The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-08-22
Southern Correspondence

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will proceed to put down few items in
cident to my trip. l boarded the f. F.
" in Staunton, and found it so crowded
that it was with some difficulty that |
got seat in the smoker. We were soon
| flying through hill and valley, not max
ing but one stop until we reached Char
lottesville, where we changed cars for
Richmond, and not having through
ticket, we missed connection and had to
lay over one day, when we took the fast
through train on the Atlantic Coast Line
for our destination.
1.-The recent heavy rains have done an
incalculable amount of damage by
drowning out nearly all the crops on the
low lands. Our farmers in Augusta
county ale grumbling about their losses
by the wet weather, but they are nothing
in comparison to what they are in the
section traversed by the coast line of
corn, cotton and peanuts drowned en-
tirely out, and the farmers would not
have dollar left to live on until they
can raise another crop.
| was struck with many things that |
saw as we flew along at the rate of forty
five and sometimes fifty miles an hour.
One thing, was the entire absence OF
hills and mountains; the railroad runs
through an entirely level, marshy coun-
try, free from cuts and fills. The towns
7 i Ic.4 4oI law
land; too level apparently, for drainage.
One other thing was the absence of
fences in the farming communities. L
didn't see half as much fence from Rich
mond to Charleston, as one will see from
Staunton to Greenville; most farms with
not a sign of fence ON them. No fall
ing out about line fences between neigh
bors. Not sheaf of wheat, a stack of
straw or hay from Petersburg, Va, to
Charleston. Saw no stock of any kind,
nothing but cotton, peanuts, negroes
and mules, no white men at work
l reached Charleston after pleasant
trip of fifteen hours, and put up at the
Waverly House. Whist the Waverly is
hotels, its fine CUISINE, it's snowy white
beds, gentlemanly proprietors, polite
and accommodating clerks, with good
servants is all that traveller wants.
was very favorably impressed with
Charleston. Not many marks are visible
of the great earthquake, and the citizens
look just as healthy as they do in the
City of Staunton. At 8 o'clock we took
the boat for Mount Pleasant and Sulli-
vans Island These are historic places
on which there are the remains of nu-
merous batteries erected during the late
war. The large mortar guns at Fort
Moultrie that fired the first shots at Fort
Sumpter, and was the beginning of the
bloodiest war in all history, they are
in exactly the same position. They have
not been moved. The range is the same
as it was on that memorable day. Uncle
Sam has thousands of tons of all kinds
of balls and shells piled up at Fort
Moultrie. But the tread of the sentinel
is not heard; all is silent as grave yard.
Fort Sumpter is not so quiet. This
great and mighty nation keeps and
maintains one old soldier who ''holds
the FORT against all the nations of the
earth. Think of it you crowned heads
of Europe, with your millions of soldiers
and big navies.
Berkeley county, of which Mount
Pleasant is the county seat. is one of the
finest truck farming sections in the
South. To give you an idea of the bust
ness, was in a field of three hundred
acres, all planted in asparagus. The
crop will net the owner ten thousand
dollars clear of all expenses.
Sullivan's Island is a fine summer
resort. I attended church there to-day
Sunday The house was well filled.
There was not one lady in five that had
fan, and those who had them seldom
used them; for there was fine breeze
blowing all the time from the Atlantic
ocean. One of itsg reat attractions is its
fine beach, the finest on the Atlantic coast
between Florida and Maine. 1t is four
hundred feet wide between low and high
tide, and three and one-half miles long
between Beach Inlet and Fort Moultrie
and as smooth as a carpeted hallway;
and SO solid that you can scarcely track
buggy. And the bathing is unsur-
passed believe this will be grand
place in the near future.
/ saw many other things that l would
like to write about, but l must close for
this time ]. S. A.