The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1889-01-17
J. 9 HIRoNs
Makes q Visit to Old Point Comfort
From Which Place He Writes Q
Letter to tho News.Her.
aid Readers.

OLD PoiNT COMFORT, Jan. 9Th, 1889.
When we IA gentleman and myself)
concluded to seek warmer climate q
short time ago, the question naturally
arose--Where shall we go? After lis.
tening to the advice and plans of various
friends, the limits of which were Ber.
muda on the one hand and California
on the other, we decided to take trip
by easy stages without definite plans or
exact date of return. We left New York
on the 9Th of January--the first stormy
day after period of delightful
weather, and holidays which could not
have been pleasanter unless they had
been colder and accompanied by snow,
like the holidays we all experience pleas.
ure in recalling. The most comfortable
route Of the four, from New York here,
we took, going on an afternoon train on
the Pennsylvania road to Baltimore,
spending the night on Bay Line Steam.
er and reaching here in time for break.
fast. The Richmond route is the most
indirect route, the Cape Charles the
most direct, but by either there is an
hours trip across the bay. In fair
weather the twenty hours voyage by the
Old Diminion s. s. Line is not an unat.
tractive one, and is often taken advan-
tage OF by Southerners and others who
have easy access to the Chesapeake &
Ohio Railroad. The fact that we ar
rived here Sunday morning and will
leave tomorrow would indicate that
there is not much Of interest, and it is
true. This is both winter and summer
resort, and the winter season having Just
begun there are not many visitors-per.
haps two hundred, which, in a hotel
that can accommodate a thousand, has
the effect of making one feel lonely,
even II they did not have the crowded
streets of New York with which to make
comparison. The Hygeia, the only
hotel here, is an irregular frame build
ing, the original structure being yearly
added to as the exigency of the times
required. 1t fronts the bay for quar-.
ter of mile, and there is not more than
fifty feet OF sandy beach between it and
the restless water. There are numerous
wide verandas, some of which are glass
encased and serve as promenades in win.
ter. The founder Of the hotel came here
as express agent, and seeing the neces-
sity for restaurant for the officers at
the fort near by, started what has de-
veloped into one of the finest and best
equipped hotels along the North Allan.
tic cost.
At Fl. Monroe are stationed about 23O
soldiers, who go through with guard
mounting, dress parade and little else.
The fort is surrounded by a granite
wall thirty.five feet high, and this by a
moat from seventy.five to one hundred
feet wide, containing several feet of
water. From the ramparts can be seen
Hampton Roads, the scene of one of the
most interesting naval conflicts during
the rebellion, viz: that between the
Monitor and Merrimac.
About two miles distant and on Vir.
ginia soil (the point belongs to the Gov.
ernment) are located the National Sol.
diers' Home( containing over three thoue-
and soldiers), and what to me was much
more interesting, the Normal and Agri-
cultural School for negroes and Indians.
More than six hundred students, evenly
divided as to sex, but unevenly divided
as to race (two.third being colored and
one-third Indians) are taught the vari-
GUS trades as well as the arts. It was
not an unbecoming sight to see the
young men Of different races drilling
under the command of as black Major
as can be found in Virginia. We after.
wards saw them at dinner; the girls on
one side of the table and the boys on
the other, and the colored and Indians
occupying different rooms for convent.
ence alone, as one of the officials of the
institution said, though he also said
that while they were friendly they never
become boon companions.
A short distance further lies Hamp.
ton, delapidated village that every
State can duplicate. An unpretentious
looking brick house is pointed out as be-
ing the country residence at one timc :.
ex-President Taylor. -
had almost forgotten to say In con-
nection with the fort, that in a certain
casemate Jefferson Davis was confined
after his capture. J. G. HIRoNs.
Bainbridge Budget.
Jauuarv 10Th 1890