Hog Island and Vicinity
HOG ISLAND, as it will always be remembered by native longshoremen and sportsmen of this generation, notwithstanding the more euphonious title Broadwater that has recently been given it, is anchored in the Atlantic Ocean some ten miles off the coast of Virginia and about twenty miles north of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay>.
The better known Cobb's Island lies just south of Hog Island, and an alluring place it used to be for the sporting fraternity. The sea broke forcefully upon the exposed side, while on the other there was a calm salt water bay stretching out for miles toward the mainland, and this afforded a haven for geese, swans and ducks. Shore birds visited the island in great number, and oysters, clams, crabs, terrapin and various kinds of fish seemed inexhaustible. So many combinations of enjoyable pastimes could be indulged in on this island day after day, that it became probably the most popular resort for sportsmen on the Atlantic coast, but the sea, by persistent pounding upon the shore line, cut further into it, until the buildings of the settlement were undermined one by one, and finally all traces of what had been there was swept away, excepting only a narrow strip of sand known as a bar.
Hog Island resists the assaults of the sea and is now well wooded with sweet smelling pine trees, and in the midst of a grove of these the Broadwater Sportsmen's Club has attractive headquarters. Some 300 people inhabit this island and throughout the year, and excepting those
employed in the lighthouse and life-saving service, gain a livelihood from harvesting sea food. The unique features of the place are luxuriant fig trees, which bear abundantly season after season, the great number of ever present musical mockingbirds and also the primitive customs of some of the natives. Two aged sisters, for instance, who seem too decrepit to live alone and whose dwelling seems equally infirm, continue to herd their sheep, shear them, spin wool into knit mittens and socks for sale to the men who expose themselves to the elements.
North of Hog Island lies Parramore Island, which is almost covered by a remarkable growth of cedar. The only inhabitants are members of the life-saving corps and droves of self-supporting ponies, cattle and sheep. Fresh water lakes on this island attract numbers of shore birds and black ducks, the shooting privilege being leased to two neighboring clubs named Revells Island [Club] and Accomac [Club]. The members of those clubs also shoot over the marshes of the State.
These marshes or meadows are intersected by many winding channels through which the sea water flows with increasing or diminishing volume and impetuosity in obedience to the mysterious law of tides. A casual observer would probably condemn them as an impediment to a broader view of the water, but in addition to being the feeding ground of game birds and the resort of many great blue herons, bittern and various varieties of gulls, all of which interest a landsman, the vigorous growth of brilliant green grasses that frequently change their hue in the varying lights of the day and night, is a never-ending pleasure to one who is genuinely in touch with the out-of-doors.
Marshes are apt to be thought of as miasmatic, mosquito breeding and generally objectionable, but the tides leave these particular ones twice daily and so saturate the soil with purifying brine that the neighboring air is charged with this vitalizing influence. Unlike the sea, which is apt to be overawing, the marshes apply for intimacy, and one soon feels on a friendly footing with them and looks toward them every now and then to see whether they are disappearing into or emerging from the tidewater and whether their countenance be clouded by shadows or shimmering in the sunlight.
The shooting could be very much improved all along the coast if the government could be prevailed upon to shield migratory birds. Every female bird killed in this vicinity during the spring flight is filled with eggs, and besides this appalling consequential depletion, the nests of the clapper rail or marsh hens are openly robbed by anyone who feels disposed.
It seems impossible to get the adjoining States, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, to enact protective laws because the citizens of each suspect their neighbors of an intention to take advantage of and reap benefit from any initial progressive action by any one of them.
The clubs referred to above which are of value to the State of Virginia because of the payment of license fees by visiting sportsmen, the employment of native guides and the purchase of supplies would welcome a reform in the game laws and so would the guides who comprehend the amount of revenue that would result form an improvement in the sport.