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Some thirty years after the colonists landed at Jamestown the earliest Church of England on the Middle Peninsula, Piankatank Church, was built in the area of present day Hartfield. On January 29, 1666, “seventeen Vestrymen from the parishes of Piankatank and Lancaster met at the home of Sir Henry Chichley’ to combine the two congregations into a single parish and build a new “Mother” church. The newly created Christ Church Parish grew to importance in the center of the tobacco fields of the new colony and would be led by some of the most prominent and wealthy of the Cavalier planters of Virginia.” The current brick church was completed in 1714 to replace the original wooden church located in the same area. Christ Church Parish has an active congregation that enjoys worshipping in a beautiful space and using silver service pieces dating back to the early 1700’s. We invite you to visit our web site www.christchurchmiddlesex.com. Christ Church Parish Middlesex, Virginia 1666-2016 Gordon Eliot White pg 2

The Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society is pleased to have on display a collection of fossilized bones and shells on loan by a local resident. Along the shores of the Piankatank River, near the site of an 1800’s trash dump, is a Miocene layer of soil. Within this site, fossilized bone fragments emerge along with bottles and shells, and small whole scallop shells from the Rappahannock River along with a clam casement are found. A natural Gypsum Crystal “Desert Rose,” fossilized horse teeth, a portion of a whale flipper and other “finds” surface. Interested in learning more about these finds or seeing them for yourself?

Exhibit work is always fun. The project list is varied and ongoing. With such a diverse selection, we hope that you find something that will appeal to you. You can make a difference! Please help us and share your time. Sample: Cataloging Minerals, Cataloging Fossils, Revolutionary War Soldier Research, Yard Maintenance, Dusting and Vacuuming Cataloging Mineral Collection Large personal collection of minerals gifted to museum needs to be cataloged into the museum collection. All are identified but many need background descriptive information added to the name. This can be done at home in a word document and then provided to the museum. Would require typing skills and some research time. Photographs provided to work from. Cataloging Fossil Collection Our extensive collection of fossils needs to be identified and cataloged into the museum collection. Most need background descriptive information added to name. Can be done at home in a word document and then provided to museum. Would require typing skills and some research time. Photographs provided to work from. Revolutionary War Soldier Research Need help researching Middlesex soldiers who served in Revolutionary War. Names will be provided. Project collects information from pension records. Can be done at home in a word document and then provided to museum. Would require typing skills and some research time. Would like to take results and apply to a reference map of the eastern colonies. Yard Maintenance Need someone to walk the grounds and pick up sticks and debris. Help trim bushes. Would be done on a weekly basis. Time: Roughly 30 minutes to 1 hour a week. Dusting and Vacuuming Need someone to make museum tidy for our visitors. 30 minutes a week. Contact the museum for further details Fall 2025 - Press Release Saluda, VA—As part of a coalition of more than 40 local organizations across the River Counties region, The Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society today celebrated the official launch of Volunteer River Counties, a free, online volunteer hub connecting residents and visitors in Lancaster, Middlesex, and Northumberland counties with opportunities to get involved and give back to the community. “The museum is thrilled to have a new avenue for volunteers to reach out and connect with us about our ongoing opportunities that could utilize their gifts and skills. With such a wide variety of projects to help us with, the partnership will enable everyone to feel enriched and valued for our time spent together,” says museum director Holly Horton. “ The Middlesex County Museum is looking for educators, researchers, writers, exhibit helpers, artifact inventory specialists, docents, and event planners. Community members are invited to explore the September schedule and sign up for volunteer opportunities on the Volunteer River Counties hub, which is now accessible for residents and visitors to explore at VolunteerRiverCounties.org. Registration for the Volunteer River Counties hub is free and individuals who register for an account before September 27 will be entered in raffles to win local prizes, including tickets and other incentives. Volunteer River Counties was initiated through planning efforts led by Serve Virginia, the Virginia Service Foundation, and the River Counties Community Foundation, with funding from the Robert B. Lantz Foundation. For additional information, please contact Volunteer River Counties Project Coordinator Elizabeth Richardson at elizabeth.richardson@dss.virginia.gov.

Captain John Smith visited our area in 1608 as he traveled around the Chesapeake Bay region. He and his crew took laborious notes, made drawings and sketches, and captured the most detail-oriented facts about our local Native life as recorded up to that time. All was combined to create a map published in 1612 which became known as the John Smith Map. It is a fundamental building block in our map collection here at the museum. Nova Virginiae Tabula drawn by Henricus Hondius is a 1630 map of the Virginia Colony and the Chesapeake Bay. Oriented to the West, this map covers from Cape Henry to the Susquehanna River and inland as far as the Appalachian Mountains. The Chesapeake Bay is shown in full as are many of its river estuaries. Another early map, Virginia and Maryland As it is Planted and Inhabited this present Year 1670 was drawn and researched by cartographer Augustine Herrman. We have a beautiful copy of this map that is helpful in the understanding of how the Chesapeake region grew early in its settlement. The Fry-Jefferson Map, first published in the summer of 1753, depicts the waters and shorelines, mountains, early county divisions and settlements up to that point in the Colony of Virginia. It was drawn by cartographer and surveyors Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson (who was the father of Thomas Jefferson, another local Virginian). Our museum has spent the past 15 years pulling together historical maps that include Middlesex County in their depictions. We use them in our educational outreach to the schools that visit the museum, but all are also available to the general public. Through a variety of grants, we have developed hands-on learning materials that meet the SOL history curriculum requirements for the state of Virginia. These materials were created to enhance the viewing and interaction of students with our exhibits: puzzles, scavenger hunts, word searches, worksheets, and games. Dominion Energy recently awarded the Museum a generous grant to develop our mapping collection and worksheet collection into an educational materials station placed in the floor plan of the museum. We are currently in the final stages of making this station a reality and will soon have our materials available to our locals who stop by with their grandchildren or the many tourists that visit the campgrounds during family vacations. Our large collection of historical maps that include Middlesex County from the 1500s through the 1900s, will now be housed in a five-drawer map case. Two free standing cases of multiple slots for worksheet materials will be divided into time frames that correlate to the divisions within the museum itself. This will allow visitors to quickly find materials by theme, say for WWI verses Native Americans. Also included are two long rectangular table with chairs for a workspace to spread both the maps and papers out to work with them. Writing utensils as well as clipboards and magnifying glasses will give visitors supportive access to their museum explorations, and a storage area will keep all organized.

Ahh…Marriage. That blissful step taken by couples to unite their lives as one. This month that we embrace currently, June, has proven historically to be the most popular month to tie the knot. Between folklore and superstitions, correctly spacing the ceremony after Lent, practical concerns of bride giving birth the following spring before the fall harvest, and when the best flowers were available for the ceremony seem to all have played a part in June becoming the favorite month for nuptials in the western world. Page eleven of the Christ Church Parish Register lists the very first marriages in Middlesex County, Virginia to be in the year of our Lord 1660. William Baldwin and Margret Cook married December 19th, 1660. Robert Thompson and Marg’ Welch widow of John Welch February 19th, 1660. Richard Howell and Ann Wilburton married April 12th, 1662. Thomas Cordwell and Elizabeth Collyer were recorded, but with no date. Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Welch April 11th, 1662. And lastly, John Blewford and Elizabeth Parrat are also recorded but also without a date. In the earliest days in the Colony of Virginia, the groom had to appear before the clerk of the county court to obtain a marriage license. Our courthouse marriage record books have pages and pages of grooms listed with their intended brides’ names as they followed protocol and planned for their futures together. By the 1850s, 190 years later, they are requesting much more information about the couples and their families and such. Certificates were filled out to obtain a marriage license in the clerk of the court’s office. By then they were collecting the couples’ full names, the age of each of the parties, whether they are single or widowed, place of birth and current residence, the names of the parents, and the occupation of the husband. Research gathered from a trip to the clerk’s office of our county; we find William Curtis Bristow (34) and Maria Adeline Bristow (25) both from Middlesex who were both single. (Maybe cousins based on their names and their listed parents’ names.) They married on the 5th of January 1859. He listed his occupation as mail contractor. (Utilizing more of our county’s historical records, we find that this union was fruitful, they had five children and Curtis died some 40 years later in 1904.) In celebration of love across time in Middlesex, a new exhibit is opening at the Middlesex County Museum called “Tying the Knot.” It looks back across centuries of weddings in our county. Included in the exhibit are 1800s marriage announcements, 1900s wedding invitations, multiple marriage licenses, two wedding gowns, flower girl dresses, bridal portraits and wedding photo albums. We have also included bridal gifts with family heirlooms that have been passed down through families from bride to bride. Please stop by the museum to look at our historical record of love in Middlesex County.

A Revolutionary War Tale That February, at the age of 23, Peter Taff crossed the county line from Middlesex and journeyed north to Essex County. There he signed possibly the first legal document of his life as he enlisted for the term of two years into the 7th Virginia regiment of the Virginia line in the service of the United States. His brigade was under the command of General Woodford that two years spanning 1776 to 1778. According to his pension record that involved an oral interview, Taff recalled this service in the State of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. For this article, I have added research to better understand the nature of the battles with which he was involved. On January 20, 1777, Taff was in the battles at Somerset Court house [a battle more commonly known as the Battle of Millstone or the Battle of Van Nest's Mill]. The American leader of that battle was Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson of the New Jersey militia who has since been dubbed one of the most effective militia officers of the Revolutionary War. (Dickinson was also a Continental Congressman from Delaware and later a United States Senator from New Jersey). A British foraging party of 500 men, led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercrombie was raiding the local farms for supplies Dickinson wrote in a letter to Colonel John Nielsen on January 23rd, “I have the pleasure to inform you that on Monday last with about 450 men chiefly our militia I attacked A foraging party near V. Nest mills consisting of 500 men with two field pieces, which we ratted after an engagement of 20 minutes and brought off 107 horses, 49 wagons, 115 cattle, 70 sheep, 40 barrels of flour, and 106 bags and many other things. And 49 prisoners.” It was indeed a successful win for the American soldiers involved despite the heavy winter weather and snow on the ground described in historical accounts. As the war unfolded, British Army General Sir William Howe sought to capture Philadelphia, the largest city in the colonies and the seat of the Continental Congress. A prize indeed. American General George Washington would not have that. The two met at the battle of Brandywine fought on September 11, 1777. It became the largest single day engagement of the American Revolution. Nearly 30,000 soldiers squared off on a 10 square mile area of 35,000 acres of land in the skirmish. Our soldier Taff was there. (And so was British General Charles Cornwallis and the French General Marquis de Lafayette, two officers who will play an important role in the future at our local Virginia battlefield in Yorktown.) Later on October 4, 1777, Taff was involved in the battle at Germantown, a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign again between General Howe and General Washington. The British forces totaled 9,000 men while American forces involved 8,000 Continentals and 3,000 militiamen. Heavy fog and falling darkness were major players in this battle that was a defeat for the Americans. Washington’s Army lost roughly 700 men killed and wounded with an additional 400 Americans captured. The British suffered more than 500 casualties. Taff left his regiment four months later in February of 1778. That winter had no major, large-scale battles, but it best known for the brutal winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Taff’s records do not mention that event but, yes, the 7th Virginia Regiment was part of the winter encampment at Valley Forge. They marched into camp in December of 1777 with the rest of the 12,000 member Continental Army under General Washington. At the end of Taff’s paperwork, his pension records states “The court In testimony whereof the Court do certify that it appears to their satisfaction that the said Peter Taff did serve in the revolutionary war, as stated in the preceding declaration, against the common enemy for the term of 2 years at one time, on the Continental establishment.” Peter Taff was pensioned at the rate of $8 per month commencing April 27, 1818. In 2026 money that would be $209.66. Thank you, Peter Taff. We the residents of Middlesex County express our gratitude for your service.

Though times change, one thing remains constant: the bond between mothers and their children. From farm fields to riverbanks, from school events to Sunday dinners, Middlesex County has been shaped by the strength, love, resilience, and contributions of its mothers. Today we celebrate the women who nurtured generations and kept our community rooted in compassion. Happy Mother's Day to our Middlesex moms, and thank you for all you do! Pictured below are images of mothers throughout the decades. You’ll notice differences in clothing and locations, but the essence of motherhood is very much still present. We also have a very special submission from one of our museum volunteers, Kathy, who is pictured with FOUR generations of Middlesex women: Fannie Purkins Woodward, Bettie Woodward James, Betsy James Simmons, and Kathy Simmons Page from 1963 at historic Walboro. Drop a photo in the comments of you and your mom, your kids with you, or a throwback image of your mother to continue the celebration and enjoy some precious memories of motherhood together!

I have spent a lot of time over the last year doing research on the county. Looking at facts and figures, some specific and some general, that define our peninsula at different points in time. I thought I would share some from 1850 with you today. We are a peninsula with a fixed geographic footprint that is the same today as 1850. Our land area measures approximately 130 to 132 square miles and the U.S. Census Bureau states the total area, including water, is 211 square miles. This land consists of roughly 83,200 to 84,480 acres, including significant shoreline of 135 linear miles along the Rappahannock and Piankatank Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. In 1850, the Acres of Land in Farms is listed as Improved is 34,828, and Unimproved. 37,645. That’s a total of 72,473 acres. That would leave roughly 11,000 unaccounted for…interesting. There were 4,394 people calling Middlesex home that year. On the census it broke down as: White 1,903, Free Colored 149, and Enslaved 2,342. These people lived in 401 White and Free Colored owned dwellings with 401 families living in them. Living with the families on this land were livestock. This included Horses 450, Asses and Mules 130, Milch (Milk) Cows 889, Working Oxen 903, and other Cattle 1,784. Also included were Sheep 2,281, and Swine 5,696 for a Value of Livestock of $96,907. The Value of Animals slaughtered is listed at $32,458 or around a third. So, what were these 401 families growing on these farms one wonders. Produce included: Wheat bushels 30,762, Indian Corn Bushels 134,253, Oats Bushels, 8,861, Peas and beans bushels 948, Irish Potatoes bushels 3,832, Sweet potatoes bushels 8,381 and Hay tons 111. The census does not list milk gallons but does list Butter pounds 26,277. Another product listed is Beeswax and honey, pounds 880. When sheered of their coats, our sheep provided 5,230 pounds of wool. Consider that this was before the arrival of steamships in the 1870s. There was much less commerce with the outside world in the 1850s. That would develop with our linkage with Baltimore through the steamships. This type of information is explored in the exhibits at the Middlesex County Museum. We are opened Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 10:00-2:00 and Saturday 1:00-3:00 or you can visit us at Middlesexmuseum.com.

The Middlesex County Museum wishes to acknowledge and thank our various volunteers who have helped to support our mission of celebrating the culture and history of life here in Middlesex County. These people have provided an array of services across various aspects of the operation and outreach of the museum. The museum has then in turn, provided a community service within our schools and general population. Volunteer Andrew Horton dressed as a colonial seaman to attend Education Day at the annual Urbana Oyster Festival in November working with elementary and middle school students. He guided and expanded their understanding of colonial craftsmen from our area making bricks. Working with grinding oysters and mixing them together with our local clay, water and sand the students replicated building materials that were used to construct colonial buildings that still stand in Middlesex County today. Museum volunteers Vel Gray and Claudia Soucek visited with MHS history students who toured the museum in April. They helped students with a scavenger hunt designed around the World War II exhibit including Middlesex veterans and their personal stories. The students heard a first-hand family account of Soucek’s uncle’s story of being shot down over France 4 days after D-Day. New county resident Renee Loustaunau joined our pool of volunteers after visiting our tent at Arts in the Middle event. She began working with us researching and installing exhibits. She then transitioned to working with records related to our accessions. She has captured specific information on each item that has been donated to the museum which then allows David Jett to enter it into the computer system. She has also helped with research into the background information about the objects and the time period that they came from. New volunteer David Jett has helped us with accessions work on the computer by inputting donated items and their specific details into our PastPerfect software program. This allows access to the information for future exhibits and community talks. Stephanie Mulligan has helped as a volunteer with our accessions. She has helped clean historic textiles that were from the 1920s. Utilizing a slow soaking processing, she removed decades of dirt, dust, and mite dander from fragile fabric. They show beautifully after drying in the sun. We have added her latest work to the collection of children's clothing here in the main museum. And of course, our gratitude is overflowing for the extensive time our volunteer board of director members give to the museum each month. They have donated their time and energy to guide our museum with programming, fundraising, and growth. They have been a big asset, and we greatly appreciate their advice and time. Thank you: Marilyn South (President), Rev. Dr. Robert W. Prichard (Vice President), Evelyn Beaumont (Secretary), Kathy Simmons Page (Treasurer), Bessida Cauthorne White (Executive Board Liaison), Minister Davelin Gresham, Dr. Byron Bishop, Joyce Allan, Lee Anderson, and William Budd. An additional thank you goes to our Advisory Board who guide us with their opinion of matters facing the museum. They include for the 2025-2026 year: Rev. Woodland Holmes, Robert L. Montague, Rev. Scott Krejci, Barbara Cockrell, Ed Fisher, Barbara Lovelace, Cynthia Lewis, Celane Roden, Claudia Soucek, Rob Warner, Larry Chowning, Jackie Taylor, Vel Gray, and Cindi Phares. If you have a love of history, we would love to have you join us at the museum. There are many ways to volunteer including research, computer entry, hosting tours at the museum, or costumed event participation.

The Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society is pleased to present its new logo. Founded in 1935 and moving through its 90 th year, the Museum wanted a fresh new emblem. The design was developed to highlight various historical aspects of the peninsula. The crown in the center is pulled from the Middlesex County Seal badge that consists of two of the seaxes and the Saxon crown that says "Middlesex." These items will be familiar to anyone who is familiar with heraldry. The farmer represents the county’s long, rich, and diverse history of farming by the indentured, free, and enslaved residents of the past. The oyster represents the abundance of our waters which surround our lands and have provided both nourishment and employment for watermen and their families. The canoe and paddle represent our indigenous residents who first populated our shores and lived off the abundant natural resources present here.

If you’ve ever wondered how delicate garments from decades past are safely cleaned, the answer is: very carefully! Not all textiles are cleaned the same way. Each piece is cleaned one at a time because historic textiles are so delicate and require their own method depending on age, fabric type, condition, and construction.  This week, we watched our newest volunteer, Stephanie, bring pieces of history back to life through the careful cleaning of two lovely vintage boys' sailor suits. To begin, she mixed cold water with Orvus paste, stirring until it dissolved. She then slowly lowered the garment into the mixture and left it to soak for 30 minutes, allowing decades of dust to loosen without harming the fibers. After the first soak, she used gentle, open-palmed motions to move the suit up and down in the water without wringing, twisting, or squeezing. The piece was soaked again for another 30 minutes, giving the solution time to work its quiet wonders. Once fully cleaned, she lifted the garment out, supporting its weight with both hands underneath and letting the water drip into the tub. A cool rinse, a sun drying session, and a whole lot of patience later, these beautiful clothing pieces are ready to shine once more in our Children’s Exhibit. Stop by and see these freshly restored treasures on display!

In honor and celebration of Women’s History Month, I thought we could look at some life-stories from our county’s past. Throughout our long history we have had many women step up to the plate and make their mark in the varied times that they lived. Gumption, tenacity, bravery: these girls knew what had to be done. They rolled up their sleeves and got to work. As supporting roles in their lives as wives and mothers, they also left their marks in their offspring and their lives. Let’s look at these ladies chronologically, and start with Agatha Eltonhead (baptized 1623) .  You have to admire her.  Her father, Richard Eltonhead from England, was a well-known Royalist who suffered a severe financial setback after the civil war. For assisting the king's forces against the parliament, he was penalized and endured a reverse of fortunes. Agatha and several of her sisters were sent to the American colonies to find husbands amongst the Royalists who had already fled there. At a young age, she was sent to a new country far away from all she knew. There she met and married Luke Stubbins of Accomack and York counties and helped to develop his career and expand the family land holdings.  (There is not a surviving historical record for this marriage.) When Luke died, his connections helped her marry another, Ralph Wormley, Sr. whom she married at the age of 22. At that time, he was a justice for York County. He became a member of the House of Burgesses soon after and bought 3,200 acres in Middlesex County. There they together built Rosegill Plantation House. They had two sons. But then Ralph dies in 1651. Two years later, at the young age of 29, Agatha again marries, a third time, to Sir Henry Chicheley. He was the lieutenant governor for the Virginia colony .  Daddy’s connections pay off as Sir Henry was also a Royalist who had to leave England. Her third marriage lasted 29 years. Historical records show that she spent much time with her sisters that traveled across the ocean with her and that her husband and their husbands served together in Virginia’s governing body. Our second story is of Lucy Grymes. Her father Phillip Ludwell Grymes and their extended family members were amongst the most politically influential and powerful citizens of the early Virginia colony. Born in 1743, she was the eldest of 8 children. She was well-educated and throughout her life, lived amongst her many male cousins and uncles who would become the Founding Fathers of our nation and signers of the 1776 Declaration of Independence. She married Thomas Nelson, Jr. early in her life and was by this side as he became a member of the House of Burgesses, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of Virginia during the War for Independence. They had 11 children together which survived to adulthood. But then her life took a turn. By the end of the war, the family’s personal fortune was ruined. The Nelsons had used their substantial money to pay for the costs of the militia and other needs of the war. They were never recompensated. Her husband’s health declined and he died. She outlived Thomas by some thirty years but never remarried. With the help of her sons and daughters and frugal management, Lucy endured throughout her long widowhood: through sickness, blindness, and the deaths of four of her children. Lucy died at the age of 82 in 1830 and at the time of her death, had 119 living descendants. Our third resident also lived during the 1700s.  As a young bride, Priscilla Chowning’s husband left to serve as a soldier in 7 th  Virginia Regiment and died fighting for Independence in 1778. Pricilla was not from a wealthy family and was illiterate and unable to read or write. She did not own land. We do not know a lot about her as she left few historical records. We do know that she fought for her war pension. After the war was over, and nine years after her husband died, she was granted an annual sum of six-pound sterling to support her and her son. She signed the official paperwork for the pension each year with an X. And our fourth story takes place just a little after Priscilla’s. In 1810, Cedar Park Plantation was built for James Ross. James was a Scottish Factor and owned a store located in Urbanna (which is still standing today). He was a prosperous businessman and prominent community leader.  At his death in 1825, James Ross freed five of his enslaved Africans and in an unprecedented move for the times left the plantation and all his land holdings to descendants of his "mulatto" enslaved African, Mary Woodford (who died in 1801). Her strong influence and steadfast devotion to her family was rewarded after her death.

The museum was gifted 3 humpback whale bones this week through a donation by Joe Ransone of Wake. His father Carl Ransone, Sr. found them in the mid 1970’s in Wake on the banks of the Rappahannock River, near Bushy Park.    These bones will join our exhibit of marine life including other whale bones. Middlesex’ geographic location is along the migratory path of the humpback whale. As the humpbacks migrate south from their home in the cold waters off Greenland down to the West Indies to breed and calve, they would stop off in the food-rich waters at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Here the whales dine on small fish such as menhaden and bait fish found in our waters. Some explore up the bay and along the rivers. The museum has many whale fossils as well as a set of shoulder and flipper bones donated to the museum in the 1970s. These bones were found at the mouth of the Rappahannock River by a local fisherman when they got caught in his nets. The museum has a nice collection of fossils and skeletal bones of a variety of animals that have lived here on our peninsula in Middlesex. It is one of the favorite sections of our museum for visitors young and old. This area of the Chesapeake was underwater multiple times during the last 25,000,000 years so we also have a very nice collection of aquatic fossils including megalodon shark’s teeth and a variety of large corals. This fossil collection also includes dinosaur bones. For more information about Humpback Whales visit:  https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/humpback-whale

Middlesex was ranked as 80 th in the Ninety-five Virginia Counties included in the census survey. Our total population was 4,392 with over half, 2,209, enslaved people. Maryland established an oyster shucking house in Baltimore in 1836. The first large shucking house in Virginia was opened in 1859 in Norfolk, and Middlesex sent our oysters from the Piankatank and Rappahannock Rivers to both cities. We were a farming community, our local crops of beans, melons, and tomatoes were big sellers. They were transported to Baltimore on steamships that linked our locals to the big city’s larger sales market. Cattle grazed our open land, and their hides were in demand to be utilized by the four tanneries in Middlesex. They sold the finished pieces to be turned into gloves, shoes, boots, saddles and harnesses. Seven sawmills, spread across the county, provided the timber industry with finished goods. There were 11 gristmills that ground local wheat and corn into flour and meal for flapjacks and corncakes. There was a brick and lime business that ground the oyster shells and mixed them with the local sand and clay to make building materials.

Working with over twenty student groups formed from six schools, we built our presentation around the outside of the oyster, the shell. The kids learned about local craftsmen who mixed the ground shells with local clay, water and sand to form bricks. These bricks became a viable building material here in colonial Middlesex County.  The students learned about the historical buildings in the county that are still standing built with these hand-made bricks from the 1700s. They also experimented with hands on learning with grinding shells, molding clay into bricks, and building walls with the finished bricks in patterns utilized by colonists.

The Middlesex Elementary School’s Coordinator of Gifted Education, Science and Social Studies, Ms. Macy McNamee, brought a fourth-grade class on an expedition to our museum and its mapping collection. They explored the world of our early native American residents and deciphered maps and their nautical ciphers. Additionally, they looked at artifacts of Natives encountered by John Smith and explored their lifestyles and skills these peoples had: discussed the food, natural resources that explorers found during their visits to our area when they created the maps. To finish the visit, each student located an artifact in the museum collection, sketched it, and wrote about it in their journals. The museum has spent time collecting maps that include Middlesex County, and we have a nice selection. Our earliest map is from the late 1500s, and we progress forward in time, through multiple centuries. It makes for a great study of how our early county was depicted and the details that cartographers captured in the drawings and illustrations they included.

Syd, shown with his high school team, is on far right with catchers mitt. Two Middlesex natives have exhibits newly finished, built around their life stories and contributions to the world at large. Sydnor W. Thrift, Jr. (1929-2006) Born in Locust Hill, Syd’s parents owned a general store there and were active in the community. He was a member of Middlesex’s Syringa High School Class of 1945. Syd was popular with his peers and was selected as vice-president of the senior class and captain of the basketball team. He played catcher on the baseball team, which was his early love. Syd played ball for Hampton Sydney College as a pitcher and graduated in 1949. After serving in the US Army, he began his 50-year career in professional baseball. He was a player, scout, or executive with multiple Major League Baseball teams including the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, and Kansas City Royals. He served as the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager from 1985-1988 and the de facto general manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 1999-2002. In 1990, he completed his autobiography with sportswriter Barry Shapiro, The Game According to Syd: The Theories and Teachings of Baseball's Leading Innovator.  Multiple mementos are on display at the museum from both his illustrious career and his early childhood here in Middlesex.   Margaret as Carmen Margaret Elinor Tynes (1919 –2024) Born in Saluda, her family was involved with the leadership at Northern Neck Industrial Academy as teachers. Margaret was an American opera singer who gained world-wide fame and recognition for her beautiful soprano voice. In 1939 she obtained a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. She then continued her studies in voice at the Juilliard School in New York City and received a master's degree in music education from Columbia University in 1944 after transferring there. Following her studies, she went on to become a leading soprano in the world performing at many of the world’s greatest houses. Margaret’s roles she was best known for included: Lady Macbeth, Aida, Norma, Tosca, Carmen, Salome, Liu in “Turandot”, Leonora in “La Forza del Destino,” Desdemona in “Otello.” She was acclaimed as a full-throated voice, earning high praise on the continent — “an exceptional voice, intense in every coloring, vibrant and dramatic.” She performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Prague State Opera, Budapest Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. She also performed behind the Iron Curtain when she went to Russia with Ed Sullivan for the United States Department. Other highlights included performing “Amahl and the Night Visitors” on NBC. She sang on Broadway in “Lysistrata” with Sidney Poitier and in Finian’s “Rainbow.” Margaret portrayed Bess in “Porgy and Bess” at the New York City Opera for six years. The museum has several mementos from this period of her life on display as well as photography of several of her other roles.

The 2025 Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors and Membership of the Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society will take place on Sunday, October 26 th at 2:00 pm. We will discuss the past year in review, obtain an overview of our new accessions acquired this year, review new exhibits that were installed, and look at our budget and financial information. Upon completion, we will move to the downstairs foyer of the historic building and tour the newly completed exhibit on the American Revolution in Middlesex, “On the Road to Freedom.” Our Executive Director, Holly Horton, will guide this special tour and discuss our local soldiers and residents and the parts that they played in the unfolding conflict. As a special treat for our member attendees, we will additionally have a special viewing of the original land grant documents given to two patriots as payment for their service during the war. These documents were recently conserved through a generous grant from Preservation Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula and copies of them are included as part of the public exhibit “On the Road to Freedom.” During the calendar year 2024, the Middlesex County Museum was gifted two original land grants from the late 1700s. Both were signed by the seated governor of the Commonwealth at the time as awards to two different residents of the county of Middlesex. Both were awards for service preformed during the American Revolution. One is signed by Virginia Governor Patrick Henry to Abraham Chapline in 1785 for 330 acres for land that is now in Kentucky. The second is signed by Virginia Governor Beverley Randolph to Ralph Wormley, junr. in 1790 for 200 acres in what is still Middlesex. These documents help to illustrate the depth and relevance of our organization’s collections and the importance of our continued focus on our mission: to collect, exhibit, and discuss the history of Middlesex County and the varied roles our past residents have played in its development.

During the calendar year 2024, the Middlesex County Museum was gifted two original land grants from the late 1700s. Both were signed by the seated governor of the Commonwealth at the time as awards to two different residents of the county of Middlesex. Both were awards for service preformed during the American Revolution. One is signed by Virginia Governor Patrick Henry to Abraham Chapline in 1785 for 330 acres for land that is now in Kentucky. The second is signed by Virginia Governor Beverley Randolph to Ralph Wormley, junr. in 1790 for 200 acres in what is still Middlesex. This donation was a valuable asset to the museum’s permanent collection, as it directly meets the mission of the organization and is an original document. MCM currently does not have any other such land grant pieces in their document collection. Within the Middlesex peninsula, the granting of land by England’s king began in 1642. The first Middlesex land grant was given to John Matrum, Gent., in payment for the transportation of 38 persons from England to the new world.  He was given 1,900 acres which he named “Matrums Mount, in Pyanketanke River, on July 20, 1642. The boundary began at Materums Creek, towards the Gleab Creek, including a small island in a great bay on the north side of the Pyanketanke River.” According to the Library of Virginia: “After examining and approving documentation of Revolutionary War military service, the governor issued a certificate on which the Land Office register subsequently issued a warrant for bounty lands. The certificates are printed forms filled in with the name of the individual, his rank, whether he served in a state or a continental line unit, and the length of such service. The original certificates are dated, signed, and filed in individual folders along with any supplemental papers presented with the claim other than those actually proving military service. The certificates were numbered 1- 9926 and cover the period July 14, 1782 - August 5, 1876.” This PNNMP grant will cover the costs of conserving the documents and will allow them to be displayed and utilized in a digital form as part of the museum’s educational outreach. They will be part of the new display area within the Historic Courthouse in Saluda whose first exhibit will highlight the life and stories of our local soldiers during the Revolutionary War. It will be opening to the public within the next month. Caption: “One of the land grants is signed by Founding Father Patrick Henry, who served as the first and sixth post-colonial governor of Virginia. This document was signed during his second term in office.”

The Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society is pleased to share some wonderful announcements with the residents of the county. We have received news that we are being awarded two grants this spring. Virginia Humanities has awarded us a grant to support the research and creation of a curriculum of educational materials focused on local Middlesex County history that meets the guidelines of the Virginia State SOLs to include the personal stories of our residents and county and world historical events. This grant request is an extension and continuation of a project initiated with funding from a River Counties Community Foundation Grant awarded in June of 2024. Preservation Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula has given us a grant for the conservation of two Revolutionary Land grants written in the late 1700s. We were gifted the land grants during the calendar year of 2024 as a wonderful addition to our document collection. Both were signed by the seated governor of the Commonwealth at the time as awards to two different residents of the county of Middlesex for service performed during the American Revolution. One is signed by Virginia Governor Patrick Henry to Abraham Chapline in 1785 for 330 acres. The second is signed by Virginia Governor Beverley Randolph to Ralph Wormley, jr. in 1790 for 200 acres. This PNNMP grant will cover the costs of conserving the documents and will allow them to be displayed and utilized in a digital form as part of the museum’s educational outreach. This leads directly to our third piece of news…a new exhibit is opening soon. Within the Historic Courthouse in Saluda’s new first floor display area, a new exhibit will highlight the life and stories of our local soldiers during the Revolutionary War entitled “On the Road to Freedom.” It will be opening to the public in late spring. The museum has had a productive year with our ongoing educational partnership with the schools utilizing Middlesex history. We also hosted the opening of the exhibit, “Enterprising Spirits: African American Entrepreneurs in Middlesex County.” New accessions to our collection include historic textiles of wedding and swimming apparel, photographs of 1900s farm life, mercantile documents and a turn of the century oak baby highchair. We turn to you for further support of our mission with a donation. Please help us in telling the story of Middlesex and its deep and rich history. We appreciate your generous support.