Evening star., 1920-06-27
THE RAMBLER WRITES OF EARLY HISTORY
OF THE OCCOQUAN CREEK NEIGI1BORHOOD
Steep Hills Rise
Above the Creek and For
ests Grow-The Va1ue of
a Decentralization of the
First Missionaries Along
the Potomac River.
THE first cross in the Potomac

INHE first cross in the Potomac
country was raised on Deco
quan creek. Somewhere along
that creek an altar was dedi-
! Gated to God many years before the
Catholic Pilgrims offered up the mass
on Blackstone Island or on a green
bluff by the quiet stream. which they
called ST. Mary's river; many years be-
fore the Protestant Pilgrims touched
where Provincetown stands now, and
many years before a company of ad-
venturers. some of them pious and
some of them impious, landed on an
island in wide, majestic river, to
found a settlement which. in honor of
their king, they called jamestown.
Somewhere along the shores of
Occouuan is a spot that was Redeemed
with the blood of priests. Somewhere
along the shores of that creek they
built a church and strove to teach
religion to the wild and savage peo-
pie who dwelt where we dwell today.
Those priests perished at their post,
they came to save. When all this
happened the Rambler does not
know, and he is not sure that any
man has this knowledge, but he be-
lieves that the records exist and that
many of the facts lost to US now
a number of pious and learned men
are interested in the matter and that
no stone will be left unturned, or no
paper left unread, which may throw
light upon the establishment of the
first Catholic mission among the Po-
tomac Indians and upon the mas
sacre Of the missionaries and band
Of their converts. 1t must have been
about the time of the founding OF
Spanish settlements in Florida and
the time fixed on as the date of the
massacre is 1870.
Walking and climbing along Oc-
coquan. where steep hills and Gifts
rise above the creek and where for
ests grow, the Rambler thought OF
the things he has just sketched. Three
hundred and fifty years is only the
tick of clock in time when one
contemplates the eternity behind US
and the eternity ahead of US. but II
is long span Of time when one lets
his thoughts dwell on mere days ana
years. 1t is a long span when one
thinks on how great change has
come upon that region, and short
span if one thinks how trivial that
change has been. Man is apt to look
at man made things with masni-
as customary and commonplace.
In one sense the change has been
vast. Farms give up rich crops and
orchards bear fruit where wilderness
was Gardens bloom where prlmeva!
forest stood. Homes are set here and
there in the green landscape. Churcn
bells send their melody far over field
and wood. School bells ring. Men
walk along old and hard-beaten roads
that lead through forest and swamp
where buffalo, bear, panther, rattle
snake and the painted savage lived
Telephone and telegraph wires border
the roads like a trimming OF magic
laces Messages unseen and unhearu,
without wires and without wings, pass
through the air with the speed OF hgnt
Steamboats, move along the creeks and
river.
Automobiles run over the bridges that
cross the creek. Steam trains roar over
the fields. AeroplaneS buzz in the. sky.
Newspapers come to the homes along
the creek, telling Of things that hap
pened on the other side Of the world
five minutes ago-the news transmitted,
set in type stereotyped, rolled from the
presses and delivered by processes that
could not have been explained to the
most learned man of the time that this
Catholic mission stood on OccoQuan.
Those are great changes.
But, the same rough hills, the same
majestic river, the same bays and
creeks and giant rocks that we see now
| were there $50 years and thousands of
years ago. Perhaps for many thou
sands of years the river has been
shrinking or getting shallower and mar
| rover, and the creeks have been grind
| ing deeper into the granite Of the coun-
| try. but the changes that have taken
place in three and a half centuries
are small. Above this country is the
same sky. sometimes blue and smiling
and sometimes gray or black and sullen.
! The sun, moon and stars move on just
as they have been moving through the
ages, and the tides Of the great Potomac
swell and ebb as ever. The river.
creeks, hills and sky are grander things
than telegraphs, airplanes, automobiles
and steamboats,. and thus in the matter
of the bigger and more wonderful things