Interview with Alease Haughwout Bailey
NOVEMBER 13, 2006
I met with Alease Haughwout Bailey in her home to obtain information about her growing up in Crittenden Virginia. Ginny Bagnell previously talked to Alease and Rheva Gray Stilley-Reed together and her write up is attached. This is a follow up interview to obtain additional information from Alease.
GROWING UP IN ECLIPSE
Alease was delivered on June 29, 1921 by Dr. Eley in her parents’ home next to the house she currently lives in. This house is now owned by the Maurice and Linda Dennis. Her mother was Ruth Hillyer from Smithfield and her father was Alfred Clifton Haughwout (pronounced Howard) who was born and raised in Crittenden Virginia. Alease’s grandmother on her mother’s side was Cora Davis and her grandfather was Joseph Hillyer. Her grandmother on her father’s side was Alice Spragg and grandfather was James Francis Haughwout from Crittenden. In February 1942, Alease married John William Bailey Jr., who was in the Navy, from Richmond Virginia. After World War II, John remained in the Navy as a career, retiring in 1958. Alease had tree brothers; Alfred Clifton Haughwout Jr., Ormond Leigh Haughwout, and Joseph Francis Haughwout. Alease and John had one son, Kevin Bailey, who lives in Crittenden. Alease attended the Crittenden School for grades first through sixth. She then transferred to the Chuckatuck School to finish her education and graduated on May 30, 1938. Chuckatuck only went through grade eleven in those days.
When Alease was growing up in Crittenden, she had the following friends; Louise Parker, Arlene Gray, Rheva Gray, Mildred Gray, Frances Higgins, and Catherine Post.
During World War II (1941-1944), Alease worked as a timekeeper at the Newport New Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News. She told me that she worked with my mother-in-law, Jeanne Brady during this time. The Navy aircraft carrier Hornet was built at this shipyard. One day after testing the ship’s freezers, the Hornet’s supply officer asked the shipyard’s head timekeeper if his employee’s would like to have ice cream that was used in testing the freezers. When two young sailors named John William Bailey from Richmond Virginia and Robert Carl Bentley from Binghamton New York delivered the ice cream, Alease and Jeanne met their future husbands. Alease added that the Navy had an office across from theirs in the shipyard and Alease and Jeanne often had these two sailors visiting after leaving the Navy’s office. In February 1942, Alease married John, but continued to work in the shipyard when John deployed with the Hornet. Alease remained in the area until 1944, when she began following John to various places during his Navy career. Alease told me she has lived in Seattle Washington, San Diego California, Oxnard California, twice in New Orleans Louisiana, Newport Rhode Island, Norfolk Virginia, Orange Texas, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In 1949, Alease and John returned to Crittenden, where he built their house on White Dogwood Trail. This is where Alease still lives today. John spent 21 years in the Navy, retiring in 1958.
Captain Theodore Haughwout was a local oysterman and Alease’s father’s uncle. He used to bring people from Norfolk to Crittenden to attend Christian church service at the Red Men’s Hall. Alease doesn’t know why he did this or his connection to the Christian church. However, the way the story goes, Captain Haughwout got tired of his church congregation complaining about having to meet in the Red Men’s Hall and not having a church of their own. Since he owned property where the Mt. Zion Cemetery is now located, he told the congregation that he would build them a building which they could use as a church. When the church was built, it became the Mt. Zion Christian Church.
Red Men’s Hall was a secret men’s fraternal organization located on Front Street (Steeple Drive) in Crittenden. Most of the local men, including Alease’s father belonged to the Redmen. The women had an auxiliary society called Pocahontas; Alease’s mother and most other local women belonged to this society. Alease told me that her mother once attended a state-wide meeting of the Pocahontas. Alease doesn’t know what either organization did or stood for. The Red Men’s Hall was a two story wooden building. The Redmen and Pocahontas held their secret meetings on the second floor, but the first floor was a social hall that was used as sort of a community building (much like the C.E. & H. Ruritan Community Hall today). For example, local churches held dinners and socials there, citizens voted and some school activities were held here. Alease told me that she remembers attending suppers at the Red Men’s Hall when she was young. She also remembers at about age five or six when her daddy returned from a Redmen meeting; he would always bring home sliced ice cream packed in dry ice, which was a real treat for the family. Alease doesn’t know when the Redmen began their organization in Crittenden or how long it lasted. But, Reverend Hunt, former pastor at Ebenezer Methodist Church purchased the Red Men’s Hall sometime after retiring. In the 1950s, Henderson Parker and his father purchased the building and tore it down, building another one story building in its place that still stands today. In fact, Alease’s son, Kevin Bailey lives in this house today.
The Odd Fellows was another secret men’s fraternal organization, which also met in the Red Men’s Hall. Again, most local men belonged to this organization, but Alease likewise doesn’t know what it did or stood for.
In several interviews that I conducted including pictures, Teeny Bagnell was apart of most activities in the area. I asked Arlene who was Teeny Bagnell and where did she live. Arlene told me that Teeny’s given name was Elnora Dean Bagnell, and she lived with her grandmother Nellie Gilliam in a two story house that burned down before the property was purchased by George DeGraw, who currently lives there. Teeny’s mother moved to California and Teeny eventually joined her there during her high school years.
Alease remembers on the opening day for the James River Bridge in 1928, she and a neighbor Wallace Horton, who lived on Back Road, took his automobile on the ferry from Crittenden to Newport News. Then Wallace drove Alease and her father and mother back home via the new bridge.
After the James River Bridge opened, the Greyhound bus ran through Crittenden every two hours, stopping to pick up and discharge passengers at Keeling’s Service Station. Alease remembers taking the bus to Newport News, where she would often then catch the street car to Buckrow Beach.
When Alease was a teenager, Arlene Gray’s father had an automobile. Arlene would drive Alease and all of her friends to the movies in Suffolk, after each girl chipped in a nickel or so for gasoline, which cost twenty cents a gallon back then.
During her school years, Alease remembers the school auditorium being used for minstrel shows, womanless weddings, and other entertainment. There was really no other entertainment in the area. The Crittenden School at that time had the stage on the opposite end of the auditorium or “big room” from where it is today. Also, the hallway ran all the way from the front door to the back of the school. There were two closets, one on either side of the stage and you had to go in a closet to reach the stage. The school also had no running water when Alease started school. It wasn’t until she was in the second grade that a water line was run inside the school where you could get a drink of water from a fountain. Alease remembers making cone shaped cups from sheets of paper so she could get a drink of water from a 5 gallon container, before the water line was installed.
The Crittenden School had a fence behind the school building to the edge of the field. Boys played on one side of the fence and girls on the other. School children also roller skated on the sidewalk in front of the school, and after the oval cement ring was installed, you could skate there. The school also had outdoor toilets (called Johns) during Alease’s school years.
Alease’s family attended the Ebenezer Methodist Church in Crittenden. She told me that there were no Sunday school class rooms during her younger years. Children were divided into different age groups and met in different parts of the church building. It wasn’t until the 1940s that classrooms were added to the church.
For fun, Alease played dodge ball and soft ball with her friends while growing up in Crittenden. She also enjoyed “sugar stews” (cooking sugar until it became like taffy, which the girls then pulled.
It wasn’t until her neighbors the Preston’s moved here from Pennsylvania, that Alease went “treating” on Halloween. Local teen age boys would go “trickin” on Halloween night. She remembers the boys would take Miss Nannie Mason’s porch furniture and stack it on peanut poles across from her house in a peanut field now owned by Ebenezer Methodist Church. Also, Alease remembers one Halloween night; some boys set a drying peanut stack on fire. However, the culprits were soon caught, and she believes the boys then had to pay for their mischief. Alease told me that if she ever did anything wrong; word always reached her parents before she could get home. When Alease was growing up, everyone knew everyone, and word of mischief traveled fast between parents.
MARINE RAILWAYS
CHARLES ADAMS RAILWAY
Captain Charlie Adams either built or acquired a marine railway at the end of Moore’s Point Road in; Alease doesn’t know the date. He ran it for a number of years, performing annual overhauls on buy boats such as the Delphine and Dora, and other local boats.
After Captain Charlie Adams retired, his son Dick Adams took over operation of the marine railway; Alease doesn’t know how long Dick operated this railway.
BUSH MARINE RAILWAY
Captain Charlie Bush built and operated the Bush Marine Railway on property now occupied by the Volvo Plant. It was up river and next to the L.L. Johnson marine Railway on the Chuckatuck Creek. Alease doesn’t know when this railway was built, but according to Alease, Captain Bush operated it as long as the Johnson Railway was owned by Captain Lip Johnson (mid-1940s).
MOORE RAILWAY
Captain Ed Moore, who initially came from Moore’s Point in Hobson Virginia, moved to Crittenden in and built the Moore Railway on property now owned by Thomas Hazelwood, and called the Red Oyster House, or The Shore, by locals. Alease doesn’t know when Captain Moore moved to Crittenden.
Captain Ed Moore built his railway to overhaul tugboats owned by Captain Fisher and his wife, who owned a towing fleet of tugboats at the time. This railway not only overhauled tugboats, but other deep draft vessels of the time. According to Bill Keeling, a local boat builder, this was the only railway capable of handling deep draft vessels on Chuckatuck Creek.
Captain Moore later sold his railway to the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway, who continued to operate it as the Lower Yard. Alease doesn’t know the date it was sold.
JOHNSON AND CORKRAN MARINE RAILWAY
In the beginning, L.L. Johnson and a Mr. Hiram Corkran from Baltimore operated the Johnson and Corkran Marine Railway in Crittenden. Alease didn’t know if Mr. Corkran provided the money for the railway, but Captain Lip Johnson operated the railway portion of the business. Mr. Corkran was responsible for the office, store and financial portion of the business. At some time after opening the business, Mr. Corkran returned to Baltimore and Captain Lip Johnson changed the name to the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway. Alease doesn’t know what happened. She suggested that I talk to Dorothy Davis to obtain more information. Alease added that Mr. Corkran is buried in either the Mt. Zion Cemetery, St. John’s Episcopal Church’s cemetery, Glebe Episcopal Church’s cemetery, or Wesley Chapel in Chuckatuck.
L. L. JOHNSON MARINE RAILWAY
After dissolving his partnership with Mr. Cockrin (Johnson and Cockrin Marine Railway), Captain Lip Johnson operated his railway as the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway. Alease doesn’t know when the initial railway was built or what the financial arrangements were.
The “Chesapeake, one of the largest buy boats to ply the Chesapeake Bay, was built at the L.L. Johnson Lower Yard. Alease’s father Alfred Clifton Haughwout, was foreman for Captain Lip’s Upper Yard. However, Clifton Haughwout built a model of the Cheaspeake before its construction, which he later presented to the vessel’s owner Rufus Miles. Rufus always kept it in his office at the Miles Oyster Company in Norfolk, according to Alease. About six years ago, Bill Keeling sent a man to see Alease about the history of the model. He told her that he had purchased the model of the Chesapeake in a shop at Nags Head North Carolina. No one knows how the model ended up there.
Alease remembers when her father and Captain Lip launched the Chesapeake. She told me that they had to launch it at night, during a high tide, since the vessel had a deep draft. All Alease remembers is that the construction and launch was some time in the 1930s.
Alease told me that while her father was foreman of the Upper Yard, Charlie Forrest was foreman of the Lower Yard. Upon his death, Mr. Will Moger took over as foreman of the Lower Yard.
The yacht “Romar” was also built at the Lower Yard, according to Alease. It was a large yacht with a deep draft.
ADAMS OYSTER COMPANY AND MARINE RAILWAY
Captain Charles Gray Adams purchased the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway. From previous interviews, I learned that there were several owners after the death of Captain Lip Johnson in 1944 at age 81. While some have told me that a Mr. Gies and Henry Lauderback built sailboats such as the famous Hampton One at the railway for a number of years. Alease didn’t know when Charles Gray Adams acquired this marine railway or from who.
When Charles Gray Adams owned the marine railway, it was reduced from three railways when Lip Johnson owned it, to only one railway. On the rest of the property, he and others operated the Adams Oyster Company, and later the Nansemond-Adams Oyster Company. The one remaining railway was used to haul boats onshore for scraping and repainting by boat owners. Charles Gray also had black workers from Hobson repairing boats. Alease told me that her father worked for this railway, but didn’t know the dates.
TED FIELDS RAILWAY
This railway was located on the corner of Hoecake Cove on property known as Sheffield’s Point. Alease remembers it being in operation when she was young, but doesn’t know much about this railway. It was just one of the many marine railways located around the Chuckatuck Creek at the time.
OYSTER COMPANIES
ADAMS OYSTER COMPANY
Initially owned and operated by Captain Charlie Adams on Moore’s Point, not much is known about this company or the years it was in operation.
Alease told me that she remembers Captain Adams son, Dick Adams operating an oyster company on Moore’s Point when she was growing up, but doesn’t know much about this company.
NANSEMOND FISH AND OYSTER COMPANY
Charles Bagnell and Selby (Boosey) Madre built and operated the Nansemond Fish and Oyster Company at the mouth of Bleakhorn Creek. Their brand of oysters was called Bleakhorn. The company purchased oysters daily from local oystermen, shucking and shipping them to market.
Alease believes that this company started some time after World War II, but doesn’t know the exact date.
In 1960 or 1961, this company moved to the Chuckatuck Creek near the Chuckatuck Creek Bridge on property now owned by the Volvo Plant. Charles Bagnell then went to work for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VIMS). Boosey Madre continued to operate the business as the Nansemond Fish and Oyster Company for some time with Charles as a silent partner; she doesn’t know how long. When they moved from Bleakhorn, they merged with the Adams Oyster Company.
Eventually, this oyster business merged with the adjacent Adams Oyster Company, operated by Charles Gray Adams and Carl Bagnell in 1961. The new company became known as the Nansemond-Adams Oyster Company.
ADAMS OYSTER COMPANY
The Adams Oyster Company began in __________, and was operated by Charles Gray Adams and Carl Bagnell. It was located on property now owned by the Volvo Plant on Chuckatuck Creek near the Chuckatuck Creek Bridge. Alease doesn’t know much about this company. It later merged in 1961 with the Nansemond Fish and Oyster Company.
NANSEMOND-ADAMS OYSTER COMPANY
When the Nansemond Fish and Oyster Company and Adams Oyster Company merged in 1961, it had three owners. Charles Gray Adams, Carl Bagnell from the Adams Oyster Company and Boosey Madre from the Nansemond Fish and Oyster Company. The company bought, shucked, and shipped oysters from local waters to market.
In 1962, Carl Bagnell died, leaving Charles Gray Adams and Boosey Madre as owners of the new company. This company continued to operate until some time in the 1970s, when the oyster industry dried up.
Alease told me that she worked for the Nansemond-Adams Oyster Company between 1959 and 1963 as a part-time bookkeeper. She added that Carl Bagnell urged her to work for the new oyster company. Alease added that at one time, she was keeping the books for three oyster businesses in the same office. This was because all three businesses maintained different oyster grounds and the oyster catch were run through three different businesses. She doesn’t know if it was ever combined under the Nansemond Adams Oyster Company.
Alease told me that when Carl Bagnell was with the company, he and his family steamed and sold crabs at the oyster company. Also, the oyster company had a bus that would pick up “shuckers” in Sandy Bottom Virginia each morning, returning them in the afternoons.
LOCAL SERVICE STATIONS
Keeling’s – Moger’s Service Station
Miss Sally Martin owned this service station and her son, O.C. Martin ran it. Alease doesn’t know when operation began, but said it was operating in the 1930s.
Next, Saul Rawls from Franklin rented the service station and Tom Norfleet ran it for him. Alease remembers buying a book of tickets for the Greyhound bus she took to Newport News to attend business school. After the new Gulf Station was built, the bus stopped at the service station every two hours.
Bruce Keeling purchased the service station next, including the large three story house behind the station (old Dr. Eley home). The station then became knows at the Keeling Service Station and was operated by Bruce Keeling Sr. Again, specific dates of operation were not known by Alease, but it was during the war years, that Bruce put in the Blue Light Room for locals and soldiers to have fun listening and dancing to the jukebox.
Pattie Moger and husband John Sewell ran the station next. After John died, Renzie and Maude Moore Moger ran the station and it became known as the Moger Service Station. Alease remembers a black man named Casey that worked for both Bruce Keeling Sr. and the Mogers. He pumped gasoline and washed and waxed cars. In fact, Alease’s brother had Casey wash and wax his car once a year. Maude and Renzie Moger were perhaps the last to run this business as a service station. It was still in operation in the early 1970’s.
After that, Phil Buchanan, a professor at Tidewater Community College and resident of Eclipse ran a small antique business on the property. It is now called The Market, which sells fresh vegetables and other commodities.
Boone’s Trading Post
Saul Rawls purchased land at the corner of Bridge Road and Eclipse Drive that now houses the Crittenden Sunoco Convenience Store. He built a Gulf Service Station and had Tom Norfleet run it for him.
Oscar Phelps next ran this station for Saul Rawls for a number of years. Oscar later built and operated a small automotive garage behind his home on Back Road.
Stuart Matthews and Ernest Bailey (Adrianne Bailey’s father) then ran the Gulf Station for Saul Rawls.
In the late 1940’s or early 1950s, the station burned down. Saul Rawls immediately rebuild, still selling Gulf gasoline at the new station. Oscar Phelps returned to the new building to run the business for Saul.
Some time in the early 1970s, George Parker from Crittenden, operated the station for Saul; Alease doesn’t know for how long.
Upon George’s death, Dale Fitzwater from Nansemond Shores took over the station, running a repair facility in addition to selling gasoline.
Some time in the 1980’s, Saul Rawls, who had acquired several similar service stations, remodeled them as convenience stores that sold gasoline. He called them Boone’s Trading Posts. Boone’s Trading Post in Crittenden continued to sell Gulf gasoline, and remained under this name until _____________, when it was renamed ____________. The store changed gasoline brands over the years. It continued in operation under various convenience store names until ___________ when Saul Rawls sold it to his employees. It continues to operate today as the Crittenden Sunoco Convenience Store, but to locals, it will always be Boone’s.
TASTY FREEZE
Alease doesn’t know when this business began, but she told me that when Millie Moger Bagnell separated from husband Charles Bagnell, Millie got the Frosty Freeze.
Millie operated the Frosty Freeze for a number of years, employing many local youth, especially during the summer months. The Frosty Freeze remained in operation until ________, when Leonard Willis purchased it. He then rented it to the Tep’s who operated a Chinese-American take out business for a number of years. It was then rented out to a young couple who operated another take out business for about a year. It is now a used car lot.
CAPTAIN AL’S FISH AND BAIT SHOP
Captain Al Hazelwood operated a fish and bait shop at the foot of the Nansemond River Bridge in the ___________. Captain Al rented row boats (outboard motors did not exist) for locals to go fishing. He also sold bait and fishing tackle. Alease remembers in the 1930s, Louise Parker and she rented a row boat from Captain Al one July 4th holiday to go fishing on the Nansemond River. She doesn’t know how long this business operated or what became of it. Tommy Wombel currently lives on the property and use to run a bait and tackle shop there.
CAPTAIN AL’S RESTAURANT
Captain Al Hazelwood built and operated a restaurant sometime after he sold the fish and bait shop. The restaurant was located near the intersection of Crittenden Road and Bridge Road next to the old 7/11 Convenience Store (it is now a dog run and kennel). Alease told me that it was a big restaurant, known for good food and people came from downtown Suffolk to eat there. It was also popular with local citizens.
BUNKLEY’S STORE
Alease remembers as a young girl, swimming and diving off Bunkley’s dock with other local children. The rule was that you had to prove to your parents that you could swim. Then, you had permission to swim off Bunkley’s dock. In fact, when this occurred, Alease told me that you “had it made.” She added that she and other children would swim off the pier at the L.L. Johnson Railway. It didn’t matter if you could swim there, since there was always an adult present at the railway and it was like you had a constant baby sitter.
Alease told me that she and husband John rented a slip at Bunkley’s dock in 1960 for their boat. This was convenient since Bunkley’s also sold gasoline at the end of the dock.
CRITTENDEN-ECLIPSE-HOBSON CIVIC CLUB
In 1949, a group of local men formed the Crittenden, Eclipse and Hobson Civic Club. The club obtained permission from Nansemond County to use the old Crittenden School building for its meetings. Alease told me that her husband John was a charter member of this civic club.
About 1950, the civic club became the C.E.& H. Ruritan Club, which has continued in operation to this day. Since John was still in the Navy and had deployed to Cuba at this time, he never became a member of the Ruritan Club. Over the years the C.E. & H. Ruritan Club has sponsored Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, and Girl Scouts and Brownie troops. It also currently provides a room for the Ebenezer Methodist Church Senior Citizens Center, which Ginny Bagnell operates for the church.
JUNTO WOMAN’S CLUB
The Junto Woman’s Club was operational when Alease was a small child. It is still in operation today and has many local women as members.
There use to be a family named Cutchins that lived in a big house on the Isle of Wight side of Chuckatuck Creek when Alease was young. A daughter, Leona, married Ralph Johnson, son of Captain Lip Johnson who owned the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway in Crittenden. Leona and Ralph had a daughter named Mazewell Johnson who Alease told me became the second wife of Fred T. Gies. Fred supposedly owned the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway Lower Yard after Captain Lip died in 1944. The story is that Fred and Henry Laughterbach built Hampton One racing boats at the railway in the 1940s-1950s. Alease told me when the Chuckatuck Creek Bridge was opened in 1929, the Cutchins refused to pay the toll. Instead, they would drive all the way around to Chuckatuck to get to Crittenden. Alease said that gasoline was a lot cheaper in those days.
HISTORY OF THE AREA
Great Depression
Alease remembers her family had plenty to eat during the Great Depression. Her family raised a garden in the summer and also had chickens and fresh eggs. Her daddy worked at the L.L. Johnson Railway, so they had money coming in. But, Alease told me that during the week, her family and other railway families purchased needed groceries from the railway store (company store). Then, at the end of the week when workers were paid, they had to turn their pay over to the railway store to pay the week’s grocery bill. Alease added that she learned a critical lesson from this and that was to “never charge anything.” Alease added however that Captain Lip Johnson really kept the community going during the Great Depression buy providing jobs and extending credit to needy families.
There was a lot of work in the river and boats had to be hauled out to be repaired and painted. Thus, the marine railways kept busy during the depression.
Alease was attending the Crittenden School during the Great Depression. At school during the winter, children would always want it to snow. But, Alease never wanted to see snow because if it snowed, her father couldn’t work at the railway. That meant no work and no pay.
During the Great Depression, people made their own clothes. Also, you wore a lot of “hand-me-downs.”
Since there were no banks in the area (closest bank was Suffolk), local citizens really were not affected by the Crash of 1929.” In fact, most local citizens had no money to start with.
Alease also remembers her father going to work for the government’s new Works Public Administration (WPA) program as a painter. However, on his first day at work, he fell off a ladder, thus ending his WPA career. He returned to working in the railway.
Since you couldn’t buy gasoline during the depression, citizens “jacked up their cars on blocks,” to save the tires.
World War II
When World War II broke out, the Army placed a search light battery and soldiers in Eclipse on Dixon’s hill. Spotlights were used to locate and prevent enemy aircraft from attacking the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, across the James River. Also, local citizens placed an old boat’s pilot house at the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway Lower Yard, where citizens volunteered to be aircraft spotters. The pilot house had a telephone and log. Citizens worked two at a time in shifts. If you spotted an aircraft, you called the civil defense warden and entered your citing in the log. Also, the Ebenezer Methodist Church bell was used as a warning for blackouts. During this time, houses had to have their window shades pulled down and car headlights had to be blacked on the top half of the lens. This was to keep enemy aircraft from orientating on lighted objects on the ground.
During the war, Alease worked at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company seven days a week.
For entertainment during the war, Keeling’s Service Station (currently The Market) on Bridge Road, created a canteen in a backroom, calling it the Blue Light Room (a blue light hung from the ceiling). Mr. Keeling installed a jukebox, soda fountain, booths to sit in, and allowed dancing. Local citizens, mainly teenagers and young adults and soldiers from the search light battery would meet at the Blue Light Room for fun and dancing.
Alease told me that just prior to World War II, two men showed up one day with a big yacht, tying it up to Captain Charlie Bush’s Marine Railway dock. The men stayed at the railway over one year, but then suddenly disappeared, leaving the big yacht at Bush’s. As a teenager, Alease use to row her boat in the creek and often heard one of the men playing a violin. She and other local children believed the men were spies, since the war had broken out and no one knew who the men were or why they were staying on the yacht.
Hurricane of 1933
Alease remembers the Hurricane of 1933 because water came up into the L.L. Johnson Railway. There were also a lot of trees blown over from the high winds of the hurricane. She added that while there was some water damage to the railway, there wasn’t any damage to local homes, which were too high to flood.
Ice storm/freeze of 1936
Alease remembers the Ice Storm/Freeze of 1936 because the Chuckatuck Creek froze over and remained frozen for six weeks. She also remembers ice skating and ice boating on Hoecake Cove between Bunkley’s dock and Sheffield’s Point. Alease’s brother had a pair of ice skates, which Alease tried to use. She fell constantly, believing that if you could roller skate, you could also ice skate. Alease eventually got the hang of it and had fun ice skating.
During this ice storm, the yacht Claremont was on the railway at the L.L. Johnson Marine Railway Upper Yard. It was basically stranded there until Spring when the creek thawed and it could be floated back into the water. The boat’s captain had to board at Frances Higgins’ mother’s house during this time.
The Crittenden School was closed for three weeks, allowing school children to have plenty of fun on a frozen Chuckatuck Creek.
Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962
Alease was working at the Adams Oyster Company during the 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm. She remembers it well because water from the creek came into her office and flooded the bottom drawers of her files. She added that it took her forever to dry each piece of paper with a heater.
Alease said that this storm was as bad as any hurricane that ever hit this area. Except for Hurricane Isabel, there were more trees uprooted during this storm.
