THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9412300217
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Virginia Beach lost a large link to its past over the Christmas holiday when two men who represented different ways of life in old Princess Anne County passed away.
Businessman Frank Kellam, who died Christmas Day in a Virginia Beach hospital, was a member of the Kellam family that has played a tremendous business, political and civic role in Virginia Beach for a good part of this century.
And fisherman Luther J. Belanga Jr., who passed away on Christmas Eve in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hampton, was a part of the Belanga family whose roots go back to the 1700s here in old Princess Anne County.
Each took with him a piece of the good old days that even now exists only in a few individuals' recollections and are hardly part of our collective memory.
Historian Stephen S. Mansfield, author of ``Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach, a Pictorial History,'' said the men were representative of two types of folks who contributed to our roots.
``I was aware of the symbolism and significance of their passing,'' the Virginia Wesleyan College history professor said. ``They are illustrative of the county's past.''
Kellam, a civic-minded member of our community, founded two of the city's long-standing businesses, Princess Anne Plumbing and Electrical Suppliers and Kellam and Eaton, a building supplies and hardware store. Family-owned companies are few and far between these days, but Kellam's businesses continue to operate with the same old-fashioned polite personal service of yore.
Princess Anne Plumbing folks are the kind you can call to your house to fix the furnace and you can leave and go to work, knowing all will be well. The business has been part of the community for so long that even if you are not a Princess Anne Plumbing regular, you are probably aware of their presence. You may have even called them to the house in an emergency at one time or another.
``The family-owned enterprise was really all there was here,'' Mansfield said, ``and his have survived.''
Princess Anne Plumbing's offices are down at the old Princess Anne Courthouse area along with the Kellam and Eaton store. The latter building is part of the essence of the old-fashioned country crossroads where Princess Anne and North Landing roads meet. Kellam lived nearby on Princess Anne Road and his home, although not historic, is a characteristic landmark of the old courthouse area.
``The store is certainly a reference point, part of the courthouse look,'' Mansfield said.
On the other hand, Belanga's vocation relied upon the vagaries of the sea until he retired in the 1980s. Like the independent farmers, hunters and fishermen who built old Princess Anne County, Belanga never stopped relying on nature's bounty as a way of life.
Making a living from the sea was in his genes. Belanga's great-grandfather James was a surfman in one of the U.S. Life-Saving Stations here, and James' brother Abel was keeper of the Little Island Life-Saving Station.
With his brothers - Jesse (who passed away in 1990), Marshall and Marvin - Luther Belanga fished the ocean off the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge beach for most of the year. In winter, the brothers haul seined for perch in Back Bay.
The Belanga brothers always fished - and still do - in the traditional way. They worked from the beach, hauling the seine net out through the surf in a small boat. Anchored both on the beach and out in the ocean, the net would be left out until the tide changed and then hauled in with the help of a winch and a truck on the beach.
In a method that goes back to the time when Jesus fished the Sea of Galilee, as Marshall Belanga would say, the brothers haul seine for fish in Back Bay from a boat. They ram a pole into the bay bottom to anchor the net rather than using the beach itself.
Today, populated beaches and the decline of Back Bay give the Belanga brothers the distinction of being among the last of the full-time haul seiners here.
When not fishing, Luther Belanga worked with his brothers selling the fruits of their labor at the Belanga Fish House. The ramshackle building on Sandbridge Road is a reminder of their traditional way of life.
``The fisherman, the independent soul, is as much a part of our heritage, as the Kellam family, which has been a major contributor to the community,'' Mansfield said. ``They are both representative of the strengths of old Princess Anne County.''
P.S. NORFOLK BOTANICAL GARDEN'S Garden of Light was due to close Saturday, but the display has been so popular it is being held over for one more night. You can visit from 5 to 10 p.m. today. Admission is $7 a car.
AN EXHIBIT ON THE SHIPWRECK that washed up on Croatan Beach in Hurricane Gordon is now on display in the lower gallery of the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia. With photographs and other information, you can keep abreast of excavation of the wreck and research into the identity of the vessel. 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.
by CNB