The Adair County news., 1922-09-26
that its banks are half mile away
from the town.
Now a Deserted Village.

that its banks are half a mile away
from the town.
Now a Deserted Village.
Port Tobacco clung to its traditions
for some years sitter its water high
way had deserted 1t because it was
the county seat. LaPlata, new and
growing town some three miles away,
which had sprung up when the rail-
road came through, was jealous Of
Port TobaccO's courthouse. LaPlata
argued that Port Tobacco was declin-
ing and herself growing and peti-
toned the legislature to move the
county seat. But tradition was too
strong and the courthouse stayed at
Port Tobacco.
The jealousy of LaPlata was not
abated and, the legend says, finally
reached pitch where group OF
young LaPlata bloods stole into Port
Tobacco one night and burned the fine
old brick courthouse. Inasmuch as the
county must bear the expense Of erect
ing a new building, it was urged sue
cessfully that it might as well be built
In the new town, and it was. Today the
few old missions of Port Tobacco,
the ruins of the courthouse, the tum-
bled-down remains of the hotel and
even portions of the marble fountain
are grass-grown and lonely-well-ft-
ted to Goldsmith's description Of the
deserted village.
Deserted by Stream.
Piscataway was a port on an estu-
ary Of the Potomac not far from
Mount Vernon. 1t is perhaps the best
preserved of the three typical lost
cities, 1t would not be possible to get
even a canoe up the stream which in
the old days bore ships big enough to
cross the Atlantic. Piscataway Is at
least three miles from navigable wa
ter. The town is some fifteen miles
from the nearest railroad and, there
fore, is about as deserted ghost Of
colonial days as can be found.
1t has several very beautiful man
sions. Some Of them stand starkly
empty, with loose shutters banging in
the wind. One or two are still kept up
by survivors Of the old families that
once flourished there, and few are
used as tenement houses by negroes.
The single tiny store and post office
could not live were it not supported by
the surrounding country, for the port
which once had merchants who sent
ships to England now has not to ex-
ceed a hundred souls.
Dies With the Farms.
Yorktown is across the bay on the
Virginia shore. Its fate is attributable
to somewhat different causes. Its wa
ter highway, the York river, has not
filed up, for the current and tide are
extremely rapid at that point. But
the washing away Of the topsoil has
impoverished the farms. Yorktown
once was the port of entry for Phila-
delphia and New York, being regarded
as an important place. Today it has
a population of 800, half negro. Yet
it's harbor, the mouth of the York riv-
er, is one Of the most magnificent in
this country. During the war the At
lantic feet anchored in the harbor OF
the little town, and after the armis-
tice more than a thousand shipping
board vessels were moOred there. The
harbor is 80 feet deep.
But progress has tricked these cities
into oblivion. The very activity and
prosperity of the early days FASTENED
their decay. The more industriously
the planters plowed to produce the
wealth on which the cities throve the
more surely was their tate being
sealed.