Tappahannock On My Mind
Tappahannock On My Mind
This was me sailing my boat and singing:Come on Bill let’s take them for an old country rock. / Let’s go back down on the Rappahannock down Tappahannock way. / Whip it Bill while everybody rocks. The song is Bill Moore’s early blues composition “Old Country Rock” but my rendition of it could not alas have been counted in any way a success since I am incapable of carrying a tune. However I thought maybe Moore’s ghost would be okay with it because a I was sailing alone and therefore not subject to mutiny and b I was in fact sailing up the Rappahannock on my way to visit Tappahannock Va.
Moore who had been a barber in Tappahannock was also a leading bluesman of the East Coast or Piedmont variety. He recorded this song and five others of his own making for Paramount Records in Chicago in the winter of 1928. It’s a recording that is now treasured by early blues collectors. In 2005 54 years after he died Moore got a historical marker of his own placed along U.S. Route 17 near where his barbershop once stood. Bill Moore is just one of a fistful of intriguing things about this small town with the quadrisyllabic name on the banks of the quadrisyllabic river.
So as I said I was singing to myself and sailing along holding a generally northwest course in a generally southwest breeze. I had plenty of time to sing since Tappahannock is about 35 miles upriver from Stingray Point at the mouth of the Rappahannock. Tappahannock has been around for a longish time not counting its many many centuries as a Native American settlement. Englishsettlerwise though it is nearly as old as you can get. Captain John Smith slept hereat least he tried to but was immediately given the bum’s rush by the area’s highly annoyed occupants. A few decades later the colonists returned the favor in spades pushing out the Indians and the area became English first under the appellation Hobbs His Hole named for trader Jacob Hobbs and his anchorage. That “His” in the middle of Hobbs His Hole is just the oldschool way of making a possessive by the way like “the dog his dinner.” Then the name was changed to New Plymouth andfinally in 1705 back to the name Smith had written on his mapTappahannock or “town on the rise and fall of water.” Rappahannock meaning apparently “rise and fall of water.” Tapp instead of Rapp I mused dreamily in the warm sun. Rapp Tapp . . . hmmm.
Here I am sailing and singing:When ev’ry stock you take is making money / When ev’ry heart you break / Is such a cinch it’s funny / Careful Sonny / Raptap raptap . . . on wood. No a historical marker to Cole Porter is not another interesting thing about Tappahannock. Nevertheless it wouldn’t have hurt Tappahannock to do some rapping tapping on wood. Like dozens of other strategically placed settlements on the Chesapeake and its tributaries Tappahannock by the mid18th century was a bustling center for trade with ships stopping on their way up and down the river. But like many of the other early centers for trade business dropped off as natural resources dwindled and overland routes developed. Pretty soon the passage of time like commerce slowed to a trickle; and Tappahannock like Rip van Winkle pretty much dozed through the next couple of hundred years.
It’s a long way to Tappahannock / It’s a long way to go. . . As the sun grew warmer and I got sleepier it seemed to me that dozing for a few years was not altogether a bad idea. I was making some progress though. I had passed the Corrottoman River then the town of Urbanna Va. then Belle Isle State Park. As I sailed on the dozens of boats that had flocked near the mouth of the Rappahannock dropped behind me until by the time I reached Farnham Creek I was all alone. Not much of anybody makes the trek up to Tappahannock by sail these daysnot only is the distance substantial but the channel gets narrow for tacking and the current is often stronger than the wind.
Finally the tiny inlet of Muddy Gut slipped by to port and then Totutskey Creek to starboard. I stopped singing and sat up straight in my seat because right about Lowery Point the water on either side of me had gotten thinner than a Bryant Park model during Fashion Week. I started the engine and gave up my career as the Rappahannock’s first lady of song. I was nearly there. The U.S. Route 360 bridge which connects the Northern Neck with the Middle Peninsula was only about three miles ahead. Now I also began keeping a close lookout for the vestigial remnants of another of Tappahannock’s intriguing points of interest. And I found it just outside the channel about a mile past flashing green “29″.
For 25 years from 1924 to 1949 the most striking thing about Tappahannock was that it had a 273foot wooden ship grounded just offshore. The ship theCaponka had been built in Portland Ore. in 1918 in a worldrecord 49 days to help in America’s supply effort during World War I. Unfortunately for her however the war ended a mere seven months later. In 1920 after only 52 days of active service she was mothballed with 500 other members of the wooden fleet on the James River. But unlike most of her sisters who were eventually taken up the Potomac and scuttled in Mallows Bay theCaponkawas purchased and taken to Reedville Va. where her engines were removed for use in the menhaden fleet. Then she was purchased again and taken to her new owner’s home of Tappahannockwhere she ran aground about halfway between Jones Point and Hoskins Creek. It was here that she spent the rest of her inglorious career as a blot on the local landscape. But she was aninterestingblot and something of a local attraction. In fact many residents felt that having a 273foot wooden boat of uncertain derivation sitting offshore set their town apart from other lessinteresting towns. And when she burned in 1949over two spectacular days residents recallmany were sorry to lose their local landmark. A section of her charred hull still breaks the surface of the water.
So much for shipwrecks and whimsy though it was now time to come to grips with Tappahannock’s shortcomings as a destinationno entirely satisfactory place to drop the hook. See Cruiser’s Digest. Since the wind was still clipping along smartly I opted for weatherfriendly Hoskins Creek. After following the dredged channel inside I edged out of the way until the lack of depth became alarming and then quickly toppled the CQR overboard. A short dinghy hop to the fishing dock and I was ashore.
Now that I had Tappahannock firmly under foot I had a couple of hours of daylight left to play with and a choice to make. Walking up from the dock I passed White’s Home and Auto which carries a fair number of boating and fishing supplies a gas station/fish store and a seafood restaurant/fish store before reaching the main highway U.S. Route 17/360. This took me 60 seconds. In a mild and entirely temporary attack of obsessivecompulsive behavior I actually timed how long it took me to get from one place to another. Here I had to choose. I could turn right and go into the historic section of town 10 minutes visit the library 15 minutes and then find a place for dinner 1 minutes 3 minutes or 5 minutes or I could turn left and enter the world of fast food clothes shopping Lowe’s and WalMart. Of course I turned right. No just kidding. I turned left but only because I needed AA batteries. Besides I was meeting a friend the next day to take the walking tour downtown so why spoil it? The point is not so much that in Tappahannock there is history to the right and WalMart to the left but that both are within only a few minutes’ walkan ideal situation for boaters who have to depend on their own 10 toes for hunting up culture as well as creature comforts.
After securing the AAs and poking about the shops for a bit I retraced my steps and headed for Lowery’s Restaurant which has been serving food in Tappahannock for a mere 70 years ever since Wesley and Lorelle Lowery opened a lunch counter in 1938. Lowery’s remains a family business and a local institution. It even has three separate parking lots and nearly as many parking spaces as WalMart. It’s on the main highway toobut in the cultural direction. I dined gorged might be a more appropriate word on crabcakes hushpuppies and sweet tea then retired to Hoskins Creek and a night onboard.
The following morning over coffee and fresh muffin tops at JavaJacks Coffee House 10 minutes my friend Kathy Hubbard and I planned our trip through. Tappahannock history which fortunately had already been done for us atwww.tappahannock.us. All we had to do was follow the map we had printed out and read the history bits aloud to the other’s annoyance. A tour brochure is also available at the Essex County Museum on Water Lane for those who like to read silently. The tour starts with Beale Memorial Baptist Church which was the courthouse in 1728though it looks suspiciously Greek Revival nowand then moves on to the customshouse an early 19thcentury building that sits on a lot once owned by prosperous merchant Archibald Ritchie. An interesting thing here is that Ritchie who thought the Stamp Act was a jolly good idea was the target of local independence rabblerousers like the Lees and four brothers of George Washington who hated the Stamp Act and thought the jolly good idea would be to tar and feather Ritchie. Apparently they thought better of it because they never did. Ritchie’s actual house is another block up from the river on Prince Street and is now an attorney’s office. Its interior is . . . in Delaware. Specifically it is in the Tappahannock and Essex Rooms at the Winterthur Museum near Wilmington. Don’t ask me why though I’d guess it had something to do with piles of du Pont money. The oldest house on the tour is Scots Arms Tavern which dates to 1680 and is now a private home.
Eventually the tour wanders down Water Lane to take in several majestic buildings at St. Margaret’s School an Episcopal girls boarding and day school. Now if you ask me why Tappahannock an unprepossessing town of only 3000 inhabitants dripping wet has a clearly prosperous private girls school nestled comfortably in its midst that Icantell you. It’s on account of the sunrise. How do I know that? Because I went into St. Margaret’s Hall stop number 12 on the walking tour to talk with the head of school Margaret Broad. She explained that back in the 1930s the Diocese of Virginia sent a delegation to find a location for a school somewhere in the middle section of Virginia. While visiting Tappahannock the committee saw the sun rise over the Rappahannock River and it knocked their Episcopal socks off. This is where the school will be they decided then and there. The sunrise over the Rappahannock has been knocking the socks off generations of prospective students and their parents ever since. Broad swears this is a true story though I did make up the part about the denominational socks.
“Come and look at this” Broad said to me and I followed her out of the administration building and into the dining hall which is all rounded glass several stories tall and feels for all the world like the command bridge of theQueen Maryor what I imagine it to be. “How would you like to eat all of your meals in front of this view?” she asked. And looking out on the Rappahannock with the bridge arcing about a mile over the river to the left and marshedged riverbank as far as you could see to the right I felt compelled to keep a close eye on my own socks and it wasn’t even sunrise.
Broad a lifelong sailor admits that the Tappahannock section of the Rappahannock is tough sledding for sailors. She and her husband David have sailed and chartered all over the world but here they have given the sport up in favor of a pontoon boat. “Having sailed all over I can say that this is one of the most beautiful places in the world” she said. “The creeks are the area’s greatest charm. You are truly alone with nature. Up the creeks you are surrounded by reeds with no sound but the birds and only the sun shining down you.”
The 160 students at St. Margaret’s make good use of the river too especially with their new threeseason crew program. And each year during River Days students spend time at the river’s edge learning to take water samples to identify native species of plants and animals and to enjoy the water resource that flows by their front door.
Like many other small towns on the Bay Tappahannock is finally turning its attention back to the river as well. I left Hubbard to finish the tour while I walked over to David Broad’s office on Jeannette Street backing up to Hoskins Creek 6 minutes. Broad a twicetransplanted Englishman who grew up in France where he and Margaret met while she was teaching there is now very much rooted in Tappahannock’s civic life. He was part of the group that organized the town’s big annual summer shindig: Rivahfest. Now in its sixth year the event which will be held June 21 this year draws thousands of visitors and a lot of boatslargely powerboats pontoon boats and kayaks. Increasingly David Broad said organizers of Rivahfest are trying to incorporate riverbased events. This year plans are in the works for a raft race a boat show and boat rides. “We’re also looking at putting a water taxi service from the marina to the dock at St. Margaret’s.”
Another of David Broad’s projects the ongoing Main Street Program is advocating the construction of a city pier. “We want to put Tappahannock back on the water to welcome visitors from the river” he said. Although it’s a small town he continued it has a lot to offer boaters. “The whole population of Essex County is only 8000 but we are the market place for 60000 people from eight counties. That’s why we have such a wide variety of businesses.”
I walked back to Duke Street 7 minutes and found my friend Kathy trying to decipher a typically timedamaged headstone in the graveyard next to St. John’s Episcopal Church. “Stop!” I cried. “Enough culture let’s shop!” And we proceeded to sample every antiques store gift shop and gallery we could find from A to Z and including A to Z Antiques Nadji Nook Mayhew’s Queen Street Ltd. Coffman’s and a lot moreTappahannock is for some reason don’t know why a veritable hotbed of antiques shops. We put the finishing touches on the whole shopping shebang at Hoskins Creek Table Co. presided over by John Vaughan who used to just sell tables but now makes them as well.
As we emerged from that shop with yet more packages we saw that good fortune had put us only about 60 seconds away from Riverbank Cafe and Seafood. We were so hungry we made it there in under 45. More crabcakes for me fried clam strips “better than Howard Johnsons” for Kathy and a great heap of french fries for mutual plunder. We went from hungry to immobilized in minutes. I was nearly but not quite too full to waddle down to T n’ L BBQ 3 minutes to put in my order with Jimmy and Linda Taylor for tomorrow’s lunch on the rivah sorry it’s the law to write it like that down heah. While Kathy returned to Kinsale with all our loot I secured a heap of barbecued pork ribs to go. Yes I know the Coast Guard disapproves of eating ribs while steering a boat but I figured I’d have plenty of time to wash myself and the cockpit down before I reached the mouth of the Rappahannock.
Ribs in hand I returned to the boat where I watched the Rappahannock cruise boatCaptain Thomasreturn to its dock on Hoskins Creek and then a tug nudge its barge up to the Perdue granary. Finally and humming quietly to myself I watched the sun set over busy U.S. Route 17/360 not a sight that would have attracted many school committees perhaps. I dove down into the icebox for a very cold bottle of ale and gloried in my discovery of Tappahannock as a boating destinationeven for a sailor. In the immortal words of the Trade Winds’ surf classic:ooh ooh ooh ahh ahh ahh . . . New York’s a lonely town / When you’re the only surfer boy around . . . ooh ooh ooh ahh ahh ahh . . .Tappahannock’s a lovely town / When you’re the only sailor girl around . . . ooh ooh ooh ahh ahh ahh.Fade.
About the writer: By Jody Schroath Senior Editor for Chesapeake Bay Magazine. For more great articles and photos on boating sailing fishing and cruising visit http://www.ChesapeakeBoating.net
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