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| Bath, NC (KLWood, 2014) |
Recently, my husband and I made the trek down to Bath, North
Carolina, just about one hour south of us here in
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| Bath, NC |
Edenton. Bath, created in
1705, is a fascinating place with its designation as North Carolina’s first
established town and, along with many other intriguing facts, the residence of
the infamous pirate captain, Edward Teach (AKA Thatch AKA Blackbeard.)
Wandering along its quiet streets and down by the Pamlico River, it’s easy to
envision life three centuries ago when the little town was bustling with
activity including activity that inspired a visiting minister to cast a curse
upon the village, but more on that later…
European settlements began growing up along the Pamlico
River during the 1690s, leading to Bath’s official establishment in 1705. A
collection of books sent to its St. Thomas Parish in 1701 became the origins
for the colony’s first public library. (My husband, Bill, went into the Bath
Public Library and speaking to one of the librarians was disappointed to learn
that all but one of the original books had disappeared over the years and the
one remaining book was now owned by the church and not available for public
viewing.) Bath became North Carolina’s first port of entry with trade in furs,
tobacco, and naval stores.
The first settlers of Bath were French
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| St. Thomas Church, Bath, NC, (KLWood, 2014) |
Protestants who moved down from Virginia. Early English settlers included John Lawson who was the surveyor general for the colony
of North Carolina and who designed the town’s
layout. You may recall from a previous blog post --March 19, 2014-- the story of how poor John
Lawson, author and happy expounder of the virtues of North Carolina (including its native Indian
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| Palmer House, Bath, NC, (WFAhearn, 2014) |
tribes,) was killed in 1711 by the Tuscarora in a most
horrific manner.
As a matter of fact, the quiet, nearly deserted streets of
Bath today, were the scenes of much political, social, and religious turmoil
during its first years. The years 1711-1712 were especially challenging with
the area a center of serious upheaval and strife between the Church of
England’s Anglican Church and the Society of Friends (Quakers) culminating in
Cary’s Rebellion. During that time, the region was also decimated by a yellow
fever epidemic, severe drought, and the Tuscarora War. At one point during the
war between the Indians and the colonists, Bath was the refuge for more than
three hundred widows and children. Keep in mind that just four years earlier,
Bath was home to only twelve houses and a total of fifty residents.
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| Palmer House, Bath, NC (KLWood, 2014) |
As the region began putting its pieces back together
following the cessation of the Tuscarora War in 1715, Bath began to flourish
with increased traffic and trade once more. When Blackbeard the pirate,
governor’s pardon in hand, decided to settle down, he chose the town of Bath.
There, he and his rowdy crewmen became the life of the party around town, a
town that is reported to have grown to a
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| Plum Point home of Blackbeard, seen from Bath (KLWood, 2014) |
population of 8,000. Blackbeard was
wined and dined by the locals who were fascinated by his wild tales of adventure and happy to do business with the reformed (so-called) pirate. He
took a young wife from the Bath residents, a sixteen year old girl by the name
of Mary Ormond, daughter of a nearby plantation owner. The marriage was
short-lived however since, within a couple months, Blackbeard was back in the
pirating trade and, in November, 1718, was killed in Ocracoke, North Carolina
by orders of Virginia’s Governor Spotswood. (You may note it was not North Carolina’s
governor, Charles Eden, who ordered Blackbeard’s demise. Governor Eden had
actually performed the pirate’s wedding ceremony earlier in the summer.)
One of Bath’s more colorful incidents occurred during the
mid-eighteenth century when the famous traveling preacher, George
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| George Whitefield, 1750, by Joseph Badger |
Whitefield,
reportedly placed a curse upon the town. Whitefield, a minister born in England
who was a famously
impassioned leader of the religious movement in America known as the Great
Awakening, and reported to have drawn ardent crowds of 8,000 at the time, visited Bath on
several occasions. His manner and austere preachings against such amusements as
dancing were not well received in a town with a history of prosperous trade
among infamous pirates. At one point, Whitefield gave up and upon leaving the
town for the last time proclaimed: “There’s a place in the Bible that says if a
place won’t listen to The Word, you shake the dust of the town off your feet,
and the town shall be cursed. I have put a curse on this town for a hundred
years.”
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| A Lovely Memorial Garden in Bath, NC (KLWood, 2014) |
Not long after, in 1776, the town of Washington (known by us old-timers
as Little Washington) was formed fifteen miles up the Pamlico River. Once the
seat of Beaufort County government was moved to Washington in 1785, Bath lost
most of its trade and importance and its population decreased steadily over the
years, never to return to its earlier days of prosperity and power. Today, the
town’s population stands at 249. Cursed? Maybe, but some who live there might
well call it blessed as they enjoy its peaceful serenity. Perhaps after such a
tumultuous beginning, Bath deserves such a restful retirement.
Have a good week, dear Reader. Thanks for stopping by...Y'all come back now!
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Fanciful Floral Fire Hydrant in Bath (KLWood, 2014)
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Kate
Check out : http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bath/bath.htm
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