The eastern shore of Maryland is a pleasure to visit. We had never really visited it, so last week we toured a bit in it. One must be prepared for the unexpected. In the midst of corn, soybean, or wheat fields, with perhaps a seasoning of timber, but all very flat, a town will appear. Then one finds that it has been there for three hundred and fifty years. Once, in its past glory, it was a customs port.
The eastern shore of Maryland is along the eastern edge of Chesapeake Bay. It is a part of the Delmarva peninsula which derives its name from the fact that the three states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia all have a portion of the land between the Delaware River, or the Atlantic Ocean on the east of the peninsula, and the Chesapeake Bay on the west. The settlement of the peninsula was from the Bay because of the harbors provided by the rivers which drain to the Bay. Though the peninsula is not large, the rivers are broad and tranquil and sailing ships could progress far inland. It is for this reason that the "inland" towns became customs ports. Sailing ships could easily reach them.
When the Europeans came, the land was very woody but they cut down the trees and planted tobacco. Settlement spread quickly because people could reach a lot of land easily along the numerous rivers. Since tobacco was a regulated product, all shipments had to occur through an approved customs port. The large quantity of wood led to another industry, ship building. Since the area is protected from the worse of the ocean, the speciality became smaller ships used in coastal trading. Later this ship building talent was turned to building boats and ships for harvesting the marine life in the Chesapeake Bay. Today, tobacco is nonexistent, replaced by corn, wheat, and beans. The harvesting of clams, oysters, and crabs continues.
Towns and buildings have been preserved. Historical societies and museums abound. The scenery is clean and neat with a minimum of commercial interference. One item stands out in our memory, the Wye Oak. This white oak tree was sprouting from an acorn when Henry VIII was on the throne. Today, the Wye Oak is considered the oldest white oak in the United States.
If one continues south on the peninsula, eventually you will come to limit of the land. At this point you can take a bridge over the water to the Norfolk area. Then by traveling over the James River in Virginia, you can arrive at James Town and a bit more history. Just a few miles away is replacement for James Town, the new city of Williamsburg which was still a borning when Col. Alexander Spotswood arrived to become the Lt. Gov. of Virginia. We skipped Williamsburg and proceeded to Hewick Plantation, built ca. 1685 by Christopher Robinson. We spent the night in the Robinson bedroom. Fortunately, the ghosts of Christopher did not disturb our rest.
The next day we went to Richmond and visited the new Virginia Library. Our experiences there were both frustrating and rewarding. Frustrating because it is not easy to find material through their computer system. Fortunately, I had in mind two categories that I wanted to see so I could enlist the aid of the very helpful staff personnel. One item was the Culpeper Classes and before long a copy of the original document was sitting on my desk. The library personnel were hovering near by and they suggested perhaps I would like to work with the microfilmed copy of it. So I made my copies from the microfilm but it is still essential to have the original because the microfilm both fails to pick up some of the lines and it adds lines of its own.
One item I learned from the Classes was a hint as to the origin of the Garriott family. Previous reports of the Classes gave two of the militia members as Peter Vandyke and immediately following as Garriett Vandyke. The original shows clearly that the names are Peter Vandyke and Garriott Vandyke. This suggests an alliance between the Van Dyke and the Garriott families. The name Van Dyke suggests Flemish origins so perhaps the Garriotts originated there.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.