Rediscovering America_ Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland - Bill Burnham [82]
Irvington’s Village Improvement Association has tried hard to revive small town charm with sidewalk benches, potted flowers, and new street lights. Summer nights are filled with the sounds of concerts at the gazebo, and the first Saturday morning of the month (April-December) the town is abuzz with a farmer’s market once again.
A new museum interpreting the heyday of the Northern Neck of a century ago is scheduled to open in spring, 2003. The Steamboat Era Museum should resemble the building travelers saw upon arriving at the wharf in Irvington a century ago: A cedar-sided dockside warehouse with a ticket and purser’s office. Inside, exhibits will tell the story of the Chesapeake Bay steamboat era, 1826 to 1937, when big boats from Baltimore and Norfolk cruised the Bay, picking up local produce and fish at small town wharves, and dropping off manufactured goods. Vacationers soon began utilizing the steamboat routes to escape the heat of the cities, or even just to get ice cream in Baltimore, where the only ice cream plant existed, said Bruce King, the museum’s director. To accommodate all this activity, ferry stops like Irvington grew larger with general stores, hotels and post offices. (tel. 804-438-6888, www.steamboateramuseum.org)
Appreciatively, the recent gentrification in Irvington has not sacrificed too much its rural Virginia roots. Farming and fishing are still major industries. Watermen ply the waters beside mega-yachts, and a big red pick-up with crab traps in the back is just as likely to pull into “Mom & Pop’s” gas station as is a retiree’s silver Mercedes.
One thing that’s virtually unchanged in nearly three centuries is Historic Christ Church (the “historic” is an important adjective, since Middlesex County also has a Christ Church). Unlike the newer buildings in Irvington, no one knows who was the architect of this church, which Frederick D. Nichols of the American Institute of Architects has called the finest Colonial church in America. Robert “King” Carter commissioned it in 1735 at his own expense, and it was built with a half million bricks fired at a great kiln. The architecture is Georgian; the building is in the shape of a cross, with a three-tiered pulpit and three-foot thick walls. A quarter of the high-backed, enclosed pews were reserved for Carter’s family – he had 15 children, plus servants who attended service in adherence to Church of England rules. One of colonial Virginia’s most prominent citizens, Carter was a member of the House of Burgesses and, for a period, the acting Governor of Virginia. Unfortunately, he died three years before the church was completed. He’s buried here, as are much of his family. His descendants include two presidents, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, eight Virginia governors and Gen. Robert E. Lee.
That the brick structure has remained intact for so long is due in part to serendipity, isolation and infrequent use for nearly a century. After the American Revolution, the new state confiscated all property belonging to the Church of England, but since Christ Church was privately owned, it was not subject to confiscation. In 1958 the Foundation for Historic Christ Church renovated the church. Today visitors can attend Episcopal services at 8 am Sundays, Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. In late April is the Kirkin o’ the Tartan, a traditional Scottish celebration with bagpipes and kilts. The reception center/museum offers guided tours and is open April through November, 10 am-4