THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602230142
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
When Shirley McPherson Miller learned about an archaeological excavation going on at the Naval Security Group Activity Northwest in southern Chesapeake last month, she was filled with memories of her girlhood.
Chesapeake's only Naval facility was the site of an extensive archaeological dig on land that was once worked and later owned by Miller's direct ancestors.
The land probed by the archaeologists was the site of a farm and possible dwelling from the late 18th and early 19th centuries owned by the Happer family. The Happers, who owned extensive lands in and around the area, leased the property to the Andrew McPherson family and other neighboring farmers.
``Andrew McPherson was my great-grandfather,'' the Portlock resident said proudly. ``The line went from Andrew McPherson to my grandfather, Noah McPherson, and then to my daddy, Daniel McPherson.''
From the early 19th century all the way until her father had to sell the land to the federal government in the early '50s, to make room for the military facility, her family proudly worked the land and lived off its bounty.
``We had a beautiful life there,'' Miller said. ``We called it the Company Farm and lived off the land. We raised everything we needed.''
Miller said her father raised crops on land he worked not with newfangled tractors but rugged animal teams.
The McPherson family also raised its own hay, eggs, chickens, ducks, geese, beef, pork, milk and dairy products along with scores of vegetables and plums, apples, peaches, pears and even pecans.
``We raised everything we needed,'' she said. ``And it was all so fresh and bountiful. I remember every year we canned all summer long vegetables from our gardens. We also cured our own bacon, sausage and ham in our own smoke house. We were so self-sufficient, we hardly needed anything from stores.''
Her favorite time of the year came when all the neighboring farm families gathered together to butcher hogs.
``I got to stay home from school when that happened,'' she said. ``All the neighbors helped each other. Right on the spot we ground and seasoned our own sausage, we made cracklin' corn bread from the pork cracklins. After the hogs were killed I'd trim off the white fat, we'd cut that into small blocks and then cook it down to lard. I also cleaned the chitterlings. You had to scrape and scrape those to get them completely clean and then they were cooked all day.''
She said her farm home never had electricity or running water. It may have been somewhat of a hardship, she said, but no one really minded.
``I remember doing my homework by oil lamps,'' she said. ``For water we had to tote five buckets of water a day from our pump well. We had real good water, we never had to move the well.''
Since the McPherson farm has no running water, when nature called, family members headed to the proverbial outhouse, compete with half-moon design on the door. And, yes, it was always supplied with an old Sears & Roebuck catalog hanging on a string.
``We used sheets from the catalog but daddy always used a corn cob,'' she said. ``We never had a roll of toilet paper in our life.''
Besides visits from neighboring families, Miller said her family's farm was also visited by wild hogs, bears with cubs in tow and rattlesnakes as ``big as your arm.''
Miller said even though she lived in Virginia she was far from any local public school. Her family received a tuition from the commonwealth to allow her to attend school in nearby Moyock, N.C. But it was still a good distance away.
``We had to walk a mile just to get to catch the school bus,'' she said. ``We crossed state lines several times a day. I remember some nearby farmers had their barns in Virginia and in North Carolina.''
The life was idyllic, Miller said, until the federal government needed the land and forced the McPhersons and other farmers to sell their land.
``It killed my daddy. He loved that land,'' she said. ``It just broke his heart. It was a very good and simpler way to live. We lived a good, hard-working Christian life. It was a hard life at times, but it was very rewarding.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SHIRLEY McPHERSON MILLER
The McPherson home in southern Chesapeake in 1954, just before the
family had to move.
by CNB