Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-02-26
For the ALEX ASDRIA GAZETTE.
The Sunken Island--A Legend of the Lower
Potomac.

The Sunken Island-A Legend of the Lower
Potomac.
Atar down the Potomac, in sunny West
morelaDd, is spot known lis "Church
Point, "the story of which, if written, would
prove one of the most interesting chapters
in the history of the Northern Neck but,
alas dim tradition alone affords few
faint sketches of its old-time glory. The
remainder is locked in the inexorable en-
brace of the unwritten past.
Church Point, as it is to-day, is no point
at all, but simply the western corner and
abrupt ending Of that range Of hills, Of
which the more prominent are known as
"Nomini :" but twas not always thus.
In the days long past, when the colony was
in its infancy, u beautiful little peninsula
extended from the present shore-line in
northerly direction out into the steel-blue
waters, distance of three quarters Of q
mile or more About midway Of this penin-
sula was a slight eminence, rising few
feet above the surrounding surface, and
upoE this knoll stood that from which the
place derives its name, a church.
In this church the good people from far
and near used to assemble to oifer thanks
for the blessings so richly shoWered upon
them, and ask assistance of the all-power-
full hand TO protect them from the savage
tribes by which they were surrounded.
Here the meek pastor discoursed for hours
to an attentive audience loud rolled the
anthems from the choir; the benedictlon
was pronounced, and the congregation
betook themselves to their distant manor
houses lost in the depths of the vii.
derness. Occasionally the little church
reechoed to the merry strains of Il wedding
march, swelling up and filing with melody
the long galleries and high-arcned roof,
floating out across the placid waters of the
little boy, and resounding through the da:i;
recesses Of the unpruned forest a sweety
as the breath OF the wild-rose is waited b,
the spriDgtime breeze; or mayhap ]! we
visit it, again the mournful notes Of funera!
dirge will fall upon the ear, as drawing near,
we find that some member of the commun-
ily is being laid to rest in the adjoining
cemetery, which is gradually filling up rs
man is called to mingle with his native
clay.
To-day not vestige of this chnrci re.
mains, not even the ground upon which it
stood years ago the tides and currents cut
their way through the narrow low-lying
neck that connected this field with the
mainland and then the work of destruction
began. The eddying waters ut Matiox
whetting away the western side OF The Is
land while the uninterrupted hattaiions
came charging up from the iieree Chesa
peake to batter down the loose sandy for
nation on the east; the church standing
upon its narrow plateau was the last to fall
prey to their ceaseless action few scat
tering bricks tonged up by wandering
o, stermen mark the spot where once it
reared its steeple skyward, and tradition
saws that even now, when the tide is at the
full, and the moon swings low, casting
path of LIQUID gold athwart the shimmerng
flood, the solitary fisherman, as he lies
moored at the neighboring buoy, can hear
low-toued notes, as of far off lutte, issuing
from the waves, and as he bends his ear TO
listen more attentively, it rises, falls and
ouiyers like tho beat of a fevered pulse,
forming wild, weird symphony, such as
emanates from the halls of reyelry when
the mermaids see fit to enliven their ocean
grots BY doing homage to Bacchus and
Terpsicnore, and to the sound of tinkling
elfn music. The lovely sylph from the
coral l-paved depths of summer seas waltzes
with the hoary-headed gnome who halls
from the glittering icy cathedrals within
the chilly Kingdom of Boreas. The tides Of
many years have rolled over the little
peninsula, the storms of many winters have
broken, sobbed and moaned upon this lone
" bar, and nightly the loon sounds his
clarion unmolested over the ruins of the
ancient chapel This spot once held so
sacred by the hardy pioneers is now known
as the "Sunken Island" SWAMP ANGEL
Monroe Hall, Va, Feb. %.