An Ancient Virginia Town.

Onancock, Va., July 28, 1906.

To the Editor of the American: As every schoolboy knows, the first settlements of Maryland and Virginia were along the tidal waters. Very many of the F. F. V's located on the creeks and Bay armlets that make in from the lower Chesapeake east and west. At the head of Onancock Creek is Onancock Town, and a very ancient and interesting old town it is. You must not call it primitive; if you do you will find yourself in sudden and serious trouble if you happen to be talking to one of the patriotic daughters of this picturesque settlement that has a history that dates back far beyond the Revolution. She will remind you quickly that Onancock has gas, electric lights, running water in most of the houses, a half score or so of gasoline launches kept for pleasure purposes, a "Luna Park" that is a close reproduction of the Coney Island affair, and, therefore, how can it be called primitive? But primitive it is to all appearances -- delightfully, restfully so. The summer boarder army has not yet found Onancock out to any large extent, though there are several large boarding-houses that cater to the summer people from the cities.

I have said that Onancock is primitive, and I suppose it is up to me to tell how it is primitive. It is not the people that give the impression of old-time simplicity, but the town itself, the old-fashioned houses and, above all, the old-fashioned front yards. Some of these yards extend back 300 feet from the pavement, a graveled walk leading from the front gate, through clusters of ancient trees up to an old-fashioned house that looks truly of the George Washington period. It is a pity that it is so, but there are some modern houses built flush with the pavement. Most of the residences, however, are in a deep and shaded seclusion. In a number of these great front yards there are clusters of tomb stones showing that the lawns were of old, used as family burying grounds. The honk of the automobile has broken the stillness of Onancock, but, on the other hand, the ox in the shafts of a two-wheel cart, slowly drawing a load of sweet potatoes to the steamboat wharf, is quite common. For another thing, the men of Onancock who meet a stranger on the streets bow and touch their hats. That is primitiveness, which ought not to be let go.

Captain Joynes, of the steamer Pocomoke, was raised in the "sphere of influence" of Onancock, and he knows every catfish hole in the river that makes from the Bay up to the town. He has been in the steamboat business for more than 30 years, and knows within a fraction of an inch the depth of water over every sand bar and clam flat from the mouth of the Patapsco to the shore of Accomac. And the Captain knows, too, how to make the passengers enjoy the run, whether it be up or down the Chesapeake. He has a store of Bay lore that is well worth tapping, and if some enthusiastic passenger strays away from the landing into a Pocomoke [River] jungle, trailing musk rats or raccoons, the Captain will toot for him seven times and give the misguided one a run for his life to make the gangplank before he will leave him to the solitudes. I have some very tempting reasons for saying things about the Captain of the Pocomoke, but I must forbear.

The Onancock River -- creek they call it -- is a very beautiful Bay armlet, with high, bluffy banks on either side and highly developed farms extending back from the shore lines. Several of the great plantations of the slave period are located on this short river, though without exception they have now been cut into smaller farms. The home [Onley plantation] of "Old Governor Wise," who "slapped the specs upon his eyes" and "sent John Brown to the Happy Land of Canaan," stands on the river shore a short distance from the town. The place is what is called locally "run down." It is not in the Wise family any longer. Many of the old oaks of the park are yet vigorous, but a scrubby undergrowth now extends down to the river shore. The old negro cabins have mostly disappeared, but a half-dozen or so of them remain, though in a dilapidated condition. There are many other picturesque "remains" of once proud plantation homes along the river.

Onancock is the great sweet potato emporium of the world -- and that is no joke. In the counties of Accomac and Northampton the sweet potato vine meanders over pretty much the whole surface -- there are hundred-acre field of potatoes. During September and October every steamboat and railroad train leaves loaded with the big rootlets. It is a very common thing for 1,000 barrels of potatoes to be piled on Onancock wharf awaiting the toot of the steamboat. Potato growing in this section is said to be sometimes enormously profitable -- the gross returns being $100 per acre, and even more. The crop this year is a little backward, though it is expected to "come on" during the next 40 days wonderfully. Onancock is tributary to Baltimore, and has been for more than a century. It is not a railroad town, being several miles away from the road down the peninsula to Cape Charles. It is a steamboat town exclusively, and all the steamboats from there come to Baltimore.

REPSAC.