SSentinel.com Serving Middlesex County and adjacent areas of the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck since 1896 Vol. 119, No. 44 Urbanna, Virginia 23175 • February 6, 2014 Two Sections • 75¢ How much does Urbanna water service actually cost? by Tom Chillemi issues “so we can understand how much the water system really does The Town of Urbanna once pro- cost us,” he told council members vided its residents with sewer service, who were present at the January 16 but turned that responsibility over to council work session. the Hampton Roads Sanitation Dis- Heyman said it’s vital to fi gure trict in the late 1990s. where the town staff spends most of Since then, the most important its time, so the town council can focus function of the town offi ce has been on that subject—be it zoning, water, to provide drinking water. The job or the Old Tobacco Warehouse. “We of fi guring out how much the water can’t really explain how much the system actually costs has been taken water system costs us,” he said. up by council member Joe Heyman. Heyman said that a town employee The town council has been with- told him about a year ago that 60% out a designated treasurer since Bob of his time was devoted to the water Calves resigned in March, 2013. system. Although he is not the town trea- Town administrator Holly Gailey surer, Heyman has been working with replied that one town employee spent town staff in an attempt to create a 172 hours on the water system in the monthly budget report. After months last six months. The town recently of scouring town fi nancial line items, hired a part-time employee who Heyman is trying to fi gure how much time the town staff devotes to water (See Urbanna, page A2) Intersection in front of Food Lion to be discussed by Larry S. Chowning Route 17 Business) in the county. “We want to get citizen comments Virginia Department of Transpor- and concerns so we can move forward Music that changed the world tation (VDOT) offi cials will hold a on this project,” said Trapani. public informational meeting to dis- No stoplight will be installed at the by Tom Chillemi haircuts, energized a young generation, sparked “Bea- cuss traffi c problems and solutions at intersection. VDOT plans to modify tlemania,” and helped set the 1960s on a new course. the Food Lion intersection in Saluda. the intersection to have all traffi c that This Sunday, February 9, at 8 p.m. marks the Their music was a voice for a new generation that The meeting will be from 5-7 p.m. is leaving Saluda on Business Route moment 50 years ago when the Beatles performed live would grow up in the 1960s, a time of change. The Bea- on Thursday, February 13, at the 17 to turn right onto Route 17 North. on The Ed Sullivan Show. In a country of 190 million, tles inspired people to reach higher. Cooks Corner Business Complex on Those who want to enter Food Lion an estimated 73 million people witnessed the electrify- The Ed Sullivan Show was only the beginning. It Route 33, two miles east of Saluda. would then immediately merge into ing event. would be years before we realized the full meaning of VDOT resident highway engineer the left lane and then into a proposed Things would never be the same. what we had just seen. No one could have imagined Sean Trapani told the Middlesex left-turn lane at a proposed new cross- The Beatles music and harmonies set up a vibration where this musical revolution would lead. County Board of Supervisors on over. This median crossover would that excited everyone who was a fan and made them Their songs left you wanting more. And there was Tuesday that the meeting will be only be for entering the Food Lion “happy inside.” In less than three minutes a Beatle song much more to come. informal and VDOT offi cials will be parking lot. would have you humming the tune or singing the chorus “Please, Please Me” and turn to page A8 to relive there to answer any questions regard- Motorists leaving the north entrance for hours. Beatles memories and visit SSentinel.com to see more ing proposed changes to one of the The Beatles’ fresh unique sound, and those “mop-top” Beatles memorabilia. busiest intersections (Route 17 North/ (See Traffi c, page A3) Program to focus on documenting slave graveyards including that of David Harris and his Saturday at wife, Nancy Henry Harris. The documentation of African- American cemeteries will be the topic courthouse of a program this Saturday, February 8, at 11 a.m. at the Historic Middlesex Courthouse, General Puller Hwy., in Saluda Saluda. College of William and Mary anthropologist Michael Blakey will by Bessida White talk about his “Remembering Slavery, Resistance and Freedom Project” (The For many African-Americans, the Remembrance Project) and its search search for the burial grounds of their for historic African-American ceme- slave-era ancestors can be challenging. teries. David Brown, archaeologist and Several members of Middle Peninsula co-director of the Gloucester-based African-American Genealogical and Fairfi eld Foundation, will describe the Historical Society (MPAAGHS) have cemetery component of the founda- worked diligently to document their tion’s work in the Middle Peninsula. family slave graveyards. Persons attending the program will Gloria Waller, an experienced learn how they may go about fi nding genealogist who has been research- their family and community cemeter- ing her Native American and African- ies and how to have them included on American ancestors for many years, the cemetery database being developed has family oral history that suggests by The Remembrance Project. The that members of her family were held program is free to the public and is co- enslaved and buried at Woodstock sponsored by the Middlesex County Plantation near Hartfi eld. Waller has Museum and Historical Society and conducted research, has visited the the MPAAGHS. For further informa- property, and has spoken to the owners, tion, call 804-758-5163. but has not been able to locate the cem- etery and document her oral history. She has, though, found that some of her ancestors who were born enslaved, including U.S. Colored Troops sol- The Jackson Monument in Deltaville. (Photo by Davaline Taliaferro) dier Samuel Mayo, are buried in the county’s church cemeteries, largely in story, page A2) more than a century. Although White etery where the Jacksons are buried unmarked graves. Even without such defi nitive his- has spoken to several persons who with two of their children. Their graves Dr. Alvin Lomax has a settled tory, other ways exist to identify his- remember seeing the graves during the are marked by a monument and enclo- family history that is explicit about toric cemeteries. For example, Bessida early 20th century, she has not been sure that were designed and erected by the location of the cemeteries where Cauthorne White has found references able to fi nd the specifi c locations of the their son, artist and entrepreneur Joel his black and his white ancestors are to family gravesites in the 1892 will of cemeteries. Judson Jackson. buried. The two separate graveyards her great-great-grandfather, Robert S. Davaline Taliaferro is able to iden- In addition, Taliaferro is the owner on the former Aspen Grove plantation Cauthorn, who lived near Dunnsville tify two Middlesex County cemeteries of property just off the Piankatank in King William are readily identifi - in Essex County. The will requests that in which her slavery-era ancestors are River near Hardyville that has been in able. Tombstones mark the graves in “one fourth of an acre of land around buried. A maternal great-grandfather her paternal family for several genera- the white cemetery while graves in the the graves of my parents be reserved oysterman, James Jackson, and his tions, having been owned by her great- black cemetery have less permanent for the burial of myself and any of my wife, Dolly Whiting Jackson (born grandfather David Harris. Harris was markings. The family of Lomax’s late near relatives.” It also reserves “one in 1829 and 1839, respectively), one of six enslaved men who obtained cousin, Dr. Walter Lomax, now owns fourth of an acre for the burial of any of were early members of First Baptist their freedom by turning themselves Aspen Grove and the adjacent Cool my former slaves and their descendants Amburg who donated land adjacent in to the United States Navy at Sting- Spring, having combined them into the who may wish to be buried there.” to the church for the construction of ray Point in July 1861, and who were 800-acre Jubilee Farms. The properties The Cauthorn graves are on property Dumbar Elementary School. About a among the fi rst blacks to join the U.S. have been restored and both cemeter- that has been owned by the Southside mile from the church at Deltaville is Navy. A cemetery on that property ies are well maintained. (See related Rappahannock Baptist Association for an old, rarely-used portion of its cem- contains numerous family graves, Michael Blakey 6 Arts & Leisure ....... A6 Classifieds ........... B4 61 05 Business Directory . B4 School ................. B2 Y Board Court MYBL 51 52 Calendar .............. A4 Social.................. A5 Members News Openers 56 Church ................ B3 Sports ................. B1 A3 A3 B1 6 PAGE PAGE In side PAGE A2 • Southside Sentinel • Urbanna, Va. • February 6, 2014 opinion Preserving slave graveyards letters to the editor The story that follows first Let’s make error of this magnitude make Express your appeared in the April 28, 1988 it into a unanimous Supreme issue of the Southside Sentinel.