THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411110262
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Dolly, the cow, got left behind when Ralph Midgett Jr. and his father drove their last herd of cattle from grazing grounds between the beach and Currituck Sound in North Carolina to civilization in Virginia Beach.
But unlike the feral pigs and horses that still roam the outer banks of Virginia and North Carolina today, none of Dolly's progeny are to be found. No free roaming cattle remain to indicate that the beaches of Currituck County were primarily cattle grazing lands in the earlier part of the century.
Memories are all that's left of the era. The cattle drive in October 1933 is firmly etched in Midgett's mind although he was only 13 at the time. He, his father and Edward Drinkwater made the 62-mile trek with 60 cattle up the beach, to Camp Pendleton, north on Birdneck Road and west on Virginia Beach Boulevard to Rosemont Road where the Midgett family then lived.
The Midgetts, whose North Carolina roots go back to the 1700s, had moved from Poplar Branch, N.C., to Virginia Beach in 1926. At the time the elder Midgett had been hired to manage Rosemont Dairy, which was located where Princess Anne Plaza is today.
The elder Midgett had been a cattle man all his life in North Carolina. He owned a herd of beef cattle jointly with Dr. Julian Baum, who lived at Pine Island in Currituck. When Midgett moved to Virginia, he retained his ownership in the herd although the cattle stayed behind to roam the Currituck beaches between Duck and Corolla, N.C.
In those days, the younger Midgett recalled, 30 to 40 families allowed their beef cattle, which had been branded with their owners' identifications, to roam free in that same area. The animals were well fed, dining on the abundance of marsh grasses along Currituck Sound.
A declining waterfowl population along Currituck Sound and Back Bay provided the impetus for the last cattle drive, the younger Midgett said. To protect the marsh grasses on which ducks and geese feed, the Wildfowl Conservation Act of 1930 made it illegal to allow cattle to roam free on the beaches.
The elder Midgett decided to purchase Baum's share in the herd and bring the cattle back to Rosemont Dairy. The animals became the foundation herd for a beef cattle business that he ran for many years in addition to his dairy duties.
The event was recorded for posterity in the diary of Lilliam Baum, the wife of Julian Baum. Elizabeth Baum Hanbury of Chesapeake read about the drive when she was researching the diary for her book, ``Currituck Legacy,'' a blend of northeastern North Carolina history and Baum family history. Although Hanbury includes a picture of a horse round-up at Currituck in the book, she went back to the original diary to find some details of the last round-up to add to Midgett's recollections.
Lillian Baum wrote that the drive began Oct. 8, 1933, after the two Midgetts and Drinkwater had spent the night at Pine Island. The elder Midgett stayed behind for a while to search for the errant Dolly but never found her. Although Midgett doesn't recall the lost cow, he picks up where the diary leaves off.
``We drove 'em right down the beach,'' he said. ``I was riding up on the dunes and the ocean was on the other side. Dad was behind and Mr. Drinkwater was in front.''
The drive took three days. The first two nights, the beach cowboys penned the cows up at life-saving stations and spent the night with life-saving crews along the way. The third day, they reached the Camp Pendleton area, came up from the beach and drove the cattle straight up Birdneck Road, then a dirt road.
They stopped at Drinkwater's Seatack Farm where the intersection of Birdneck Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard is today. The last leg of the trip was to be straight west on the Boulevard to Rosemont Farm.
``We took off at 3 in the morning,'' Midgett recalled, ``a man in front and a man behind, both carrying lanterns. The cars would stop and let us pass and when people got up in the morning, their lawns were fertilized and the grass was cut!''
P.S. More information on ``Currituck Legacy'' is available from author Elizabeth Baum Hanbury at 421-3194.
A HUMPBACK WHALE was swimming north in the ocean in front of the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia Wednesday, reports education director Ann Dearman. The Virginia Marine Science Museum also has received several reports of early arrivals of humpback whales offshore, said Stranding Team coordinator Mark Swingle. Swingle asks that all whale sightings be called into the museum, 437-4949, because the Stranding Team is continuing its whale research this winter. Museum whale watching trips are not scheduled to begin until January.
CARDINALS UP CLOSE is the program for the Virginia Beach Audubon Society meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Westminster Canterbury, 3100 Shore Drive. The public is invited. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARY REID BARROW
Ralph Midgett points out the trail taken and the book, ``Currituck
Legacy,'' that details the cattle drive in 1933 up the beach from
Currituck to Virginia Beach. Ralph, then 13, his father and Edward
Drinkwater made the 62-mile trek.
by CNB