Caching in Cape Charles, Eastville & Kiptopeke 9/8/2008

We got up on Monday all set to do a few caches in the area and let me tell you that out of the 8 caches we could find in this area 5 of them were not accessible by Mom and myself for one reason or another so all we had left was 3 caches and we can tell you those 3 were all GREAT ones. Our first cache took us into Eastville and we can tell you it was well worth the drive as it was a very historic little town. Historic Eastville (population 203) was established in about 1715 as the Northampton County seat. A charming courthouse green invites the visitor to explore the surrounding buildings. For three hundred years courthouses and court records have been an integral part of the history of Eastville, county seat of Northampton County, Virginia. The Eastern Shore of Virginia, which lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay was first explored by Captain John Smith in 1608. A temporary settlement for the extraction of salt from seawater was made in 1614, and by 1619 the English were permanently settled here. It was one of the eight original Virginia shires, or counties. The first name of the peninsula was "Ye Plantacon of Accawmacke," meaning "over-the-water" or "on-the-other-side-of-the-water" place. In 1643 the name was changed to Northampton after Northamptonshire in England, birthplace of two prominent local citizens. Twenty years later the peninsula was divided into two counties and both historic names came into use, the lower portion retaining the name Northampton, brought across the sea from the mother country, and the upper portion reverting to Accomack, a name native to the region and in use by the Indians long before the arrival of the English settlers. Local government began on the Eastern Shore late in 1632 with the commissioners (or justices, as they later came to be known) meeting as a court. They gathered in homes of individual members or in other privately-owned buildings such as taverns and ordinaries, migrating from one meeting place to another. The early court records kept by the clerks in their homes miraculously have survived to the present day and are the oldest continuous county court records in the United States, dating from 1632. In 1663, following the division of the peninsula into the two counties of Northampton and Accomack, the first courthouse was built at the "Towne," a small settlement on the Bayside between Cherrystone Inlet and Kings Creek. With the increase in population and its shift northward, and the resulting dissatisfaction of county residents with the long distances involved in traveling to court, this first courthouse at the Towne was abandoned and in 1677 a new site selected at "the Hornes," so named because of its location between the curving, prong-like branches of another Bayside creek. "The Hornes" later became Peachburg Town and finally Eastville. It has been the county seat of Northampton County for over three hundred years. The decision to locate at "the Hornes" was made not only because of its central location and easy access by water, but also because there was a tavern there and a cooperative tavern owner named Matthews who offered to provide a meeting place for the justices free of charge, well aware of the trade that would accrue on busy court days. Ten years later, after marriage to Sarah Matthews, widow, William Kendall offered 50 acres of land at the Hornes for the erection of "a Courthouse of Twenty-Five foot long, with an outside Chimney, a convenient prison, and all other things necessary for a Court." However, before this was accomplished another tavern keeper made an offer of 40 acres of land with the construction costs of the court buildings to be borne by him rather than at taxpayers' expense. Needless to say, the latter offer was accepted and the building, probably built to the preceding specifications, was in use by 1690. This building served as a meeting place for the court for about twenty-five years and in 1715 was replaced by another frame structure, this one two stories tall, with a floor of hard packed earth and a raised platform for the justices "layed with Planed Old pine Plank." In less than 15 years, this second courthouse was "much out of repairs and not in condition for the Justices to do the County business in" and so in 1731 the court awarded the contract for a new courthouse to John Marshall, to be built of brick laid up in Flemish bond at the cost of 50,000 pounds of tobacco. This is the present Old Courthouse, though altered somewhat from its original size (it formerly measured approximately 35 by 23 feet) and from its original site, which was in the area of the Confederate monument on the Court Green. The Clerk's Office nearby, also of brick, dates after 1750, probably some time in the third quarter of the 18th century. Its diagonally-battened door fastens with an old wood and iron lock, tall cabinets for storage of records extend from floor to vaulted ceiling, and the floor is paved with large, odd-sized flagstones. Northampton County records make fascinating reading and frequently portray the character of the 17th century inhabitants of this peninsula: sturdy English stock, proud and fiercely independent. Two petitions sent to the Assembly in Jamestown indicate a certain propensity for contentiousness. In March 1752 a group of citizens signed a protest against "public Taxacons," stating that Northampton County had not had an elected burgess as representative in the Assembly since 1647 and consequently the forty-six pounds of tobacco levied per poll was not only considered excessive, but "arbitrarye and Illegall" and should not be collected. This Northampton Protest was perhaps the first cry of "taxation without representation" in the New World. A later petition in 1766 was somewhat milder in tone, without the arrogance of the earlier protest, and appeared to have some legitimacy. Redress was asked for seventeen grievances, hence the name Northampton Grievances. It is instructive to read, in light of earlier decisions on the location of the monthly court meetings, that ". . . no Drink may be sold within a mile of the Courthouse at any of the Court sitting days, Considering the detraction of time and the Ruddness of people where Drink is sold at court, neglecting their business, spending and wasting theire Estates, abusing themselves and Authority, Quarelling and fighting with all Imaginery illconviences, and evil consequences, thereby accruing." In 1766, ten years before the colonies collectively denied Great Britain, the justices expressed strong disapproval of the Stamp Act passed by Parliament as a revenue measure. Patrick Henry had denounced the act in the House of Burgesses, and at a court held on February 11, 1766, the Northampton justices declared that it "did not bind, effect or concern the inhabitants of this colony inasmuch as they conceived the said act to be unconstitutional" What the Burgesses hesitated to say officially to Parliament this small county court declared on its own! Disapproval and dissatisfaction may have been the tone of many edicts handed down by the justices and recorded by the clerk, but on August 13, 1776, upon arrival in Northampton County of the news that the Continental Congress had "Declared the thirteen United States of America free and independent," the justices caused the declaration to be "acclaimed at the door of the Courthouse" and then "proceed to take the Oath of fidelity to the state and the Oath of Office, in order to take upon them the administration of Justice." When this Court building erected 1731 proved too small for the growing population , a new court building was erected in 1795 (later razed to make way for the present 1899 Courthouse). The colonial building with its steep gabled roof was leased as a store for one dollar a year on condition that the lessee would put a new roof on it, the lease to last as long as the roof lasted and the rent paid. With a view to prolonging his lease, the lessee is said to have soaked his shingles in linseed oil and for more than a hundred years the building remained in possession of the lessee's heirs. In 1913 the county bought the property at a purchase price of $4,000.00. Mrs William Bullitt Fitzhugh, as directress for the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, had the building moved to its present site, thereby saving it from destruction. An old jail, part of the wall around it, and a later Clerk's Office had been torn down, but it was ordered that the Old Courthouse should be moved next to the Old Clerk's Office, and these two buildings and the Debtors' Prison which stand to the rear were turned over to the APVA for preservation. The Old Clerk's Office remains on its original site and has had almost no restoration. Now a museum, it contains an interesting collection of Indian relics and colonial artifacts. No date has been established for the Debtors' Prison. A 1743 court order directed that a "good and sufficient Prison" be built 17 feet square, and the Debtors' Prison measures 17.2 feet square. However, this evidence is not conclusive. Several architectural authorities disagree with the assumption: it was not the custom in the 18th century to segregate debtors and the brickwork is not Flemish bond as was usual in buildings of that period. Possibly the present Debtors' Prison is the jail ordered built in 1814 for the exclusive use of debtors. It now houses a collection of 19th century tools. After we found the cache quickly, we figured they wanted people to come here so it wasn't a hard find at all, we visited all the three buildings on the green and found them very interesting and informative as you will see by the pictures. All three of the buildings, the Courthouse, Clerk's Office and Debtor's Prison, have been designated Virginia Historic Landmarks. We also saw the 1899 Courthouse, the Confederate Monument and the Jail Complex which were also all located on the Green.
Next door to the Green was the Eastville Inn Circa 1724 which was built in 1724 with additions and modifications over the decades, the Eastville Inn remained a popular and well-known hostelry and restaurant until the 1950's, with a restaurant operating intermittently until 1993. The exterior and the first floor of the Inn have been renovated since then and there is a period garden in the courtyard and it is now operating as a well known restaurant.
Across the street from the Green we found a historic marker about the Gingaskin Indians. Three miles east, on Pochahantas farm, was the main village of the Gingaskin Indians, one of the largest tribes on the Eastern Shore. Survivors of this tribe were found here as late as 1860. The marker was as follows: The Gingaskin Indian Reservation was located nearby from 1640 to 1813 and was created from a land patent in 1640 that set aside land for the Accomack Indians. When the Accomacks moved there, they became known as the Gingaskins. They continued to practice their traditional economy of farming, hunting, and fishing. By the 1760s, portions of the reservation had been leased to outside groups to help support the Gingaskins, who were suffering from a decreased population and pressures from their white neighbors. The legal termination of the tribe began in 1813, essentially against the Gingaskin's will, when their land was divided into plots and deeded to surviving members. At the time they were disbanded most of the remaining Gingaskin Indians were or had quite a bit of African-American blood in them.
Then it was on to our second cache which was located in Cape Charles, VA Circa 1886. It was an Earthcache called Chesapeake Bay Bolide. There is no consensus on the definition of a bolide, but we use it to mean an extraterrestrial body in the 1-10-km size range, which impacts the earth at velocities of literally faster than a speeding bullet (20-70 km/sec = Mach 75), explodes upon impact, and creates a large crater. "Bolide" is a generic term, used to imply that we do not know the precise nature of the impacting body . . . whether it is a rocky or metallic asteroid, or an icy comet, for example. First we had to walk out on the pier and take a picture of ourselves with our GPS with our backs to the "bolide" area. Then we had to go back to the beginning of the pier and get some information from a sign about the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater. A meteor/comet two miles wide crossed paths with Earth 35 million years ago. Moving at a speed of 21 miles per second, it crashed here, at what today is the town of Cape Charles, creating the sixth largest impact crater on earth. The meteor blasted into the shallow sea that covered the state's Eastern half, and exploded with more force than the combined nuclear arsenal of today's world powers. Rocks flew skyward, bedrock fractured seven miles deep and enormous tsunamis raced westward to the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Melted rock splashed upward in the center, hardening into a central peak nearly a mile tall, which is directly under Cape Charles. Over the centuries sediment and debris have filled in the crater and what is now called the Chesapeake Bay lays over much of it today. Although the crater is not visible today, small earthquakes occasionally rock its fault lines, and two low ridges appear to mimic its contours far underground. One of these can be seen near the toen of Painter, northeast of Cape Charles. The other is just east of Glouchester Courthouse on the western side of the bay. The meterorite's impact flung a huge column of water into the air. When the water collapsed back into the hole, tsunamis between 1,000 feet and 4,000 feet high scoured the land. The entire circular crater is observed at about 85 km or 52.81 miles in diameter and 1.3 km deep or 8/10 of a mile deep, an area twice the size of Rhode Island, and nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon. One of the impact crater's discoverers, scientist David Powers, described the immediate aftermath: "Within minutes, millions of tons of water, sediment, and shattered rock were cast high into the atmosphere for hundreds of miles along the East Coast." An enormous seismic tsunami engulfed the land and possibly even overtopped the Blue Ridge Mountains. Reading this was unreal and very hard to imagine such a huge event occuring where we were standing...........very very interesting.
After we finished our cache we looked around Cape Charles which contained quite a few historic places itself such as Kelly's Gingernut Pub, the Palace Theater which was built in 1941 as a movie house and the Cape Charles Hotel & Historic Inn Circa 1886 which is a 17 room inn between the harbor and the bay.
Then we drove to Kiptopeke SP and our last cache of the day which was a virtual cache located out in the water at the end of the pier. Off the shore of the state park are 9 "concrete ships" which are actually made of concrete. They were originally built for the U.S. War Shipping Administration at a reported cost of $30 million. In 1948 they were bought by the VA Ferry Corp. for $370,000. The Ferry Corp. lined the ships up to form a breakwater for the new terminal facility which they were about to construct. To insure they would stay in place the ships were grounded and filled with sand and water. In addition to serving as a breakwater, the "Kiptopeke Navy" is an outstanding artificial reef which attracts many species of saltwater fish. Our cache was to identify the material the ships was made of and email that to the cache owner.
When we finished the third cache it was off to the coach and a late lunch and Mom did our logs and I showered and took a nap. We had dinner after watching the sun set over the bay and watched the CMA Music Festival until bedtime. Well time to say so long until tomorrow and we love you all. Mom & Dad


Picture List:1,2 Debtor's Prison Circa 1812, 3-Heavy door with 3 strap hinges and padlock, 4,5-Barred windows, 6-Information about the prison, 7-Whipping post, 8,9-Straw pallet, chamber pot and stool was shared by all the prisoners, 10,11,12,13,14,15,16-Clerk's Office Circa 1800, 17,18-Information and pictures of Clerk's Offices, 19,20-Debdeavon Monument......he was the "Laughing King of Accomacke Emperor of the Eastern Shore King of the Great Nussawattocks", 21-Old Courthouse historic marker, 22-Courthouse Green Circa 1731 plaque, 23-VA historic landmark, 24-1731 Courthouse, 25,26,27,28,29-Interior of the courthouse, 30-Floorplan of the Courthouse Green, 31,32-Bookcase Circa 1750 which is only one of only two known pieces of 18th century courthouse furniture, 33-1792 Deed of Daniel Boone of Kentucky, 34-1650 & 1657 Pictographic signatures of the Native Americans, 35-One of the pictographic signatures of the Indians, 36-Northhampton County Court Green, 37,38-Some of the other buildings in the County Court Green, 39,43-1899 Courthouse, 40-Gingaskin Indian Reservation historic marker, 41,42-Confederate Monument on the Green, 44-Jail Complex on the Green, 45,46,47,48,49-Historic Eastville Inn Circa 1724, 50-Eastville Baptist Church, 51-Mom & Dad at the "bolide", 52-Kiptopeke Ferry historic marker, 53-"Kiptopeke Navy" historic marker, 54,55,56-"Concrete ships", 57-Historic Cape Charles Circa 1886, 58-Old odd shaped building in Cape Charles, 59,60,61-Story behind the "Bolide" that hit near CC, 62,63-Kelly's Gingernut Pub in CC, 64-Southern Comfort RR car, 65-Eastern Shore RR building, 66-Parsons Building in CC, 67-Palace Theater in CC, 68-Old house in CC, 69,70-Cape Charles Hotel Circa 1884, 71,72-Cape Charles water tower, 73,74,75,76,77,78,79-Cape Charles waterfront and beaches the area where the "Bolide hit millions of years ago.