Morattico

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It was a warm, beautiful, August day on the Rappahannock River. Hidden by reeds, blue herons kept watch for fish while deer rested in shady, dense forests just off the riverbank. The glassy waters, home to populous fish and crab life, were suddenly disrupted by the wake of a vessel slowly making its way upriver. Gliding past a small bay, the boat came ashore on an outcropping of land, the passengers unaware that they were being closely watched by a group of Native American Indians, many of whom had never seen such a vessel, or people, in their waters.

The year was 1608, and Capt. John Smith — who was on his second Chesapeake voyage — disembarked from his shallop to rest and eat. His first steps off the boat that day were on the shores of what is now known as Morattico, a hidden hamlet in Lancaster County with a long, rich and diverse history waiting to be rediscovered.

Located on the Rappahannock River between Lancaster Creek and Mulberry Bay, and just a few miles from the Belle Isle State Park, Morattico is a small but vibrant village. Once a hub of business and activity, the town may be quiet now, but its long history is an amazing part of the rich fabric of the Northern Neck.

Morattico’s history goes back nearly 8,000 years, when the first known tribes in the area inhabited the region. The town’s distinctive name hails from the Moraughtacund Indians, a local tribe of the Algonquin confederation once led by Chief Powhatan. Morattico’s modern incarnation, however, began on that fateful day, when Smith and his fellow explorers’ brief sojourn took an unexpected turn.

According to a U.S. Park Service narrative, Smith was sharing a meal with the Moraughtacund tribe when he learned that they had an “unfriendly relationship” with the Rappahannock Indians — as the Moraughtacund leader had “captured three of the Rappahannock leaders’ wives.”

Smith ventured upriver, later returning to broker a peace deal by which he persuaded the Moraughtacund Chief to surrender the women back to the Rappahannock. “Smith then gave each of the leaders a woman, and one to ‘Mosco,’ his Wicomico Indian guide,” the narrative reveals. On August 29, 1608, a feast was held by the Moraughtacund to celebrate the deal and seal their friendship with Smith and his crew. It was the first note of many historically important moments that transpired in Morattico.

“We have Native American, British plantation, watermen and steamboat history here,” explained Mary Byrd Martin, town resident and board member of the Morattico Waterfront Museum. “There have been many [chapters] of Morattico, and we embrace the stories of them all.”

Byrd Martin, along with lifelong resident George Shelton, a retired Morattico waterman and an amazingly dedicated museum volunteer, recently shared their experiences and love of the town during a tour of the museum. “I have never been to a place that has a greater sense of community and its own history than this town right here,” Shelton said, going on to say that after Capt. Smith’s experience, another historic figure became closely tied to the town.

In the late 1600s, the area was deeded to Joseph Ball, who built a home known as Morattico Plantation. The large tract of land, approximately 500 acres, was later given to his son Joseph Ball II — the father of Mary Ball Washington and grandfather to the first President of the United States, George Washington. Ball II was among the earliest English planters in the region, yet despite spending the bulk of his time in England, he had a vast and intimate knowledge of his property. In his letters to land managers, which can be read at the museum, Ball II proved not only to know the buildings on his property, down to the correct size of nails to use, but also the names of each horse and which should be fed in differing pastures according to dietary needs.

For nearly 150 years, the plantation and surrounding property remained with the Ball family and their descendants, the Downman and Mitchell families. In the late 1860s, the original plantation house was torn down due to disrepair. It was replaced with a smaller dwelling, but by 1889 the family had fallen on hard times, and the property and accompanying buildings were sold to John S. W. and “Jack” Whealton.

The Whealtons brought to Morattico a wave of change. The Rappahannock River, which had previously been used for mainly transportation, become a source of income. The Whealtons constructed a huge pier, one of the longest on the river, which brought steamships and the fishing industry to the town. The brothers, who were entrepreneurs from the Eastern Shore, also erected the town’s first post office, where Jack served as Postmaster. Watermen soon flocked to Morattico in droves, and the Whealtons began selling parcels of property: a doctor’s office, a hotel, a bottling company, eateries and later one of the largest seafood processing plants on the East Coast, RCV Seafood.

By the late 1920s, the advent of road and bridge networks led to the demise of the steamboat industry, yet the Morattican landscape was still bustling, due in part to some newly introduced community members.

In 1933, a massive storm decimated many outlying fishing villages along the Rappahannock and in the Chesapeake. Many displaced watermen came to Morattico, comfortable with the town’s isolated nature and familiar geography. Prior to the storm, Sam Parks and Capt. John Walters, both of Tangier, started the Rappahannock River’s first soft-shell crab shedding operation in Morattico. After the storm, friends and family came to stay and work in the hamlet. Their descendants — the Parks, Walters and Pruitt families of Tangier — still call Morattico home today.

“It was funny because they all, the Tangiermen and Morattico folks, all of them worked together all day long on the river and they were good friends,” Shelton said. “But after they stopped working, they’d all come here to the General Store for their dinner or to socialize and none of them would sit together or talk to each other at all once they came in. There could be ten open seats on one side and none on the other, but that didn’t matter. They’d rather stand than sit in the other side.”

At that time, the waters were strewn with vessels. An estimated 100 watermen from Tangier and other regions seasonally lived on their boats. Often, the oystermen could be seen bringing their horses and carts right into the river shallows to meet skiffs, where they would offload their haul for the day.

Although most residents worked on the water, one special visitor became beloved by many locals for her unique gifts to the town’s children. Grace Springs, who delivered the mail by horse and buggy, took the time to hand carve wooden animals and toys and give them out as presents. Nearly a dozen or so of Springs’ carvings have survived through time and now are displayed at the museum.

Although working on the Rappahannock was often backbreaking, Morattico remained a thriving fishing and crabbing community for decades, with a slow decline beginning in the 1960s that never picked back up. In the early 2000s, RCV Seafood closed its doors due to declining crab populations. Today there are only seven lifelong Morattico residents left, with only two of them, Junior Barrack and Rogers Parks, still active watermen.

The town that prided itself on a community that was “untouched by change, where men still knew how to knit their own nets and build their own boats,” was slowly evolving yet again, but it was a metamorphosis that prompted residents of Morattico to preserve their colorful history.

In 2002, the Morattico General Store closed after a century of serving local citizens. The family of Weston “Bitzie” F. Conley, Jr., whose parents, Weston and Fannie, had run the store from 1935 to 1953, suggested that the building could be gifted and repurposed into a museum and cultural center, but that it would have to be a collective project.

In a great community effort, Moratticans banded together to make the museum a stunning town centerpiece. Shelton spent countless hours discovering new artifacts to display while also building a network of astonishing models that range from a full-scale, miniature replica of the RCV Seafood operation, to boats and lighthouses from the area. The humble and compelling retired captain even carved the checkers used for a game table, hand spun the roping used on a ship display, and shucked, ate and cleaned the oysters used as props.

The culmination of items, pictures, displays and artifacts gathered together are a delight to the eyes and a treat for anyone looking to learn about the rich history of the small town. The two-story facility has an enticing and welcoming atmosphere, allowing visitors to get up-close and personal with Morattico. The entrance is still reminiscent of when the building served as a general store, with period goods displayed on shelves, pictures of former owners and employees, as well as pieces from the old post office.

The museum features rooms dedicated to the Native Americans of the area, and the watermen who worked the Rappahannock. It also highlights the work of hunting, crabbing, oystering and farming. There is even a room where visitors can read transcripts of the Joseph Ball II letters.

Morattico residents are still greatly involved with the museum, which also serves as a community center for fundraising and other local events. It has become the nexus of a town that rightly refuses to part with its charismatic history. “Everyone looks out for each other here, and I think that is why this museum has become such a success,” Byrd Martin said. “Anybody who ever lives here, loves Morattico for the rest of their lives.”

The House & Home Magazine would like to extend its warm gratitude to Shelton, Byrd Martin and the museum board for sharing the history and beauty of their beloved home. The Morattico Waterfront Museum is open May through October, Saturday from 12-4 p.m. and Sunday from 1-4 p.m., for more information visit www.morattico.org.