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Looking back A HISTORY OF LOGGING AND BENNETT’S CREEK FAMILY
july/august 2020 • vol. 11, no. 4
2 suffolk living
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37
FEATURE
16
Hinton Hurff can tell you about virtually any branch of Bennett’s Creek, and all of the branches of the families that have grown up around it.
CONTENTS july - august | 2020 11
WHERE AM I? | Think you know Suffolk well? Then see if you can identify this photo.
Advertising rates and information available upon request. Subscriptions are $20 annually in-state; $25 annually out-of-state; $30 for international subscriptions. Please make checks payable to Suffolk Publications, LLC P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23439
12 In the News
Suffolk graduates celebrated in an unconventional way this year.
ON THE COVER suffolklivingmag.com
Camps in the Swamp
22 A short history of how the Great Dismal Swamp was logged.
Looking back A HISTORY OF LOGGING AND BENNETT’S CREEK FAMILY
july/august 2020 • vol. 11, no. 4
Submitted Photo
editor's note july - august
2020
How are you surviving the pandemic? No, we mean it? How ARE you? This pandemic has been hard on everyone. In addition to the danger to our physical health as well as the resulting blow to the economy and our finances, the pandemic has brought mental health challenges, as well. Coping with what seems like a constant stream of bad news,
EDITORIAL Tracy Agnew Editor
Jen Jaqua Photographer Jimmy LaRoue Writer news@suffolklivingmag.com
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Earl Jones Marketing Consultant Lindsay Richardson Marketing Consultant Amanda Gwaltney Marketing Consultant sales@suffolklivingmag.com
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ADMINISTRATION Betty J. Ramsey Publisher Hope Rose Production
fear, worry and anxiety while isolated from our families, our friends and our comfortable daily routines has been exhausting, and it can all seem like too much at times. As I write this in early July, it seems like we may be starting to get the best of this pandemic. But it also looks like the virus may be about to start roaring back after a dip in new cases. It’s hard to find the good news in the midst of all the bad. Please don’t hesitate to write at news@suffolklivingmag.com and let me know how you’ve been doing. But we hope this edition of Suffolk Living magazine will be a little bright spot for you. You can read about some Suffolk history on both ends of the city. In the south, the Great Dismal Swamp contributed part of its vast store of wood to the lumber industry, and the Camp family of Southampton County was part of that effort. In the north, Hinton Hurff’s family were among the earliest settlers of the Bennett’s Creek area, and he keeps close track of the area’s history that intertwines with his family history. We’re always looking for your submissions to help us make Suffolk Living better. We need you for story ideas, submissions for the Through The Lens and On Vacation features, guesses for the Where Am I? feature and any other suggestions you may have. Please contact us at news@ suffolklivingmag.com, and connect with us on Facebook.
God bless, Tracy Agnew, Editor
Suffolk Living is published six times per year by Suffolk Publications, LLC. P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23439 www.suffolklivingmag.com • (757) 539-3437
suffolk living 7
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8 suffolk living
what to do Send us your news To submit your calendar or news item, simply email it to: news@suffolklivingmag.com
Open Members' Show JULY 18
The Suffolk Art League’s annual Open Members’ Show features artwork by current members of the Suffolk Art League. These Hampton Roads artists work in a wide variety of art mediums and styles. Most of the artwork is for sale. The show will be on display from July 18 to Aug. 22 at the Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave. The gallery is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 925-0448 or visit www.SuffolkArtLeague.com.
suffolk living 9
what to do
Editor’s Note: In-person events in this calendar are subject to change due to shifting COVID-19 restrictions. Please check with the organization or venue before planning to attend. ONGOING
The Suffolk Farmers’ Market is transitioning back to the traditional Farmers’ Market held under the open-air pavilion at 524 N. Main St. and will be open Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Customers can shop and make on-site purchases from vendors offering garden-fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, jams and jellies, meats and poultry, flowers and other horticulture products, plus personal care products. Customers can also continue to contact vendors directly to pre-order items for Saturday pick-up. Customers walking through the market are required to wear face masks and maintain physical distance between people. A handwashing station and hand sanitizer will be available. No one with a fever or symptoms of COVID-19, or known exposure to a COVID-19 case in the previous 14 days, is allowed in the Suffolk Visitor Center or Farmers’ Market. The market may feature arts and crafts vendors and other merchants, live entertainment and children’s programming when it is deemed safe for the public to attend
The Suffolk Farmers’ Market
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10 suffolk living
National Night Out is typically held the first Tuesday in August, but this year, it has been rescheduled for Oct. 6. More information on this crime-fighting event can be found at www.suffolknno.com.
fan art contests, and more. View schedule details on the IconiCon website and follow the IconiCon 2020 Facebook event page at facebook.com/events/506547859985699 for reminders and announcements. Library membership is not required. Registration is only required for select events, which can be found on the Suffolk Public Library website at http://suffolkpubliclibrary.com/iconicon.
AUGUST 8
AUGUST 29
The Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival has been postponed from its original date, Aug. 8, to March 6, 2021. The free and open to the public event will take place at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, 110 W. Finney Ave. Visit www.suffolkmysteryauthorsfestival. com for more information.
Join Suffolk Parks & Recreation at the Holland Ball Field for a free movie in the park. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on. Food vendors will be on site for a late dinner or movie treats. The movie will begin at approximately 8:15 p.m. No registration required. Call 514-7267 for more information.
AUGUST 15
AUGUST 30
The Nansemond Indian Nation’s 32nd annual powwow has been canceled due to COVID-19. The 2021 event will take place on Aug. 21-22.
Poetry, Prose and Pizza will take place at 6 p.m. at the Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave. This family-friendly open mic night will feature host Nathan Richardson, poet, educator and first-person presenter. Sign-up for mic time begins at 5:30. Open to writers and musicians, with a piano available in the gallery. Share your original work or favorites by others, or come enjoy the works of others. The event is sponsored by Suffolk Art League and Suffolk Art Gallery.
such gatherings. For more information, visit SuffolkVaFarmersMarket.com and facebook.com/SuffolkVaFarmersMarket. AUGUST 4
AUGUST 17
Virtual IconiCon 2020 will take place virtually daily Aug. 17-22 for fans of anime, sci-fi, fantasy, gaming and more. It will include live Q&A panels, DIY tutorials, themed children storytimes, cosplay and
Nansemond Indian Nation’s 32nd annual powwow
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suffolk living 11
where am I?
I
n each edition the Suffolk Living staff provides a challenge of sorts, testing how much of Suffolk you really know. We photograph some location in Suffolk that is readily accessible and open to the public, and see if you can tell us where it is. If you know where this photo was taken, submit your answer, along with your name and contact information to news@suffolklivingmag. com. If you’re right, you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to any one of our partner advertisers. So, if you know where this is, let us know. If you’re right, you could be a winner. Go out and enjoy Suffolk!
12 suffolk living
in the news
‘A great way to say, the end’ Story and Photos by Jimmy LaRoue
H
undreds of students had their dreams of walking across a stage in front of a huge crowd of family, friends and classmates dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they gained a unique experience of a drive-through graduation that none of them could have envisioned when they started their senior years back in September. Having not been in school since March due to the coronavirus pandemic, the nowgraduated seniors leaned out of the windows looking for friends, shouting and waving at them. They stood in the sunroofs, taking in the scene — teachers and staff members cheering them on, yelling congratulations, some taking in hugs. For more than two hours on June 23, the line of cars slowly worked its way from the student parking lot at King’s Fork High School, around the front of the school and then to the bus parking lot, where administrators and other staff members were waiting to
hand the seniors their diplomas — and a few other goodies too. “Having a regular graduation would have been good,” said Montez Norman as he sat in the sunroof of a car making its way around the school. “But I like everything that we did. It’s nice. Even though it’s hot, I still like it.” Norman, who plans to attend Norfolk State University and major in engineering, said the last few months have been a challenge, but he got through his senior year. Chainey Lippard appreciated the graduation experience she received from King’s Fork. “I actually like this,” Lippard said. “I think this is a better idea than traditional graduation. I feel like it was more fun and everyone has a better time.” With pulsating music from Lil Nas X, Snoop Dogg and Pharrell and more as a backdrop, Lakeland High School students picked up their diplomas June 22 during a boisterous sendoff. Destiney Coles, one of nine Lakeland
graduates to have already received an associate degree from Paul D. Camp Community College last month, will go to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond to major in dental hygiene and become a dentist. She felt she received a lot of support from the community during the pandemic while trying to finish classes virtually. “It’s like you had to push yourself more because they didn’t give us all that work in school, so they tried to give it to us to be able to graduate,” Coles said. Shiasia Wiggins, who also has already received her associate degree from Paul D. Camp Community College and will attend Virginia Commonwealth University to study accounting, said she wished things had been different, and normal. Still, she said, it would not tarnish her accomplishment. “It’s heartbreaking, because I’m the first in my family to actually get this far,” Wiggins said. “It took away some of the memories I would have had that I could look back on and
suffolk living 13 tell my family in the future. But I made the best out of it, and we’re celebrating the best way we can.” At Nansemond River on June 22, Laniya Johnson, who came with parents Carlette Gray and Thaddeus Gray, said the pandemic made her lose focus at first, but she also realized she needed to do the work to graduate. She plans to attend Tidewater Community College and major in business and minor in fashion. “It was sad, because I didn’t get to see my friends in school anymore, and you take things for granted,” Johnson said. “You don’t realize what you had until it’s gone.” “It was kind of depressing,” said Noah Fisher, who plans to major in business at George Mason University and wants to be a film actor. “I missed my teachers. It was sad, and doing school online, it took a lot of effort to have the motivation to do the work.”
Above, Moneka Skeeter is all smiles as she prepares to pick up her Nansemond River High School diploma in a decorated car. Opposite page, Cyerra Brimm prepared to celebrate her unusual graduation from Lakeland High School.
14 suffolk living
Montez Norman receives his diploma from King’s Fork High School with balloons in school colors surrounding him.
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suffolk living 15
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16 suffolk living This old family photo includes Hinton Hurff’s great-grandmother, Jane Gaskins Ames, second from left.
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Hinton Hurff, keeper of history Story by Phyllis Speidell Photos by John H. Sheally II
F
rom Hinton Hurff ’s living room, you can see Bennett’s Creek and its smaller streams branching off to meander through the marsh. Hurff ’s creekfront property has been in his family for five generations. As he recollects that history, the family connections meander like the creek, linking with other families who were early settlers around Bennett’s Creek, including the Ameses, Eberwines, Everetts, Crosses, Gaskinses, Harrells, Dardens and Nurneys. Mention a local name and he likely can reel off whose grandmother married who and where they lived — and may have been buried — along the creek. He holds the history of the area as close as a legacy. Familial history comes naturally to Hurff, who has spent the major part of his career owning and managing cemeteries in the North Suffolk and Western Branch communities. This spring, he decided to retire as president of Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, a decision that came about 30 years later than it does for most retirees. Hurff will turn 93 in September 2020. “If I want to know some history of the area, Hinton is one of my main go-to-sources,” said Cindy Eberwine, a Bennett’s Creek resident and longtime friend. “I have often wondered if that could be the result of the way his genealogy is so entwined with the old Suffolk, Bennett's Creek and Driver families.” Diane Davis, who now lives in League City, Texas, lost track of her relatives in Driver years ago when her mother died at an early age. She credits Hurff, his knowledge of the area and his contacts there with helping her retrieve that heritage. “Thanks to them, I got my family history back,” she said. The Hurffs emigrated from Germany in the 1700s to settle in Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, with some establishing the town of Hurffville, N.J. According to family lore, Frank Hurff, Hinton Hurff ’s grandfather, left New Jersey in the 1870s with a cousin to farm near Edenton, N.C. On their way to Edenton, the two men were to change trains in Suffolk. The cousin,
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Hinton Hurff and his daughter, Maggy, at Rose Hill, his grandfather’s home.
however, fell critically ill in Suffolk and was carried to the Rose Hill farmhouse to recoup. The cousin died, but Hurff fell in love with Rose Hill, bought it a few years later and lived there with his bride, Emily Darden, who came from near Edenton. Hurff developed a large farm along both sides of what is now East Constance Road as it runs from Wilroy Road toward North Main Street. Of the couple’s 10 children, five survived, including Hinton Hurff ’s father, Walter Hurff, who was born in 1881 and grew up in the farmhouse, which is now a two-family home on Parkway Drive. Walter followed his father into agriculture and ran a 200-plus-acre farm in Bennett’s Creek that had been handed down to his wife, Lillie Mae Everett Hurff, from her maternal grandmother. He and his father also owned and ran a men’s shop in downtown Suffolk. But Hinton Hurff ’s heart has always been in Bennett’s Creek. He was the kid brother to Ann Hurff Ballard, an athletic tomboy and free spirit, according to Hurff, and Frank Hurff, who he described as a typical “mean big brother.” The three grew up in the brick farmhouse their parents built on Bennetts Pasture Road not far from the creek and within walking distance of the Driver village crossroads. Acquaintances remember that the Hurffs were relaxed parents, and it was not unusual to find the children playing ping-pong on the mahogany dinner table or for a young Hinton Hurff to spend the night by himself in an old Boy Scout cabin on the creek. Both Ann and Frank were pilots. “My brother flew jets in the Air Force and taught me to fly a small plane,” Hurff said. “After 3 ½ hours, he turned me loose — I was 17 years old.” Hurff, a lifetime member of Beech Grove United Methodist Church, worked at both Arthur’s and Brinkley’s stores on the Driver crossroads while he was at Chuckatuck High School. He graduated in 1944 in the wake of DDay and the Normandy Invasion and enrolled at Virginia Tech that summer
suffolk living 19
Hinton Hurff and his daughter, Maggy, visit the Ames family cemetery near Bennett’s Creek. when he was 16. He was ready, he said, and the high school only went to 11th grade. At 17, he volunteered for the Navy. He served for 8 ½ months and, war over, went back to Virginia Tech on the GI Bill, switching his major from aeronautical engineering to business. While he was at Virginia Tech a young woman from Churchland, Peggy Savage, invited him to a dance at Madison College, now James Madison University. The romance flourished. “She was 21 and I was 24 — and scared — when we got married,” Hurff said. “We lived in the Colonial Manor Apartments in Portsmouth, but then Mom and Dad gave us this lot down the lane from them on the farm, and we built a four room house in 1953 and kept adding to it.”
The couple had two children, Hinton Jr., and Margaret Duke. Hurff worked for the National Bank of Commerce, the Virginian Railway and U.S. Plywood. Then a friend suggested a partnership to build Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens on a plowed field off Shoulder’s Hill Road in 1960. Harbour View, Hurff remembers, was developed on farmland dotted with family cemeteries, and at least one complete cemetery was moved to Meadowbrook. After 21 years, the partnership dissolved, and Hurff left the business. To celebrate, he and his wife sailed with friends for an extended vacation in Florida. On their return to Suffolk, Hurff agreed to serve as president of the Greenlawn Memorial Gardens and Chapel Mausoleum. People, Hurff said, are curious about cem-
eteries, but “It’s like any other business and quite interesting, you meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends. There is a tremendous satisfaction in helping.” Along the way, in addition to his career and love of boating (his favorite boat was named Riverside after a cemetery in Norfolk), Hurff also served on the city planning commission, helped manufacture thousands of chocolate Easter eggs for the Beech Grove UMC Easter Egg Factory fundraiser, and, in 1976, helped to launch the North Suffolk Rotary Club. Closest to his heart, however, is his family and the family ties that have buoyed his life. His home, the same one he and Peggy built almost 70 years ago, is filled with treasured family photos and family heirlooms — including that mahogany dining table with the dented top.
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Hinton Hurff’s motherin-law, Catherine Pendleton Savage, is shown in her bridal portrait.
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Hinton Hurff shows off his Navy blues. He volunteered for the U.S. Navy at 17 in the wake of D-Day.
22 suffolk living
CAMPS IN THE
SWAMP
Company built railroad to transport cut hardwoods, pines Story and photos by Clyde Parker
D
uring the last half of the 19th century, the family headed by George Camp II of Southampton County and Sallie Cutchins Camp, originally from Isle of Wight County, was at the forefront of logging and lumbering in southeastern Virginia. Married in 1837, George and Sallie Camp had 10 children: Mary Eliza Camp, John Stafford Camp, Joseph E. Camp, James E. Camp, William Nelson Camp, Paul Douglas Camp, Benjamin Franklin Camp, Sarah Virginia “Jenny” Camp, Robert Judson Camp and James Leonidas Camp. The family resided on the huge Camp Farm located on the northern edge of Franklin Depot bordering the Blackwater River. In 1887, two of the Camp brothers (James L. and Paul D.) bought from the Neely Brothers a lumber mill that was located on the eastern side of the Blackwater River next to Franklin. That purchase turned out to be the establishment of Camp Manufacturing Co.; soon, brother Robert J. joined the company. And at that time, Camp brothers Wil-
liam Nelson, Benjamin Franklin and John Stafford were participating as shareholders. Earlier, during the period from the late 1860s well into the 1880s, the Camps had established several other lumber mills along the Nottoway River, at Delaware and Monroe, and near Como in North Carolina; but, later, those mills were closed so that they could concentrate on the Franklin Mill. However, a little later, the Camps changed their minds about adding more mill locations; in 1896, they purchased from John Arringdale a lumber mill at Drewryville and a two-years' supply of timber — and, in 1902, they bought a large tract of timberland and built a lumber mill at Butterworth in Dinwiddie County. The Camp brothers had great fascination for the Great Dismal Swamp, even though its western edge was about 20 miles east of Franklin, in Nansemond County, now the city of Suffolk. But it was William Nelson Camp, the fifth child, who knew the swamp best. In his youth, he logged Nansemond County and got to know its secrets. Fourteen
suffolk living 23
years after his 1870 marriage to Texanna Gay of Windsor, he moved his family to Suffolk and started Gay Manufacturing Co., a lumber firm, with his father-in-law, William H. “Pappy” Gay. During the latter half of the 19th century and well into the early 1900s, when land was cheap, the Camps bought quite a lot of timberland throughout southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Of the tracts they bought, the most significant was 40,000 acres of the Dismal Swamp, which William Nelson Camp negotiated in 1899 from successors to the Dismal Swamp Land Co. (In 1763, George Washington and eight other Virginians obtained free from the colonial Virginia
governor a tract of 40,000 unclaimed acres, or about half of the swamp in Virginia. The Dismal Swamp Land Co. was chartered by the Virginia Assembly in 1764.) William Nelson Camp contracted to pay $76,500, or about $1.92 an acre, for the 40,000-acre tract, then conveying one-fifth of his interest to each of his brothers, Paul, Robert and James, while keeping two-fifths for himself. The Camps were very pleased that they had acquired the same tract of land that was previously owned by George Washington. Included in the purchased land — a rough rectangle that stretched from near Suffolk in Nansemond County, eastward into Norfolk County, and southward to the North Carolina
line — was Lake Drummond, a large but very shallow body of water that was surrounded by many and various kinds of huge, beautiful trees. The trees in those locations along with the many junipers, cedars and cypresses located throughout the entire swamp were what first attracted the Camps. Pine trees became highly desirable later. During the early 1900s, in order to move timber out of the swamp and into the Franklin lumber mill, William Nelson Camp developed a procedure that involved floating logs into and up the Jericho Canal, which extended from Lake Drummond northward to the headwaters of the Nansemond River in Suffolk. There, the timber was connected with
24 suffolk living
the Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad (later Seaboard Airline Railroad) which ran through Franklin. When it was determined, by a court decision, that his plan conflicted and interfered with the canal’s use by a competitive Dismal Swamp business known as Lake Drummond Canal and Water Co., Camp Manufacturing Co. had to find other ways to remove and use their timber. So, they built 59 miles of narrow-
gauge railways to facilitate removal and make connections with the railroad at Suffolk. There was another way to get the timber to the Franklin mill: by narrow-gauge rails to the Dismal Swamp Canal and then down from there by small steam-ships to South Mills in North Carolina where, still by steam-ships, connection was made on the Pasquotank River into the Albemarle Sound. And then, by way of the Chowan and Blackwater rivers, the
timber could be shipped to the Camp Mill at Franklin. But, it appears that the least tedious and most economical method for log transport was with the railroad at Suffolk. During the late 1920s and 1930s, a lot of timber shipments were being made by over-the-highway trucks. During the early years of their swamp ownership, the Camps had other significant, but apparently amicable, competition, notably,
suffolk living 25 Baird and Roper Lumber Co. of Norfolk, which later became known as the John L. Roper Lumber Co., until it was absorbed by Norfolk Southern Corp., and Richmond Cedar Works. In 1909, William Nelson Camp, then living in Ocala, Fla., transferred his two-fifths interest in his Dismal Swamp purchase to Camp Manufacturing Co., repaying most of the $900,000 in loans he had received from the company. His brother Robert J. Camp’s onefifth interest was claimed by the company after Robert’s death in 1907. In 1921, brothers Paul D. and James L. Camp Sr. both sold their interests to Camp Manufacturing Co. for $222,300 each. By 1921, all four brothers had conveyed their shares to Camp Manufacturing Co.; the Company then owned the entire 40,000 acres. In the 1920s, Camp Manufacturing Co. went to court over the Dismal Swamp. This was the second time going to court; this time, it was to resist a claim that their company had laid claim to a small tract owned by others. In order to defend the Camp family’s 1899 purchase, attorneys John Crafford Parker
of Franklin and Toy Savage Sr., of Norfolk, searched George Washington’s original handwritten diaries, located in a New York archive, for details of Washington’s Dismal Swamp land-grant. However, their well-prepared arguments turned out to be unnecessary. During a recess in the Suffolk trial, Paul D. Camp talked with the complainant and suddenly called the lawyers aside. “I’ve talked to the plaintiff,” he said, “and we have settled.” His attorneys packed up and went home. Over time, the original 40,000-acre William Nelson Camp purchase grew, through additional periodic acquisitions, to more than 49,000 acres. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Camp and his bride, the former Annie Slade Brett of Como, North Carolina, moved to Campville, Florida, in 1881. He later relocated to White Springs and ventured into lumber, citrus, brickmaking, and phosphate mining. John Stafford Camp moved from Franklin to Florida in 1888. He operated a company store near the home of brother Benjamin at
White Springs. In 1891, William Nelson Camp and wife Texanna moved to Albion, Florida. He later moved to and helped settle Ocala. He engaged in phosphate mining, cattle, citrus and lumber. In 1907, his holdings included 30,000,000 feet of cypress timber in Florida, about 8,000 acres of cypress timber in North Carolina, and 55,000 acres of pine timber in Florida. In terms of his total personal land ownership in Florida, at 150,000 acres, at that time, he was the largest landholder in Florida. In addition to all of that, he maintained his interests in several other Camp companies in Florida. And, he stayed connected with his various Virginia endeavors — especially Camp Manufacturing Co. in Franklin. He was constantly back and forth between the two areas. Jenny Camp Norfleet, upon the death of her husband Nathaniel Norfleet in 1892, moved from Franklin to Newberry, Florida. Robert J. Camp, for a period of time in the early 1900s, divided his time between Franklin (residence at the foot of Clay Street) and Florida. Primarily, he was secretary-treasurer
26 suffolk living for Camp Manufacturing Co. in Franklin. He died in 1907. Paul D. Camp and James L. Camp maintained their residences (“The Elms” and “The Maples” respectively) and their business interests — mostly Camp Manufacturing Co. in Franklin, but also with their partial interests in the Camp businesses in Florida. Mary Eliza Camp, married to John W. Williams, continued to live in Franklin. In 1892, they moved into their primary residence at 502 Clay St. For a period of time, John Williams was a superintendent at the Franklin lumber mill. Joseph E. Camp and James E. Camp both died in their youth. In 1937, paper making operations took place at Franklin through the establishment of Chesapeake-Camp Corp. Camp Manufacturing Co. continued as a separate lumber company. Getting back to the Dismal Swamp, on May 2, 1944, the “Franklin & Carolina Railroad” was chartered by the Interstate Commerce Commission and was incorporated and wholly owned by Camp Manufacturing Co. Its
purpose was to connect the Camp paper mill and sawmill, in Franklin, with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in Nansemond County, near Whaleyville, at a place called “Franklin Junction,” and by extension, across the ACL to “Camp 7” on Desert Road. From there, the line continued on to Lake Drummond with branches extending into various other areas of the swamp. Connection with the ACL also facilitated transfer of other materials from that rail line, such as fuel oil, coal and chemicals, necessary to the Franklin Mill operation. In 1958, the Franklin & Carolina Railroad was sold to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad which continued to serve the Franklin Mill. In 1967, the Seaboard Airline Railroad merged with the Atlantic Coast Line to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, which already had connection to the Franklin mill site. In 1972, most of the old Franklin & Carolina tracks were removed. Camp Manufacturing Co. cut many hardwoods and pines from the swamp into the 1950s. In 1973, Union Camp Corporation, successor to Camp Manufacturing Co., deeded their Dismal Swamp ownership to the
Nature Conservancy. It is now a part of what is known as the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Incidentally, during the 1880s, William Nelson Camp was involved in a project entirely different from his other ventures: the establishment of a hydro-electric plant in Roanoke. He went there and got consent to build a dam on the Roanoke River, and harness the power generated by the water rolling over the dam. In 1888, he organized the Roanoke Water Power Co. and was its president. Some years later, in 1908, he put forth plans to light the streets and public places in the City of Roanoke. About 250 arc lights were put throughout the city. Robert Clifton Camp, William Nelson Camp’s second son, had moved from his Suffolk home to Roanoke to become general manager of the company. He later sold the company at a good profit. Sources: Elms Foundation; Clifford A. Hedgepeth Jr.; Southampton County Historical Society; and “Timber Tycoons” by Parke S. Rouse Jr.
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Road Warriors KEEPING WARM AND CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY
january/february 2019 • vol. 10, no. 1
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Chicken Swap FOWL, FESTIVAL AND FUN TIMES AT RESPASS BEACH
september/october 2018 • vol. 9, no. 5
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Community Garden AND VOLUNTEERS THAT LOVE BOOKS may/june 2019 • vol. 10, no. 3
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through the lens: John Mason
J
ohn Mason grew up in Suffolk, as did his parents and grandparents. He is the father of three children, and his love for capturing beautiful scenery has been picked up by one of his children, daughter Lilli. He works full-time as an electrician and also owns Mason’s Home Improvement. If you’d like to have your work considered, send an email to news@suffolklivingmag.com.
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How do you see Suffolk? Submit your photos to Through the Lens
news@suffolklivingmag.com
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Last edition’s Where Am I? The phone number on the stylized business sign that was featured in our Where Am I? probably gave it away. If you didn’t already know where this sign was, all you had to do was get online and search the phone number — or call it and see who answered! Still, only six people got the answer correct. Cindy Jones was randomly chosen from among the correct responses, and she wins a $25 gift card. See this edition’s challenge on page 11.
where am I?
I
n each edition the Suffolk Living staff provides a challenge of sorts, testing how much of Suffolk you really know. We photograph some location in Suffolk that is readily accessible and open to the public, and see if you can tell us where it is. If you know where this photo was taken, submit your answer, along with your name and contact information to news@suffolklivingmag.com. If you’re right, you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to any one of our partner advertisers. So, if you know where this is, let us know. If you’re right, you could be a winner. Go out and enjoy Suffolk!
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scrapbook
LUMBER DAYS: This building in the Great Dismal Swamp is probably a remnant of the big lumber days when loggers mined the “gold” of the swamp, according to the SuffolkNansemond Historical Society. The Camp family, featured in this magazine, owned one of the bigger logging companies. COURTESY “SUFFOLK IN VINTAGE POSTCARDS” BY THE SUFFOLK-NANSEMOND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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