Things to do / Travel Guide
History of the Delmarva Peninsula: General
The Assateague tribes were the first peoples of the Delmarva Peninsula, living along the coast from the Indian River Inlet, in Delaware, to Cape Charles, in Virginia. Under the authority of the Chief of the Assateague, the Assateague people were considered forest people, relying on the resources of the woodlands for subsistence. The first European explorer believed to have arrived on the Delmarva Peninsula was the English Captain John Smith, in 1608. The 1632 Charter of Maryland granted a large section of the peninsula to Caecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, to create the colony of Maryland. The land that is now considered Delaware was transferred to the jurisdiction of William Penn, who governed the area as a part of Pennsylvania.
Much of the Virginia communities of the Delmarva Peninsula played a role, if only minor, in the American Revolution; many of the communities' actively opposed hefty British taxes and therefore sympathized with the movement for independence. Delmarva Virginians were enlisted to guard the creeks and inlets along the Atlantic coast, allowing Virginia privateers to use them as safe havens from British ships.
During the Civil War, Chincoteague Island on the Delmarva Peninsula, took an interesting position. Rather than side with the rest of Virginia and secede from the Union, Chincoteague Island became the only part of Virginia that did not favor the position of the Confederate south when residents voted overwhelmingly to remain loyal to the Union side. As a result, Federal soldiers looking for a brief respite from fighting used Chincoteague's Union-friendly coasts to dock at. Though the islanders themselves saw almost no fighting, they maintained a small, local militia in the event that the Confederates wished to invade or confront their lack of loyalty.
While Chincoteague Island played an interesting role in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, the majority of the Delmarva Peninsula communities' stories began after both events. A brief look at the histories of several Delmarva Peninsula communities, in particular Rehoboth Beach, in Delaware, and Ocean City, in Maryland, gives insight into the diverse nature of their historical development:
History of the Delmarva Peninsula: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Reverend Robert W. Todd established Rehoboth Beach on January 27, 1873. The railroad arrived in town in the following decades, and the town quickly grew both as a religious retreat center as well as a small beachside resort. In the early-1900s, permanent residents began building and selling real estate in the area, and throughout the 20th century Rehoboth Beach transformed itself from a quaint little Christian religious seaside retreat into “The Nation's Summer Capital.” Nowadays it is one of the most popular summer vacation destinations for people from Washington DC, as well as other major East Coast cities. A far cry from its humble beginnings, today Rehoboth Beach is one of the fastest-growing places on the Delmarva Peninsula. Diverse crowds of vacationers seek its white-sand beaches, fun and funky shops, and lively boardwalk.
History of the Delmarva Peninsula: Ocean City, Maryland
Until the mid-1800s, Ocean City was a small, isolated farming and fishing community. By 1875, hotels and properties along the seashore had been constructed to accommodate the fishermen and Ocean City had become incorporated as a bona fide city. The construction of a railroad bridge in Sinepuxent Bay a year later furthered Ocean City's vision to invent itself as a seaside resort for East Coast city slickers and by the early 1900s, the Ocean City Boardwalk was built. The fishing industry grew as fishermen from Cape May, New Jersey took interest in the area. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, prominent businessmen from Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Wilmington invested in the area, building boarding houses and hotels for visitors.
The boom continued throughout the 1900s and was further fueled by the 1952 construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which brought vacationers from the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News area. Even more visitors began reaching Ocean City via the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, which began operation in 1964 (and continues carrying nearly 1.5 million passengers each year). By the 1970s, Ocean City had become one of the summer vacation hubs for East Coasters seeking an escape from the city. The growth of Ocean City as a beloved beach resort town continues into the 21st century.
History of Eastern Virginia
The Manahoac and Powhatan tribes were the first inhabitants of the eastern Virginia area. In 1607, the first group of British colonists landed at Cape Henry, near the modern city of Virginia Beach, but opted not to stay. Instead, they traveled up the James River, establishing the Jamestown settlement. Several decades later, in 1632, the area that is now called Williamsburg, was settled and called Middle Plantation (until 1722). Middle Plantation grew quickly and by the early 1670s it was established as the first capital of the Virginia colony. In addition to the everyday struggles colonists faced in their new lives in the New World, they faced consistent attacks from the Native American communities as well as heavy taxes levied by the British Crown. In 1676, colonist Nathaniel Bacon of the Middle Plantation led the first protest rebellion in the colonies, which sparked a larger scale movement that lasted for nearly a year before it was squashed.
In 1704, William Byrd II, inherited land from his father, who had been granted it by the Crown, and eventually founded the town of Richmond in 1737. Very quickly, Richmond became the heart of much of the political action in the region. In 1775, Patrick Henry gave his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech in St. John's Church; Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were in attendance. Six years later Virginia's capital was moved to Richmond. Richmond was burned by British troops, and Governor Thomas Jefferson fled the city. The same year, 1781, George Washington brought British General Cornwallis to his knees in Washington's famous victory in nearby Yorktown, which constituted the end of the American Revolution. Given the overall victory of the Americans, the effect of the British attack on Richmond was minimal; Richmond was up and running again within the year and, by 1788, the Virginia State Capitol building (designed, in part, by Thomas Jefferson) was completed.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Virginia decided to secede from the other colonies, resisting the abolishment of slavery, and it was named the capital of the Confederacy. Eastern Virginia was the site of much action during the Civil War, such as the 1862 at the Battle of Williamsburg and the famous Seven Days Battle. In 1865, however, Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army finally captured Richmond, leading to Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
These years of post Civil War reconstruction were characterized by tremendous growth - the tobacco industry boomed, the first electric-powered trolley in the U.S. opened in Richmond, and largely thanks to the transportation option of the trolley and the railroad, the long-forgotten town of Virginia Beach began gaining attention as a popular beach resort.
By the early 1900s Richmond was the most-densely-populated city in the South, Norfolk received the Virginia Railway, which connects to Washington DC, and the Naval Station Norfolk was established. As the industrial importance of eastern Virginia's cities and towns grew, city planners began paying attention to tourists. By the early 1920s, Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin and John D. Rockefeller Jr. began working to revitalize the historic buildings and build Colonial Williamsburg, what would later become one of the world's largest living history museums, visited by more than 4 million people annually.
Following the Great Depression and World War II, eastern Virginia again experienced a period of prosperity; cigarette production reached record highs, universities were founded, and manufacturing industries blossomed. Eastern Virginia's economy grew throughout the last few decades. The city of Virginia Beach continued to grow, and its popularity as a beach resort became nationally-recognized. Norfolk's major navy presence continues today, and the city, together with Williamsburg and Richmond, can now boast the presence of 10 Fortune 500 companies including, Anheuser Busch, Circuit City, and Brink's Company, among others.
History of the North Carolina Shore
Algonquin-speaking Native Americans and members of the Tuscarora and Yamassee tribes originally inhabited the North Carolina shore. Early explorers of the 1500s and 1600s mapped the treacherous currents, shoals, and turbulent weather of the southern reaches of the North Carolina shore, calling the area a “Promontorium Tremendum,” in Latin, or “Cape Fear.”
In 1663, Charles II of England issued a charter for creating a colony in North Carolina and, by the late 1720s, the Royal colony of Carolina was the fastest-growing British colony in the New World. Wilmington, North Carolina was incorporated in 1730 and the coastal economy thrived. Slave labor was responsible for much of the success of the tobacco, cotton, and rice plantations that lined the coast, and lumber likewise became important for the coastal economy. Coastal settlers were not shy in displaying their newly-acquired wealth.
Given the success of the coastal settlers, nearly all were immediately sympathetic to the movement for independence from Great Britain, and they readily took part in supporting the Declaration of Independence in 1776. After the defeat of the British troops and the end of the American Revolution, the North Carolina Shore communities continued to grow and prosper. And the nearly 80 years between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars was a time of steadily increasing wealth and population for Wilmington.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, the North Carolina shore communities, given their dependence on slave labor, were particularly in favor of secession. Union forces understood the strategic importance of the North Carolina shore area, and dealt a powerful blow to the Confederates by occupying the islands of the Outer Banks. Wilmington, the largest city in North Carolina, managed to continue as a Confederate stronghold until the end of the war, shipping supplies to General Robert E. Lee's army in eastern Virginia until 1865.
The North Carolina shore floundered for some decades after the Civil War, but by the late-19th century, industry resurfaced. The year 1903 marked a momentous occasion for the North Carolina shore; Orville and Wilbur Wright took their first successful airplane flight at Kill Devil Hill, four miles south of Kitty Hawk, on Bodie Island in the Outer Banks. Though their airborne voyage lasted 12 short seconds, the success brought tremendous attention to the region.
The World War II and post-World War II period was yet another trying time for the North Carolina shore, and only by the latter part of the 20th century did local communities began to tap into their potential as tourist destinations.
North Carolina Shore's Pirating History
No look at the North Carolina shore is complete without giving the area's mysterious pirating history a little attention. The most notorious of the sea-roving rogues was none other than Edward “Blackbeard” Teach. With the intention of bypassing the heavy taxes Great Britain placed on manufactured goods, pirates developed their own kind of duty-free plan: smuggling. From about 1689 to 1718, the Golden Age of Piracy, pirates brought smuggled and stolen goods from British merchant ships (often those docked in the South Carolina harbor) to the colonies - and many colonists, including Governor Charles Eden (for whom Edenton, is named), happily received the reduced-price booty.
|
|
|