"Peculiarities to Which a People Cling with so Much Tenacity"- New Kent - 1867

Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch

Pleasant and Practical- New Kent and Charles City- Wheat and Corn- Waste Land- Deer, Foxes, and Minks- The People- Employments and Amusements of Ladies and Gentlemen- The Kitchen and the Cow-pen- German Settlers- York River Railroad- Destruction and Renovation of Churches- Old St. Peters, &c.

Banks of the Chickahominy,
New Kent county, Va.,
June 3, 1867. 

We have at last a project of easy communication with our neighboring county Charles City, from which we are separated by the Chickahominy, a stream historical since the days of Captain John Smith, and still more noted since the great American war. In these parts it is a much more important affair than it is in your vicinity. There yon call it a swamp; here it is a bona fide river, and at tunes so wide and deep as to he impassable to those acquainted with its fords. The recent action of the courts of New Kent and Charles City for the restoration of the bridges destroyed during the war gives much satisfaction to numerous persons whom the calls of business and social life require to pass from one to the other of these counties.

If the Dispatch will use its influence to get us a mail from Richmond to New Kent Courthouse direct the public hereabout, will be greatly obliged, the circulation of the paper somewhat increased, perhaps, and news letters from this county will be more frequent. Though within twenty-five miles of the metropolis, there is for here no regular communication by public carriers of any sort. As you have not heard from this vicinity for a long time, it may please you to learn how folks are getting along. The wheat promises well: but the people having little or no money last fall to buy seed, the quantity that was put in the ground was small. On the low grounds of the James in Charles City the prospect, though far short of that which prevailed in years past, is good for the times. There is one party in that region of country who has 800 acres, and another who has 900 acres, nearly ready for the sickle. The stalks are as high as the heads of either of the proprietors of the Dispatch, and stand so closely together, that if they were to throw there hats upon their heads (I mean upon the heads of the wheat) they (the hats) would he sustained. When Mr. Jack Baker stopped one day on the upper James to examine a wheat- field of this sort, the little horse from which he had dismounted, while browzing (sic) about, disappeared from the sight of his master. "Boys," exclaimed Mr. Baker to the gentlemen with whom he was travelling, "do help me to catch my horse, for if he gets into this wheat-field I shall not find him till after harvest." He would have been exposed to the same risk among these fields in Charles City at this time. In some of these cases this year a single farmer may send to the Richmond mills twelve or fifteen thousand bushels of wheat; and this will be something that has not taken place for a long time. 

In this county the reduction of labor necessitates the neglect of a considerable part of the land, which is now lying out enjoying such a Sabbath as it never had in former days. Of course the swamps will extend their area, and the old field pines will rapidly take possession. The width of unoccupied land being so much increased, the hounds having been dispersed or destroyed, and the gentlemen having much less time to hunt, the deer and foxes begin to multiply; the latter take great liberties; they are sometimes seen playing in the fields in the day, and at night they are distinctly heard barking near the houses, or more quietly creeping up to the premises; they make fearful havoc among the fowls. The minks are equally troublesome, or more so; and one of them will in a single night destroy more hopes and prospects of income from eggs and chickens than were ever contained in the brain of that farmer's milk-maid in the fable, the toss of whose head brought all her future glory to the ground. 

The corn has a tolerably good stand. On the low grounds it is greatly overrun with grass, the frequent rains of late having made it impossible to weed it. As soon as the earth becomes dry much that is now almost out of sight will be reclaimed. But with all this work, and the replanting that is necessary, and the wheat harvest pressing, the people will be very busy, and the despondent will be discouraged. 

But I do not think there are many of this class. Those who have been wont to abuse the people of Eastern Virginia as a lazy set may now discover that the wealth and leisure which once enabled them to cultivate their minds, and acquire those social refinements that were, and still are and long will be, their striking characteristic, did not extinguish their more hardy and vigorous qualities. They have adapted themselves to their new and laborious duties with wonderful diligence and cheerfulness. An elegant lady tells you that she has tried white labor, and is heartily sick of it; but away who goes, with a smile, to the kitchen or the cow-pen; and If you be her guest, will entertain you in the meanwhile by sending you to the spring for a pail of water to let you see how it feels just for a joke, and reward you for your toil by feasting you afterwards on some of her own handiwork. A colonel or captain whom you may happen to visit apologizes to you at the table with assumed gravity, and regrets that under the new order of things he is compelled to ask you to sit down with the cook and the washerwoman; and these ladies in turn inform you with a quick retort and hearty laugh, that you are eating with the ostler and bootblack. If they bring you buttermilk in a gourd instead of a goblet, (that was carried off, we will not say whither; for who knows!) or help you to ice cream with a wooden spoon; you are entertained with lively chat, and not with the long, dolorous strain of "what the Yankees took from us," of which everybody is heartily tired. Some persons fear that our women will lose their delicacy, and our old Virginia homes will be less hospitable and open to company; but it is not easy to destroy peculiarities to which a people cling with so much tenacity, and to which they find stronger reasons everyday to be more attached than ever. But before I leave this subject I must tell you about the horse carts. Did you ever ride in one? They are just better than one of your four-muled street wagons, which, with their intolerable din, are among the greatest nuisances of Richmond. The horse-cart  a vehicle without springs  is the equipage of Eastern Virginia; our carriages and buggies are not. And now, Messrs. Editors, when you travel into this county be careful how you pass the people who ride in horse-carts. A word to the wise is sufficient. I have seen fine carriages; but comparisons are odious; only remember the words of Solomon: "I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth"; and again he says, "The thing that hath been is that which shall be." 

Last year there came down some German people to this county to cut timber to make casks for a lager-beer establishment in Washington. A leading man of this class has bought a fine farm on the Williamsburg road, on which stands a very handsome residence, well known to those who pass that way. Others are looking for land, and some have, I hear, made purchases. The gentleman to whom I first alluded, says that where one German goes others are sure to follow. He predicts a considerable emigration of his people to this country; and the citizens here are so favorably impressed with their political views, and their general conduct, as to look with considerable favor upon the movement. Everything connected with the improvement of the country will he helped forward by the opening of the York River railroad, on which regular trains for freight and passengers are soon to run to the White House.

In respect to churches, this peninsula suffered greatly during the war. Rev. George W. Nolley has devoted himself this year with great energy and perseverance to the collection of funds to restore several Methodist churches on his circuit, and has met with considerable success in the cities which he has visited. Emmaus, the Baptist church, escaped destruction. This congregation has for its pastor Rev. Mr. Wallace, formerly of Richmond, a zealous and laborious minister. At old St. Peter's  the Episcopal church near the White House, so famous as the place where General Washington was married to the widow Custis- there has not been a sermon since the war. The building, by the ravages of war and relic-hunters, is reduced to a mere shell, and the congregation, greatly reduced by death and removals, is without a minister, it will, however, be opened for divine service on the fifth Sabbath in this month, when a sermon is to be preached by the Rev. Dr. Wade, of Charles City. A new church of the same denomination, some miles nearer Richmond, and not far from Bottom's bridge, is standing and in good repair, but most of the people who once worshipped(sic) there have left the neighborhood, and several of the places where they once lived in peace and plenty are indicated only by chimneys standing silent and desolate. Olivet, the Presbyterian church; six or eight miles above New Kent Courthouse, is uninjured. The building is fresh and neat, the yard handsomely laid off and planted with shade trees, and well enclosed, with a brick walk from the gate of the yard to the door of the house. Within, it is well carpeted, and so furnished as to make it altogether one of the most attractive country churches anywhere to be found in the State. Its preservation through the war was a marvel, and, under Providence, due to the earnest intercessions of some persons living near it, one of them a highly respectable colored man. It has lately had for its minister Rev. P. Fletcher, whose removal was deeply regretted; and until it secures another pastor is supplied by clergymen from Richmond. The congregation is a good one, and increasing, and the Sabbath school very regular at all seasons, and useful. 

J.B.J.