THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505270394
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAPE CHARLES LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Brown & Root Inc., a Texas company, claims it owns half of Old Plantation Creek by right of a king's land grant. And, the company says, it owns everything on the property, including Loretta Lewis' oyster house.
For 137 years, the Lewises have worked Old Plantation Creek. They built the oyster house on a dock over the creek in the 1940s. Now, Brown & Root has locked a gate across the dirt road that leads to the water and put up ``no trespassing'' signs on the oyster house.
Loretta Lewis thinks her husband, Walter, expected something of the kind before his death.
``He said, `Loretta, Brown & Root is gonna get you when I die. Don't sign nothing,' '' said Lewis. ``They wouldn't mess with Walter, but they're gonna mess with a widow.''
Brown & Root, of Houston, owns about 1,900 acres around Cape Charles. The company wants to sell the land to developers, who will build golf courses, retirement homes and a marina there. Many residents of Cape Charles, a depressed old railroad town, see Brown & Root as the town's savior.
The company's claim to a land grant made by the Colonial government in the name of the king of England on Old Plantation Creek is a new and potentially high-impact twist in the Brown & Root saga. By law, Virginia owns the land under tidal waters from the low-tide mark out, except when a valid king's grant predates the state.
In the early 1600s, when the Eastern Shore was first settled, property rights were established by king's grants, called patents. One local historian said she would have to read the patent, if it exists, before knowing if it granted rights to the creek.
State officials said it is extremely rare to be able to prove an unbroken chain of ownership to a right that was granted before the nation was founded. Brown & Root thinks it can do just that.
Kathleen Stafford, assistant general counsel for Brown & Root in Houston, said, ``It's clear cut.''
Stafford, in a telephone interview, said it would not be hard for the company to establish its right to the creek. Brown & Root has yet to offer proof to the state.
``I don't think it's a problem. We have absolute ownership,''she said.
In June, shortly after Walter Lewis died, the company asked his widow to sign an agreement that calls Brown & Root the ``absentee owner'' of the property.
Loretta Lewis refused to sign. Scott Stiles, one of her sons, believes she did the right thing.
``If I sign that piece of paper, I'm acknowledging that Brown & Root does own it,'' said Stiles.
Brown & Root officials said Walter Lewis signed ``license agreements'' like the one presented to his widow since 1977. But Loretta Lewis said the company has not produced copies of the earlier agreements, to compare with the one she has been asked to sign.
Meanwhile, Lewis' sons have torn down the ``no trespassing'' signs on the oyster house and put up their own. They cut off the dock at the low-tide mark so that the oyster house - a substantial structure that they have spent more than $15,000 improving in recent years - has no connection to the land.
Now the question is: Who owns the creek? If Brown & Root actually owns to the midline, it can dredge that side and lease the productive clam beds to whomever it pleases, if anyone. The state has jurisdiction over those functions now.
By not signing the agreement, Lewis believes she has endangered herself and her sons. They can't get to the water with a truck to unload the clam boats because Brown & Root has blocked the road. So they have to weave their loaded boats through intricate shallows, out onto an often choppy Chesapeake Bay, and into the Cape Charles harbor before they can unload.
It's dangerous, Lewis said. And her sons can't take loads of oyster shells out to the creek for rebuilding beds.
``It's time to do it now, but we have no way to get them to the creek,'' said Howard Stiles, another of Lewis' sons.
Lewis leases 178 acres for clam and oyster beds from the state, nearly two-thirds of the creek's bottom. As the majority lease holder, she has first choice of any other sections of the creek bottom that become available.
Lewis' sons from a previous marriage want to plant 5 million baby clams in Old Plantation Creek this fall. They say that their stepfather, Walter Lewis - who they call ``father'' - taught them secrets for making the baby clams grow faster, and that they get a better yield than many aquafarmers.
``Our father is still in our heads,'' said Scott Stiles.
But Walter Lewis' legacy might not have much longer to live, if his widow can't use the oyster house and boat ramp. She has hired a lawyer who is seeking an injunction against the lockout. And she hopes to win an easement over Brown & Root's land, so her sons can get to their boat landing.
``This is my life,'' said Doug Stiles about the water, his clams and his family's heritage. ``If they take this away from me, what else can I do? Rob banks?'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Beth Bergman, Staff
Brock Lewis pulls a crab pot from Old Plantation Creek. For 137
years, members of Loretta Lewis' family have worked these waters on
the Eastern Shore.
Map
KEYWORDS: PROPERTY DISPUTE OWNER by CNB