Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-07-24
A TRIP THROUGH VIRGINIA.
rHE PLACE FROM wHiCH rHs FAMOUS
LEE FAMILY UAMk.


,oupt of business and pleasure, To spend
som. time In Virginia, I think n description
of this section of our country will be OF inter.
est to many OF your readers, and possibly
cause many OF those who are nov focking
West, driven hence by the oppression OF
railroad freigh,s high rents aud dear land,
TO pause u moment and consider II there are
not other and better chances for n poor far
mer nearer home. where good horses, kind
neighbors, schools, churches, markets and
railroads may all be hal as cheaply ~ the
cheapest lands of the West think 80.
A person In reading this must remember
that Virginia IL a big state, with diversity
in climate, topography aud productive re-
sources that To do justice TO all its parts, or
even to enable one 10 form fair idaa OF its
varied resources, would take u great deal OF
time, 50 shall contine myself to the vicinity
OF Richmond, and more especially West
Point, which Is a thriving shipping port at
the head of York river, where the Pamonki
and Mataponi join to form it, and the ter
minus OF the Richmond n Danvilie railroad
The Richmond 4 Baltimore Steamboat
company run line of boats from Baltimore
to West Point daily, connecting tLore by rail
with Richmond and ticket may he bought
through to Richmond for the very low rate of
sl.5O.
afternoon at o'clock, and as one sails out OF
the port of Baltimore, especially il not used
to such scenes, the thousands of sailing YES
sells anchored side by side tor miles on either
side of them, immense steamers passing in
and out, aud tugs innumerable that at first
sight look ridiculous hitched 10 some great
vessel many times their size, the miles oi
wharfage, coal elevators, grain elevators and
immense warehouses, impresses on tho trav-
sl,ut. t.ftl All "a
figures could possibly do the lmmensity of
the commerce oil a port like baltimore.
Passing further down the river, Forts Me-
Henry on the right bank and Carroll in mid.
stream, by the grassclad rainparts aud closed
port-holes, give emphasis To the factS attested
by the scenes just passed that liberty, peace
and plenty reign supreme in tho land We are
proud To call our own.
ON THE CHEsAPEAKE.
As we pass out OF the Patapsco iuto the
Chesapeake the sun Il Just sinking to rest
and his last rays falling on gently rolling
waves, green hills and white sails, give to
the scene light and color that no painters
brush can catch and calls to memory pic
lures of Just such scenes on the lakes of Italy
which master hands have painted so deity
but the radiant splendor OF such sunsets can
not be put on canvas.
A good nights sleep, in state rooms, more
comfortable than hotel chambers, and we are
which is reached at sunrise. This place oc.
cupies much more important place in hs
tory than geography, Tor in size quarry
vile surpasses it-and wes might add III i'm.
portance, rs early truck, fish and oysters are
its main productions, The monument erected
there in 1915, to commemorate the surrender
OF Corvallis IL a beautiful marble shaft
some twenty-five feet high, and IN iull view
from the steamer as IL also the house occu-
pied ~ headquarters by Cornwallis--a large
brick structure, built OF English brick, with
tall gables and narrow windows, typical OF
all Revolutionary buildings.
The York is fine river about -four miles
wide, aifordipg excellent navigation and am
pie room for oyster beds on either side.
Oyster planting il extensively engaged in
along the York, and we are told, with profit
The ground used for bedding runs out about
a half mile from shore, varying In depth
from three 10 eight feet, with comparatively
solid bottom. The oysters are dredged up In
the early spring out in the deep waters OF
the bay, either by the owners of the beds or
by others who may own schooners and sold
to the planters at about fifteen cents a bushel.
They are then dumped out on the beds in
kind OF winnows and marked by stakes.
The change seems TO be exceedingly bene
fetal to the health of Mr.. oyster, tor he grows
wondrously and wakes tat, SO that the fol-
lowing winter he has grown from the size of
a trade dollar to the size of your hand, and
IL then tished up and prepared for market
nine months after planting, and II he has en-
"
will pan out lour bushels for one planted,
and bring In the market from fifty to seventy
five cents per bushel. These oyster fronts
usually belong to the farms fronting on the
river.
on historic GROUND.
At eight o'clock the boat arrives at West
Point, pretty thriving town of some three
thousand inhabitants, plenty of large
wharves and two cotton compresses These
late br,tl In Inrt afo nd
ing over again of the large bulky cotton bale,
and SO powerful is the machinery used that
the bale Is reduced to one fifth OF its original
size, and consequently Is much easier stored
and handled In vessels for export The ma
chinery in these congresses were made in
Reading, Pa From the moment you land
at West Point, in King William county, you
are on historic ground, for this section OF our
country has played an important part in its
history, from the time that Capt John Smith
landed at jamestown down to the surrender
OF Lee to Grant at Appomattox and II the
traveller should go to Richmond he will pass
over a country whose every acre has been
marched and counter-marched over by the
contending hosts of the late war and the
fields on which were fought the bloodiest
battles of that terrible struggle will be
passed.
But with the exception of the many earth.
works, now overgrown with green brars,
ssssafras and pines, to the casual observer
but little remains TO show the terrible trail of
war but on closer inspection those i'm
mense forests of pine will be found to be
growing where once the harvest of wheat and
corn were gathered, and a cump OF shade
trees with scattering shrubbery and perhaps
lone chimney, show where once family
dwelt In happiness, but now il scattered /;
and the fox makes his lair on the hearth.
stone and the bat and owl roost safely in the
chimneys tnst stand lone monuments to the
ruthlessness Of war.
Driving for miles over the good roads OF
the county one passes thousands of acres OF
pines growing very thick, and if you look
closely you can see running through II all
the marks of corn rows where once the
golden corn waved in the sunlight now Is 8
wilderness. Broken alike III spirit and
property, its people have never recovered
from the effects Of the war. They stak ed
their all on 1t, and threw their last dollar and
their last drop of blood, we may say, into the
struggle, and lost all they have suffered
deeply, they have suffered long, and, to my
mind, they have suffered patiently but O
their own power and resources they vii
never be able TO make their land What 1
once WAS. Northern men, Northern capital
Northern energy, will have to help then
out and to all such they extend heart,
and generous welcome.
GEN. LEES FARMER SON.
twas In King William county that tn
immense estates Of Robert Il. Lee which h
got otthrough his wife, Mary Custis, are situs
ted though very large portion OF then
have since been sold of the family y still retail
a large part of the land, and farm 1t in goo
style. Captain Robt. Il. Lee, the younges