Don’t be like Punt or Condiments!

What lesson can an Ancient Egyptian ally and a Georgian / Regency -era condiment set to teach the Ware River Yacht Club?

The Ancient Egyptians greatest ally and trade partner was a land called Punt. Egyptians wrote many things down about Punt, including what their houses looked like, what they liked to do for fun, and what kind of things were traded. They wrote down almost everything…except one crucial detail: where Punt actually was located. To this day, historians have no real evidence about where it was.

During the latter half of the 18th and into the 19th century, there were condiment stands mass-produced for use at home. These sets ranged from fairly basic to very ornate. No matter how fancy they were, they all had cruets—one for oil and one for vinegar—a container for salt, one for pepper, and one for… well no one actually knows what the third was for, possibly mustard but, no one can be sure.

What both of those statements have in common is that everyone thought “Who would be dumb enough to not know where Punt is, or what that third container is for?” meaning that no one wrote it down. Let this not be applied to WRYC!

Compiling a history of the club so that those that come behind us can know what it was all about is important, and YOU are the source! If you have any stories, photographs, or (specifically) any information about the items on the wall that you would like to share, please write it down (spelling is optional, we will figure it out). Remember—whether it is a story from 1971 or 2023, it is all important!

If you would like to share your story, you can email Harry Taylor at hjtaylor3@gmail.com, or call at 757-903-8101. I genuinely hope to hear from you!

Stories From History

In looking through newspaper articles that mention the area from the 18th-20th century, I occasionally run across some that are fun. This article was republished in The Telegraph and Messenger in Macon, Georgia on December 16, 1882. The article is titled “A Ghost in a Lighthouse” and is about Wolf Trap Lighthouse.

“Ghostly visitations have led to the resignation of A.F. Hudgins, assistant keeper of Wolf Trap Light, Chesapeake Bay. Mr. Hudgins declared that knocks and other noises were heard all over the house, and a young lady, lying in bed, received a slap in the face, and on a light being produced it was found the blow had left the print of a ghostly hand on the lady’s cheek. Matthews [sic] county is aroused over the matter, and watch parties have nightly tried to discover the cause of the visitations, but have failed.”

The lighthouse that is mentioned in the story is not the same one that is standing today. In January of 1893, an ice storm struck. Keeper John Thomas wrote that he “felt a dreadful foreboding” and an unseen voice told him to flag down a steamer that was stuck in the ice nearby and abandon the light. Shortly after he had left, the house was ripped from its screwpile foundation. Several days later the lighthouse was found partially submerged near Thimble Shoals with only the roof and the lantern above the water.

OlD wOLF tRAP lIGHT

$70,000 for the construction of the current lighthouse was approved by Congress on March 3, 1893 and the light was lit on September 20, 1894. Wolf Trap remained a manned light station until 1971 when it was automated, prior to that, it was one of the last non-automated lights on the Chesapeake. It was deactivated in 2017 when the Coast Guard declared that the structure was no longer safe for personnel to access and maintain the light. There is no mention whether the ghost is still there or not.

Current Wolf Trap Light

What a Fish!

In my research, I stumbled across this fun article that was published in the Portsmouth Gazette in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on June 10, 1768. It seems to be a reprint of an article originally published in the Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg, Virginia sometime after May 5th of the same year, about an incident that happened in the Mobjack. It seems to me that even in the 18th century, fishermen told tall tales. Enjoy!

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia, May 5. The following account, says the person who sent it, can be well attested. In February 1767, a sloop was sank in Mobjack bay, near New Point Comfort, by a squall of wind; and thro’ the negligence, or inability of the owners, lay near twelve months under water.— Upon her being raised, a fish was found confined in her hold, so large, that her decks were obliged to be broke up to get it out, and upon being measured, was found to be full half as long as the vessel. It is something surprizing, how a fish of that size could remain so long in such a confined situation.