THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603290736
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Discover, part 1
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
THIS OUTING to explore Crittenden, in the northernmost corner of Suffolk, started with Ernest Cooper, proprietor of Crittenden Gallery.
Cooper, whom I had met before Christmas while searching out local art and artists, suggested that I talk with Bruce Wright, who could point me to old-timers, who could give me the history of the area.
Wright, a carpenter, wasn't home, but his wife offered to try and locate him.
I headed for the banks of Chuckatuck Creek, along which Crittenden had sprung up, to take pictures indicative of the area's historic ties to the water. The first road I traveled led to a fenced-in area of shoreline so heavily posted with ``Private Property'' and ``Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted'' signs that I figured they meant business; I doubled back, and on the second try hit pay dirt.
The semi-abandoned pier at the water's edge was framed by a beached workboat, an ancient crane and haphazard piles of crab traps. Old pilings extended in various directions and two lone boats lay resting in the water, awaiting crews to bring them to life.
As I drove back up the dirt road, the driver of a van flagged me down. It was Wright. Despite the unplanned interruption, he cheerfully turned to the task of finding someone who could fill me in on local history.
Wright pointed out that an oyster house, ``the red oyster house,'' used to stand on the point of land I had just photographed. The whole point, he said, is oyster shells that, over the years, had been used to fill in from the adjacent shoreline.
``We don't even consider this a part of Suffolk,'' Wright continued, grinning. ``All we get is trash collection.''
Wright led me to a neat, green house in Eclipse, on a corner where Eclipse Drive made a sharp left turn. It was the home of Burnice and Mary Virginia Bush.
``I've been living in this neighborhood all my life,'' explained Bush, ``except for eight months to go to school in Richmond.''
It turned out that Bush, 80, was born in the house in Crittenden where Wright and his wife now live. He had worked for 36 years for Newport News Shipbuilding before retiring 18 years ago. Bush's father, John Brown Bush, had been an oyster inspector and police boat captain for 34 years for the Virginia Commission of Fisheries, now Game and Inland Fisheries.
``Originally, everything was nautical here,'' said Bush. ``People made their living out of the water. Before the bridges were built, most all travel was done by river boats. The only way out of here, before the bridges, was to go to Chuckatuck. Mr. S.Q. Bunkley, who ran a general merchandise store, had a pier.
``Mr. John Q. Adams ran three boats: one to Norfolk, the `Wizard,' and two to Newport News, the `J.Q.' and the `Stanley,' I believe. He brought in produce and general merchandise on those boats. Stores around here got everything by boat. Back in horse-and-buggy days, it took all day to go to Suffolk and come back.''
There were other stores then, too, Bush continued, run by a Miss Emma Martin and a Miss Sally Martin. He didn't think they were related. An L.L. Johnson also had a store and a marine railway. The railway was kept busy as the local economy was built upon oystering crabbing, and fishing. In its heyday, said Bush, there were about 100 boats on the creek. His uncle, Charlie Bush, had a small marine railway.
It was lunchtime, and the Bushes generously invited me to join them. We continued our conversation in the kitchen over a meal of hot dogs, baked beans and Mary Virginia's delicious homemade bread and butter pickles and date nut bars.
``The Nansemond Ridge,'' Bush went on, ``was a continuous bed of oyster shells, about seven miles long, from the river off of Cedar Point to Newport News Point. Believed to be the world's longest oyster bed, it used to be one of the most productive, producing nice big, round oysters.''
It was, he added, a public oyster bed. Anyone could work it, keeping any oyster more than 3 inches long, the minimum legal size.
``This area was founded,'' said Bush, ``on the strength of the seafood industry. Large oyster `buy' boats, 50 to 60 feet long, would go way up Chuckatuck Creek in the summer and stop at various landing piers. They'd pick up produce and deliver it to Norfolk and Newport News; to the Hague in Norfolk, and then it was shipped by train.''
Bush offered a recollection that few people alive today can share. As a small child, he heard the famous evangelist Billy Sunday preach.
``Dad had a police boat,'' he recalled. ``Billy Sunday was at the casino grounds in Newport News. He pitched a tent. Dad took about 15 people over to pier A, near the Warwick Hotel. I remember hearing him preach. He was a barnstormer; he'd get up on chairs and wave his arms.'' MEMO: Coming next week, Part II. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by DAWSON MILLS
Mary Virginia and Burnice Bush enjoy the peacefulness of living in
Eclipse.
Years ago, when many watermen lived near Chuckatuck Creek, one might
see 100 boats at a time there.
by CNB