W. Claybrook of Lancaster were the two eager Baptist evangelists with the foresight to build the camp grounds, tents (rustic cottages) and buildings that set in motion those revival camp meetings beginning in the summer of 1894. The preaching and singing were to renew the Holy Spirit and bring new converts to their knees in prayer.

Virginia Hamilton Messick of Irvington Baptist used to tell me stories of the wonderful times they had planning and going to these protracted revival meetings. All the young ladies had special dresses made with very demure necklines and many ruffles. They had to be sure that they had enough for the ten days with special trimmed hats and colorful ribbons. Virginia Messick sang in the choir and a special friend, Miss Clara Virginia Wilder (Meekins) from the Baptist Church played the organ for many summers.

The trunks and bags of the group which included the families of Wilder, Haydon, George, Hamilton, Simmons and Ashburns were sent ahead to the Irvington Cottage and other cottages in horse drawn wagons.

It was a grand time of renewing friendships and making new ones. And it was a time of meeting that “special girl hidden behind fans and young men with their best suits and bowler hats” that brought about future weddings.

At night the sounds of the organ, hymns, confessions of Christianity filled the surrounding groves of stately oaks, mingling with the songs of the evening katydids and the hoot owls.

People from all over the area came in all kinds of boats with the steamboats being the largest. There were times when as many as three thousand were in attendance on a weekend day and especially on Sundays. More about Wharton Grove and church camps and the steamboats another time.

The Storm
May 12, 2011

Whenever folks visit our museum and get talking about steamboats and the Northern Neck, the topic of the storm of '33 brings about some interesting conversations.

According to the National Weather Service, the storm began near Bermuda as a "tropical disturbance." It kept traveling until it came crashing onto Cape Hattaras and the coast of Virginia as a hurricane, with severe damaging winds over 125 miles per hour. It was the most severe Atlantic hurricane to hit the East Coast since 1821.

The storm surge flooded downtown Norfolk and sank ten very large ships. Tremendous winds and eight-foot waves pounded the beaches, destroyed buildings and trees, and tragically killed six people. No one had expected this strom to be that strong and many thought it would now go out to sea, but instead it curved to the northeast and came roaring up the Chesapeake Bay.

On August 23, 1933, this disastrous storm hit our Northern Neck with a fury that was unequaled until Isabel in 2003. For days, gales and the highest tides ever known in the Neck destroyed crops, buildings and boats, and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to factories, resorts and ferry service. The worst part of the storm not only destroyed what was on land, but also many of the unprotected steamboat wharves. Of the 27 wharves in use, 17 were no more. Only a few pilings stood after the hurricane passed. Even though a few steamers plied the waters for several more years, the storm hurried along the waning days of the steamboats; after 1937 a whole way of life was gone.