Urbanna Kayak Trail

1. H.S. Chowning Co.

The H. S. Chowning Co. had two locations in town. The block and vault plant were located near this site on the creek and his retail establishment was located on Watling Street. A burial vault could be purchased in 1926 for $9.00 and the delivery cost to Glebe Landing Baptist church nearly 15 miles away in Laneview was $4.00. It may, however, have been a family price as the vault was sold to his wife. (Courtesy Charles H. Palmer Jr.).

The best customers of H. S. Chowning Co. in 1929 received this calendar and thermometer promotion gift. (Courtesy of Larry and Dee Chowning).

This sign hung on H. S. Chowning’s business at the concrete plant near this spot. (Courtesy of Larry and Dee Chowning)

Near this site H. S. Chowning & Co. owned a cement manufacturing plant that made concrete building blocks and well curving. There was a pier out in the creek for unloading sand and cement delivered to the plant by boat. Huge barges were towed across the river to collect tons of white sand that was off-loaded by wheelbarrows when brought back to Urbanna. Cement blocks were hauled from the plant on Chesapeake Bay sail powered schooners and motorized deck boats and delivered throughout the region. There was a six-inch pipe free-flowing artesian well on the site used to make the blocks. During and long after the plant closed, town children using the public beach wore a path to the well to use the cool flowing water that contained a bit of sulfur in it to sooth the pain from stinging nettles. If beach sand rubbed across the hurt did not relieve the pain, a race to the well was the next relief step – and look out for those sand briars! Also near this site was a cotton gin. The cotton gin building was made of galvanized corrugated sheet metal and was two stories high. There was Fordson tractor powered device used to separate seed from cotton and a large mechanical press used to bale the cotton. Pre-World War II, town children recalled that when the cotton gin was not in operation, they would jump from the inside second floor level into the large pen that held clean and un-baled cotton. When the plant closed, the press was moved to Barnhardt Duck Farms, once located a couple miles outside of town and was used to bail duck feathers.

2. Urbanna Labor Day Boat Races

Urbanna Labor Day Regatta was an annual event in town from 1939 to 1966. In 1946, the American Power Boat Association determined the creek was unsafe for inboard racing thus ending the regatta tradition. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning)

The event featured outboard races on Sunday and inboard races on Monday. On Sunday morning, the air smelled of alcohol from the high-speed fuel used in the outboard engines. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

These outboard hydroplanes are in the pits getting ready to go out to the starting line. One of the favorite outboard hydroplanes was named Lobster. The bow was shaped like two lobster claws with a cutout area in the middle to show the separation between claws. (Courtesy Anne Wheeley)

Due to the short race track and for safety reasons, the American Power Boat Association banned inboard racing on Urbanna Creek in 1966. That year, the outboard races were held but in 1967 all racing stopped. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

Baby Majada was a favorite of fans at the regatta. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

The waterfront was filled with fans watching the races from the shore and decks of boats. (Courtesy of Anne Wheeley)

The outboard races on Sunday brought competitors to Urbanna from several surrounding states. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

Urbanna’s own Walter Hurley made the race circuit with E-811 Shufflin Sam, nicknamed “Sam Too.” (Courtesy of Margaret Hurley)

Shufflin Sam finished third in 1951 in the runabout division. (Courtesy of Walt Hurley)

This was just a sampling of the many silver items Walter Hurley won over the years in Shufflin Sam. (Walt Hurley)

Along this beach shore was the staging area for the Urbanna Labor Day Boat Races. The annual races were held on Urbanna Creek from 1940 to 1966. Outboard and inboard hydroplane boats raced for cash and trophies. Outboard races were on Saturday and inboard races on Sunday. The American Powerboat Association (APA) for years warned that the racecourse was too short and was dangerous. Finally, the APA sanction for inboard races was revoked in 1966. The races were sponsored by the Urbanna Booster’s Club and Middlesex Lions Club. The organizers held the outboard races in 1966 but opted to stop the event in 1967. During the early years, there was a beauty pageant and a yacht parade with decorated boats. One year a boat was decorated with a large swan that was carrying the queen of the races and her court. Another year there was a staged battle between replicas of the Merrimac and Monitor. Blanks were fired from canons and firecrackers were shot off to give the effect of gunfire. For most of the years, the racecourse was located on the eastern side of the bridge but for a few years races were held on the western side of the bridge. The bridge was closed to automobile traffic and loaded with spectators from one end to the other watching and cheering the races.

3. Standard Oil Dock

The old Standard Oil Dock can be seen in this 1940s dramatic sky photo looking north on Urbanna Creek. The Standard Oil dock is the farthest wharf on the left. (Courtesy of Carroll C.Chowning Jr.)

Although the Standard Oil Dock is far in the distance, an oyster buying pole and a raft of deadrise oyster boats can be seen. In the foreground is Southern States Granary, Hurley’s Oyster House, Montague’s boathouse and the old Standard Oil Dock. Later, ESSO products were delivered at the dock to J. T. Thrift until trucks took over the hauling of fuel. After that, the dock was operated by World War II Medal of Honor recipient Beryl (Dick) Newman. Today the location is part of the Urbanna Town Marina. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

The Standard Oil Dock, at the far end of the shoreline on left in this photo show buildings built out on the water. Jonathan D. Gressitt ran a general merchandise store near the site and was an agent for Standard Oil Co. (Courtesy of the Town of Urbanna)

At the turn of the 20th century, Standard Oil Co. had a bulk storage plant at this site. It was later known as Urbanna ESSO bulk plant. As an ESSO plant it was managed by J. T. Thrift starting in 1922 and oil was delivered by oil barges until 1965 when trucking took over the business. Prior to barges, gasoline and oil were delivered in barrels on sailing schooners. The Standard Oil Dock had also been used as a steamboat wharf and prior to being called Standard Oil Dock it was named Gressitt and Yates Wharf and later, Gressitt’s Wharf. Jno. D. Gressitt ran a general merchandise store near the site and was a “planter and shipper of shell oysters and agent for Standard Oil Co.” as was detailed on one of Gressitt’s invoices dated March 9, 1910. The wharf was later run in the 1960s by Beryl “Dick” Newman (a Medal of Honor recipient in World War II). The concrete bridge across Urbanna Creek today is named in his honor.

4. Jamison's Cove

The coves headwaters start on Lansdowne property near the Urbanna Post Office and run under Cross Street into a marsh that extends to the cove. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning)

Jamison Cove once had enough water for large sailing vessels to moor. Today, the cove is only deep enough for canoes and kayaks. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning)

This early aerial photo of Urbanna shows the layout of the town in 1930s. The entire breath of Jamison Cove can be seen in this photo. It also shows the fuel tanks at the Standard Oil Dock. (Courtesy of Southside Sentinel)

During colonial times, Jamison’s Cove had enough water depth for ocean going sailing craft to moor. English ships came annually bringing supplies to town merchants and residents originally from Scotland and England. Ships were able then to get up in the cove to offload supplies and load hogheads of tobacco. The waters just south of the entrance to Jamison Cove entrance was used by oyster grower Russell Davis as state leased private oyster grounds. During times when the creek and river were frozen solid, Davis kept a large supply oysters on these grounds. During long freezes he had his crew punch holes in the ice and while standing on the ice, would tong up oysters. They would gather the bushels needed to supply his customers when all other growers were stuck in the ice. During these times, he kept a man on shore 24-hours a day with a shotgun to discourage any thievery.

5. Ferry Landing

Harry L. Garrett had this car ferry boat, Frances B. Garrett built in 1934 and started a ferry that ran from Irvington to Lockies Creek. The boat was named for Garrett’s wife. Around 1935, Harry moved his landing site to Urbanna. It cut time of water travel from the Northern Neck from one and half hours to 18 minutes. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning.)

Since the 1960s, Payne’s Crab House was the seafood hub of Urbanna. Founded by Avery Payne, the crab house operated at this site until about 2012. Avery’s daughters, Catherine Via and Beatrice Taylor operated the crab house after Avery’s death. The 1933 August Storm that flooded Tangier Island brought 13 families to Urbanna to live. Avery and Dora Payne came with their children Melvin, Ed, and Catherine. Later Beatrice and Jonesey were born here. Beatrice went on to become the first female mayor of the Town of Urbanna. The town’s seafood economy has profited greatly from the understanding of the ways of the water brought to town by those 13 Tangier families who made Urbanna their home. Descendants of that group are still in the seafood business here today. Pictured above are, Catherine (Payne) Via with her children. They are, from left, Ricky, Thomas Lee, Donnie, and Tony Walton. (Courtesy of Southside Sentinel.)

This was the site of the ferry landing between Irvington and Urbanna. Beginning on May 15, 1924, a private ferry named Frances B. Garrett ran three days a week across the Rappahannock River. Prior to this, a colonial ferry had operated for many years that came from directly across the Rappahannock River to Urbanna. It was known as Chowning’s Ferry. Ferries ran across the river at different locations in the county until the Robert O. Norris Bridge opened at Grey’s Point on August 30, 1957, connecting Lancaster and Middlesex counties.

6. Oyster Harbor Condominiums

This early 1900s photo shows the waterfront where the Oyster Harbor Condos are located today. (Courtesy of Burton Leaf)

This photo was taken about 1910. The white two-story building in the photo was once the gristmill building on Rosegill Pond. It was moved in 1909 to the town of Urbanna's waterfront near this location. The patent roller mill business was part of the Middlesex Manufacturing & Mercantile Corp. It was later called Powell's Mill and produced the popular "Powell's Pride Flour". (Courtesy Buddy Davis)

This photo was taken before 1909 when the Rosegill Patent Roller Mill had not been moved to Urbanna. (Courtesy of Louise Gray)

The mill produced “high-grade flour and meal, shorts, chop and bran.” (Courtesy of Charles H. Palmer Jr.)

The early J. W. Hurley General Merchandize Store was located on Virginia Street next to the Montague cottage. It was later moved across the road to the waterfront and made into a hotel/restaurant. (Courtesy of Wanda Greenwood Hollberg)

Boyd and Virginia Hurley had it all together on the waterfront when this photo was taken in 1948. Traffic to the hotel/restaurant were coming by land and sea and the seafood part of the business was in full swing. (Courtesy of B. F. Williams)

The hotel/restaurant was filled with customers that came to taste the home style cooking of Joe Cameron who was the chef in the summer months. (Courtesy of B. F. Williams)

Over the years many businesses were located on this site that today houses Oyster Harbor Condominiums. J. W. Hurley and Son Seafood ran a general merchandize store on this site and were packers of “oysters and fruit.” Hurleys’ oyster shucking house was one of the largest in the region with over 50 shuckers working in the plant at a time. The famous “Boyd’s Favorite Urbanna Brand Tomatoes” were canned in the nearby Hurley tomato packing plant. Later, they opened Hurley’s Hotel and Restaurant that was noted for serving fresh caught fish and crabs. The restaurant was later demolished to make way for Norris Granary later known as Southern States Granary elevators that held, corn, wheat and soybeans purchased from local farmers and hauled to large facilities in Norfolk and Salisbury, Md. Town boys of the 1960s can remember shaky and “don’t look down” midnight climbs to the top of the elevators to collect pigeon eggs from nests to hatch out in homemade incubators and to grow the birds to complete their Boy Scout bird study merit badges. Before the granary the town’s ice plant was located here. The plant made block ice weighing 300 pounds (a standard size for commercial ice). It was sold locally to seafood packers and was also delivered house-to-house in town in a wheelbarrow. John Street who lived on Watling Street delivered ice via wheelbarrow and had a scale and ice pick to chip the ice off the block. He was noted for allowing small children of the town to ride atop the ice as he pushed the wheelbarrow down the street. The plant was owned by a Mr. Kennard who hauled ice to steamboat wharves up and down the Rappahannock River in his ice boat named Drannek (Kennard spelled backwards). The plant was loud as it was run by a single cylinder Diesel engine with a flywheel, eight or nine feet in diameter and it made a “great big’ popping noie when it was pulling the compressor to make ice. Another business near this location was Powell’s Mill. The mill was a two-story frame building used to supply flour and cornmeal to customers. It was originally Rosegill Patent Roller Mill, which made “high-grade flour and meal, shorts, chop and bran.” That mill was originally located on Rosegill millpond outside of Urbanna. The Rosegill mill building, along with the patent rollers, were moved in 1909 to this location and traded as the Middlesex Manufacturing Co., advertising “the finest patent roller mill in the area.” The name of the mill was later changed to Powell’s Mill. “Powell’s Pride Flour” was the chief product.

7. Texaco Oil Dock

The Texaco Oil dock and fuel tank can be seen here in full view. (Courtesy of Buddy Davis)

The dock can be seen here with a log canoe at the wharf and a sailing schooner in the creek. (Courtesy of Town of Urbanna)

Sailing schooners brought fuel oil to Urbanna in barrels until large enough tanks were built on the shoreline for fuel storage. Large fuel tankers took over from the sailing schooners and large fuel trucks took over from fuel tankers. After that, fuel was delivered by roads - not water. The entire dock is seen in this photo. (Courtesy of Town of Urbanna)

Wilber Revere, left with hat, ran the Texaco Oil dock from the 1930s into the 1960s when it was purchased by F. L. Hall. The oil dock buildings can be seen in the background. Wilber and his group obviously had a good day fishing. (Courtesy of Anne Wheeley)

Mary Burton and friend are chicken-necking for hard crabs on the family dock. The large onshore tank at the Texaco Oil dock can be seen in the background. (Courtesy of Betty Burton)

This early 1940s photo of Southside Marine shows the Texaco Oil tanks on shore near the Texaco Oil Dock. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

8. Tides Inn

Sun Tan-IV was an early yacht used by Tides Inn to make the Saturday whiskey run from Irvington to Urbanna’s ABC store. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

Miss Ann was purchased by the Stephen family in 1952 and it took four years to be refurbished. Miss Ann started in 1956 making the whiskey run to Urbanna on Saturdays. She is pictured at her regular mooring spot at this location. (Courtesy of the Southside Sentinel.)

Miss Ann is moored on Carters Creek in Irvington as the buyboat P. E. Pruitt passed by. Miss Ann made her last whiskey run to Urbanna on August 16, 2008.The Urbanna Town Council declared the day “Miss Ann Day in Urbanna” and held a reception for the captain, crew and guests. The long tradition that started in 1947 ended. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning.)

As a tribute to the tradition on the Tides 75th birthday in July 2022 Tides Inn had the whiskey run reenacted on a boat trip from Irvington to Urbanna and passed out bottles of whiskey to guest at the Urbanna Town Marina. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning.)

The Tides Inn, a luxury hotel in Irvington in Lancaster County, opened in 1947. Lancaster was a dry county (alcohol free). However, because private clubs were not bound by the same constraints, the Tides owner formed the Chesapeake Club. Middlesex County was a wet county, so the Inn purchased a yacht that made Saturday runs across the river to Urbanna’s liquor store. It was known as the “whiskey run.” Sun Tan IV was an early yacht used by Tides Inn to make the trip but the most famous was the Miss Ann. The Miss Ann was built in 1924 for a Detroit banker, industrialist and yacht collector. Tides Inn purchased the Miss Ann in 1952 and completely refurbished the boat. The refurbishing took four years so in 1956 she started making the whiskey run to Urbanna. When she came to town on Saturdays, she moored at this site.

9. Southside Marine Railway

The Southside Marine Railway and Supply Co. was founded in 1915, the year this invoice was provided to Urbanna resident Nannie Palmer after her son Charlie purchased these plumping items. (Courtesy of Charles H. Palmer Jr.)

This is an early photo of Southside Marine docks before covered slips were introduced. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

Urbanna's Southside Marine set the stage for a new age of recreational maritime development in Middlesex. When this photo was taken in 1948 Southside was the premiere boating facility in the county. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

Ben Williams and family from Richmond are going out for a cruise on his boat, the Vagabond, in 1950 from Southside Marine. During the boating months, boatowners at Southside came to town regularly on weekends. (Courtesy of B. F. Williams)

A fish box, a sturdy dock and running water at Southside Marine provided a good platform for cleaning fish. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)A fish box, a sturdy dock and running water at Southside Marine provided a good platform for cleaning fish. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

Southside Marine Railway was a railway and boating business started in 1915 by Walter Cary Palmer and Newton Weaver. It featured a railway, machine shop, and boat repair facility. Dodge automobiles and Graham Trucks were once sold there as well. The marine railway provided work for local boat repairmen. The Dodge agency folded as other car dealership came to the town and county but the boating part survived for many years. The marina was purchased by Ben Hurley in the 1940s. Hurley added covered boat slips and modernized the facility. The railway was removed in the late 1950s and replaced with a Travel-lift, which then was only the second of its kind located in the state of Virginia. Southside Marine Inc. was the first full-service marina in the area and was a model for all marinas that were to come in Middlesex County.

10. Dixie Pickling Co.

Dixie Pickling Co., owned by Borshay and Sons Co. of Baltimore, can be seen in the far-right corner of this photo. It was a large building built out on oyster shells in Urbanna creek. The Borshays closed this waterfront factory in 1935 and opened another plant about a mile and a half outside of Urbanna on Old Virginia Street Road. That plant closed in the late 1950s. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall.)

Mary Burton taught art at Urbanna School. She was the daughter of Columbus (Lum) and Lucy Burton who owned the Burton House, a boarding house on Watling Street. The pickle factory was located right down the hill from their home and can be seen behind Mary netting a crab. (Courtesy of Betty Burton.)

At this location Dixie Pickling Co. built a pickle factory in the creek. It was later owned by Borshay Pickling company, On January 31, 1916, the Urbanna Board of Trade pledged $92 to encourage the firm to locate in Urbanna. Captain D. M. Nelson and Messrs. Green & Bristow agreed to give 1000 bushels of oyster shells toward the foundation of the pickle house building. The company came to Urbanna and built out in the water on the shoreline at this site. Next to the pickle house, Columbus (Captain Lum) Simon Burton, born in 1845 had a pier with a building on the end near the pickle house. He ran a seasonal business making shaft tongs for oystermen who came to Urbanna during the annual Rappahannock River wintertime oyster tong season. Capt. Lum’s 1898 logbook showed that he sold 105 tong shafts that he made out of ash, fir, and pine wood. He grossed $344.25 from August to December. In the summer he would purchase, and repair old sail powered log canoes to sell to boost his yearly income. According to his 1897 logbook, he sold a rebuilt log canoe for $75. In the warm weather months, Capt. Lum’s daughters used his pier to “chicken neck” for hard-shell crabs which were steamed and served for dinner at the Burton House. Capt. Lum and his wife, Lucy Hackney Burton ran a boarding house up on the hill where many return customers came annually just to get another taste of Lucy’s local cuisine.

11. Jones and Baker Oyster Shucking House

The laddered oyster buying pole of Jones and Bakers oyster house was located near their shucking house near this location. The buying pole was later used by Gus and Randolph Ashburn to buy oysters from local oystermen. (Courtesy of Buddy Wyker.)

Jones and Baker Oyster Shucking House. Bill Jones and Boxley Baker operated an oyster shucking house near this site in the 1940s.

12. Burton's Steamboat Wharf

There were three steamboat wharves in Urbanna, but the main one was Burton’s Wharf at this location. Alfred Palmer was owner and dock master from 1841 to when the landing was sold to Columbus Burton in the 1880s. It was called Palmer’s Wharf before it was known as Burton’s Wharf. (Courtesy of Betty Burton)

Columbus (Lum) Burton ran Burton’s Steamboat Wharf and was in the business of making wooden shaft tongs. Lum, along with his wife Lucy, ran the Burton House, a boarding house that was right up the street from the wharf. (Courtesy of Betty Burton)

This is a rare sight of two steamboats rafted off in Urbanna Creek, perhaps due to a warning of bad weather. (Courtesy of Buddy Davis)

The steamboat Potomac is entering Urbanna Creek. She is bound for Burton’s Wharf. (Courtesy of the Dr. A. L. VanName collection/Deltaville Maritime Museum)

This photo is taken from Lucy and Lum Burton’s front yard overlooking Urbanna Creek at Burton House.(Courtesy of Buddy Davis)

The original owner of this post card of the steamboat Middlesex was staying at the Burton House. (Courtesy of Judy Richwine)

Aubrey Burton, above, ran Burton’s Wharf when Lum Burton retired as dock master. (Courtesy of Betty Burton)

Towards the end of the steamboat era, the name Burton’s Wharf was changed to Urbanna Wharf No. 12. (Courtesy of the Middlesex County Public Library)

Captain Columbus (Lum) Burton with Lucy and family. (Courtesy of Betty Burton)

Lum Burton, the namesake of Burton’s Wharf was Urbanna’s last living Confederate soldier. (Courtesy of Betty Burton)

Burton’s Steamboat Wharf was run by the steamboat agent Aubrey Burton and named Burton’s Wharf for Aubrey’s father Columbus (Lum) Burton. The wharf was originally called Palmer’s Wharf as Alfred Palmer was owner and dock-master from the 1840s until the Burton’s purchased the wharf about 1880. Local canneries, farmers and merchants received and shipped their goods from the wharf to markets in Baltimore, Norfolk and Fredericksburg via steamboat. Passengers bound for any location in Tidewater Virginia and Maryland could book a state room and even arrange for their cars to accompany them aboard the steamers. At this site, the James Adam Floating Theater came each summer to town and moored in this spot. It was an annual event in town from 1915 until it burned in 1941. After being towed from the last river town at which it played, it would arrive in Urbanna on a Sunday afternoon. There was great excitement among the town’s young people when the theater could be seen on the horizon. It was built on top of a barge and towed by two tugboat, Elk and Trouper. The Trouper was the largest tug and used to tow, while the Elk was used more in the docking process. The captain of the Elk was Will Canon of Urbanna. Town youngsters did odd jobs for the theater and were rewarded with free $.35 passes for evening shows. Charlie Hunter and Beulah Adams were theater stars and in 1926 Edna Ferber wrote the novel Show Boat based on her experience with the James Adams Floating Theater.

13. Broom Factory

The broom factory was a single-story cement block building with oyster shells around the perimeter. The business was owned and operated by R. O. and Ed Smith of Saluda. It closed about 1930.

14. Swirley Top

The Swirly Top Drive-In can be seen in this photo. This was the first fast food eatery in Urbanna to serve soft freeze ice cream. (Courtesy of Norma Jean Sears).

This photo shows the tent which provided customers cover to eat and socialize. Customers came by water regularly to purchase fare similar to fast food eateries of today. It was the first fast food establishment in Urbanna. (Courtesy of Bob and Carolyn Henkel)

The Swirley Top was built by Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Henkel in 1950. This was the first fast food takeout business in town. The business had a small building beside the main one for playing pool and sitting around. The business was later run by Catherine Payne Via and under her ownership the best banana milkshakes “in the world” could be purchased. When Urbanna Bridge was moved away from the foot of Watling Street in 1957 to its current site, the business continued to operate for a number of years but closed in the mid-1960s as traffic waned with the change in the road.

15. River Rink

The River Rink was built in the 1930s and it housed the skating rink and bowling alley. It was a main entertainment center in the town and Middlesex County. The sign hanging over the creek encouraged boaters to “Stop Here, A Good Place to Eat, Home Cooking.” (Courtesy of Emily Chowning).

These River Rink roller skaters still have their skates on. The skating rink was a regional weekend destination spot for young people to come and socialize. (Courtesy of Betsy Glasco Hudgins)

The River Rink was built in the 1930s out over the water atop oak pilings and was a two-story structure. The first story contained a skating rink, snack bar, lounge, and had pinball and slot machines. The second story had a bowling alley and rooms for the owner and employees to live. The River Rink burned in 1947.

16. Urbanna Bridge

This survey shows “Road to the ferry” and the location of landing on Urbanna Creek before the first 1858 bridge was built. (Courtesy of Middlesex County Circuit Court)

This early photo of the bridge on Urbanna Creek shows one of the first wooden bridges built across the creek. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning)

The one lane bridge had a passing lane towards the center of the bridge for cars to pass. (Courtesy of Middlesex County Public Library)

This survey shows the wooden bridge and draw on the bridge. (Middlesex County Clerk’s Office/drawing by Klondike Willie Stiff)

For a few years in the early 1930s the Urbanna Labor Day boat races were held on the west side of the bride and fans stood on the wooden Urbanna Bridge to watch. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

Thonton’s Store was located right at the end of the bridge in the Town of Urbanna, where Bridge Marina is located today. Washington (Wash) Thornton’s general merchandise store and barber shop catered to an African American clientele. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning)

This 1940s post card shows the last wooden bridge and draw near the middle of the bridge. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning)

This photo was taken soon after the 1957 concrete bridge was built. (Courtesy of Southside Sentinel)

On August 7, 1858, the Urbanna Toll Bridge Company was formed with the sole purpose of building a wooden bridge across Urbanna Creek. The bridge entered Urbanna at this site. This private company was formed to build the bridge to offset efforts by the county to move commerce to more centralized locations elsewhere in the county. Through the 1849 referendum, county voters removed the county seat from Urbanna and moved it to Saluda. The first bridge was completed in 1859 and was one lane with room in the center of the bridge for two cars to pass. The 1859 bridge was replaced with a new bridge in 1910. That bridge was replaced with a two-lane bridge in 1926 and in 1928 Urbanna Bridge was taken into the Virginia Highway System. The concrete bridge across the creek today was built in 1957.
Located near where Bridge Marina’s sales building was Thornton’s Store. It was one of just a few businesses in town owned by an African American. Washington (Wash) Thornton owned the general merchandise store and barber shop and that his father had run it before him. Wash was the Urbanna Bridge draw span operator for many years too as his business was right next to the bridge. His store clientele was mostly African American. He allowed Black oystermen to moor their oyster boats along his shoreline and many boats were left there to die. The bones of several log canoes are buried in the mud below what is today Urbanna Bridge marina. The store was torn down to build the marina.

17. Water of Spiritual Nourishment

Local Black Baptist Churches used the waters of Urbanna Creek and Rappahannock to nourish the soul. Hand in hand they waded out into the waters and were baptized “To The Glory of God.” (Courtesy of Cavalry Baptist Church)

The waters of Urbanna Creek have provided a livelihood for generations of watermen. Since man first laid eyes on Chesapeake Bay, we have looked to it for food and nourishment. When the Baptist movement first began in the early 1700s, new members of the denomination looked to the creeks and streams to provide a spiritual type of nourishment. This location was the annual baptismal spot for members of the all-Black Lebanon Baptist Church founded in 1891 and once located just outside of Urbanna on Old Virginia Street. Usually once a year, Blacks congregated on the hill leading down to the bridge and creek water to be baptized. Cars were lined up on both sides of the road up to Rosegill hill. When signaled a long line of children and adults dressed in white ropes would walk single file down to the creek. After some preaching and sweet gospel music, they were immersed in the water as an expression of their faith in Jesus Christ. On the other side of the creek, white children sitting on the hillside watched with interest and, for the most part, with reverence.

18. Barn Landing

The location of Barn Landing on Rosegill shore can be pinpointed by this 1920s survey showing Rosegill and portions of Urbanna. (Courtesy of Middlesex County Circuit Court/drawing by Klondike Willie Stiff)

The icebreaker Commodore Maury was in Urbanna Creek when this photo was taken in the 1930s. The schooner in the distance moored out in the water is near Barn Landing. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall.)

Barn Landing was schooner landing where bulk product was brought and loaded onto sailing vessels. The schooner Mildred just left the landing in 1941 with a load of lumber bound for Baltimore, Md. (Dr. A. L. VanName Jr. Collection/Deltaville Maritime Museum)

This post card showing an aerial view of Urbanna’s waterfront shows a portion of the Rosegill shore near Barn Landing. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning.)

Barn Landing was on Rosegill Farm and used as a schooner and deck boat landing for the hauling and delivery of bulk freight – lumber, fertilizer, coal, watermelons, and other bulk commodities.

19. Bones of the Kate H. Highlman

R. O. Smith Sr. of Saluda owned the two-mast sailing schooner Kate H. Tilghman and home ported her on Urbanna Creek. In 1947, as the age of sail was coming to an end Smith abandoned the schooner on Rosegill shore where her bones can still be seen at low tide. (Courtesy of Deltaville Maritime Museum/Dr. A. L. VanName Jr. collection)

This photo was taken of the Kate H. Tilghman abandoned near this spot on July 6, 1947. (Carroll C. Chowning Jr. collection)

The abandoned schooner Kate H. Tilghman can be seen in the distance on Rosegill shore. The Union was a fishing party boat owned by Captain Jack Wyker. This photo was taken circa 1948. (Courtesy of Buddy Wyker)

Several yards from the site of Barn Landing are the bones of the Kate H. Tighlman, a two-mast sailing schooner. After World War II, with the decline of the schooner era and rise of overland trucking, the vessel was beached and left to die on Rosegill shore. The boat was owned by sea captain R. O. Smith Sr. who lived on Oakes Landing Road near Saluda. The centerboard trunk and rips of the vessel could still be seen in the shallows into the 2020s.

20. Boathouse Path

In the summer of 1863 along the Rosegill path leading down to the boathouse John Taylor Wood, nephew to Confederate president Jefferson Davis, launched a series of naval attacks and used Urbanna Creek as his staging grounds. After the capture of two Union vessels, the Rosegill home was used as a makeshift hospital to care for Confederate, and captured Union and former enslaved troops. When it was implied that the Black troops would not be treated, mistress and owner of Rosegill Eliza Bailey, (originally from New York State) made it clear that all would be treated in her house – or none.

21. Ballast Stones

Ballast stones, whose weight stabilized empty sailing ships, have been found near this site on the bottom of Urbanna Creek. Sailing vessels with ballasts in the hold came to Urbanna which was a port of call for conducting business during the tobacco era. When loaded with 1000 lbs.barrels (hogheads) of tobacco the stones were left behind. (Courtesy of the Town of Urbanna)

These three rounded stones are ballast stones. The smaller one was found on the bottom of Urbanna Creek near this location in the early 1960s. The two larger ones were found on shore near a Colonial shipping location known today as “Rock Hole” on Lagrange Creek. (Courtesy of Larry and Dee Chowning)

Round smooth ballast stones once used to define walkways and gardens in the Town of Urbanna are a reminder of the colonial shipping business that was so much a part of the town’s economy. Near this site in several feet of water are piles of ballast stones that were thrown overboard from colonial ships. The ballast was thrown into the creek and replaced with hogshead of tobacco weighing a thousand pounds each.

22. Bailey Point

Bailey’s Point was named for Captain John Bailey who, when he retired as a sea captain, purchased Rosegill in the 1840s. As a boy he grew up in Lancaster County and would look across the Rappahannock River at Rosegill. He spoke of one day living and owning the grand plantation. When he retired from the sea, Bailey and his wife Eliza purchased and lived at Rosegill. (C. C. Chowning Sr collection.)

Captain John Bailey was buried at Rosegill. His body and monument were later moved to the colonial Christ Church graveyard just down the road. His marker reads Capt. John Bailey, born in Lancaster Co. Va., Died at Rosegill, April 6, 1856, Age 58 years. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning)

This early post card shows the amount of industry at the town marina and pines trees on Bailey’s Point. (Courtesy of the Urbanna Public Library)

The long-time town gallow tree on Bailey’s Point can be seen in the distance in this early photo of Urbanna Creek. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning.)

Bailey’s Point can be seen off in the distance. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall.)

Bailey Point was named for Capt. John Bailey of Rosegill. There was an old pine tree on this point used for over 100 years as a gallows tree. During colonial days the tree was used to hang pirates or their body parts as reminders to those willing to break laws that there was swift and definitive justice in Urbanna and throughout the Virginia colony. The tree was used as a hanging tree into the 19th century when Urbanna was the county seat of Middlesex County. The town was the Middlesex County seat (1748 to 1853). The tree was visible from the river and creek and people came down to the water’s edge and watched from boats to witness the hangings. The tree was still standing into the 1930s and referred to then by locals as the gallows tree.

23. Rosegill Beach

From the beginning of the Town of Urbanna’s public beach in the 1940s an Urbanna lad came of age when he was able to swim across the creek to Rosegill beach and back to the town beach. The lure of this private property site brings many people to its sand and is used by generations of boaters and swimmers thanks to the generosity of past and present owners of Rosegill. PHOTO 1: The buyboat East Hampton of Chestertown, Maryland passes-by Rosegill Beach at a recent Chesapeake Bay Buyboat Association Rendezvous at the Urbanna Town Marina. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning)

24. Island Point

The first official dredging project on Urbanna Creek was in 1879 when a channel, 150' wide x 10' deep, was cut through the outer bar in the Rappahannock River. This project extended into 1883 when a depth of 10' was cut through a shoal inside the creek. Dredge spoils were dumped and spread to create what is today called The Point. Squatters moved to The Point and built shanties, which later grew into summer cottages and into today’s modern homes. (Courtesy Southside Sentinel)

These were some of the early cottages on the sand-based point at the mouth of Urbanna Creek. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning Jr.)

This pristine photo of the mouth of Urbanna Creek on a calm summer day shows The Point and jetty. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

It was summertime on a stick for these little girls visiting a cottage on The Point. (Courtesy of Carroll C. Chowning)

Captain Paul Vrooman home ported the buyboat Ellen Marie at The Point in the early 2000s. (Courtesy of Larry Chowning)

Originally there was an island sandbar on the west side of the entrance to Urbanna Creek. After the Civil War, Jimmy Chandler homesteaded the spit by building a small shack up on pilings out on the sandbar. Later, as sand filled in and connected the land to Urbanna, three cottages were built on the spit. The cottages were owned by Mrs. Arthur Chapman, Lewis Kucion and Dr. W. P. Jones. A stone jetty was built in the late 1880s to discourage upriver sand from filling in the channel and to collecting along the spit. Several other cottages were built there over time but only one of the original cottages is standing today. With the introduction of central sewage in the 1960s, landowners agreed to become part of the incorporated Town of Urbanna. Today, some of the finest homes in town are on the island, as some locals still call the land today.

25. Urbanna Beach Hotel

The Urbanna Manufacturing Plant opened in 1901 as an overalls and shirt factory at this site. The building was later converted to Urbanna Beach Hotel. (Courtesy of Mary and Danny Loving)

Donaldson’s Wharf was a private wharf near this location and used by Donaldson Shultz Vinegar & Pickles as a shipping point. Steamboats also used it as a town stop. (Courtesy of Bettie James)

This early photo shows Donaldson’s Steamboat Wharf and Urbanna Beach Hotel. (Middlesex County Public Library)

The shirt factory building can be seen in the far-right edge of this photo. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning)

Urbanna Beach Hotel was an annual summer haven for visitors. The old shirt factory building made a wonderful hotel. It was torn down in the 1980s to make way for Queen Anne’s Cove Condominiums. (Courtesy of Middlesex County Public Library)

The Urbanna Beach Hotel was known for its “good” food as weeklong visitors came to town, stayed at the hotel and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel. (Courtesy of Town of Urbanna)

This early post card shows the interior of the “spacious” screened in porch at the hotel. (Courtesy of the Middlesex County Public Library)

This is another angle showing the old hotel. (Courtesy of Emily Chowning)

Donaldson’s Steamboat Wharf extended out into the creek at this location and the old shirt factory stood on the high ground above the bend in the creek. The business founded as the Urbanna Manufacturing Plant in 1902 made overalls and work shirts and was later converted to the Urbanna Beach Hotel. There was a pavilion on the shore below the hotel and music with live bands and dances were held there. When live music was not available there was a jukebox and young and old enjoyed themselves there at very little expense. A pier extended into the creek and visitors came regularly by boat. Later, the old hotel was purchased by C. D. Dameron who operated it as the Urbanna Lodge and Motel into the 1970s. Dameron built the first swimming pool in town in the early 1960s. Although the old shirt factory building has been demolished the swimming pool is still there as part of Queen Anne’s Cove Condominiums.

26. Urbanna Swimming Beach

Freta Greenwood and friend swim in Urbanna Creek, in the days when swimwear was a bit different from today. (Courtesy of Wanda Greenwood Hollberg)

Urbanna Beach was a private/public partnership between several town landowners and town government. The town maintained the diving platform and the wire fence designed to keep stinging nettles out. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

Pictured above standing on the shoulders of a boyfriend is Beatrice Payne, the first female mayor of the Town of Urbanna, who is spending a summer day at Urbanna Beach. (Courtesy of Beatrice Payne Taylor)

Boyd and Virginia Hurley’s Great Dane was a regular in 1955 at Urbanna Beach. (Courtesy of Margaret Hurley)

The town beach was often visited by town folk after Sunday church and not always to swim - just to relax. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

The public beach fencing can be seen in the background of this 1949 photo. (Courtesy of Joe Cardwell)

The beach can also be seen in this early photo during the outboard motor era on the creek. (Courtesy of Joe Cardwell)

This “Greetings” post card promoted the water activities in Urbanna in the 1950s. (Courtesy of Pat Marshall)

The Urbanna town swimming beach was located at this site. The beach was wide and sandy. Pilings were installed enclosing the swimming area and fish net was attached to the pilings to keep stinging nettles out. Later on, frames with small mesh wire were used to accomplish the same effect. A pier with a diving board complimented this activity. Many children learned to swim here under the direction of Mr. Bill Jones whose patience extended but so far. When a child was ready to swim but still had doubts, Mr. Jones method of learning was “sink or swim.” Many a lad was thrown into deepwater by Mr. Jones with those instructions. No one ever drowned! The beach land was privately owned by the owners of “Terrapin Hill” and leased by the town for a dollar a year.