110 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 6, 1909
from the Mathews Journal
Susan: The fishing season, which at one time was thought to prove almost a failure, bids fair to be a very good one, prices though fluctuating, have averaged well, and the catch seems to be more equally divided among the fishermen. All getting in a fairly good season’s work.
As frost was to be seen last Monday morning it seems as if we are to have our winter in the spring, which will put the farmers back in their crops, as well as injuring if not destroying the summer fruit.
100 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 8, 1919
from the Gloucester Gazette
Glenns: It is indeed encouraging and gratifying to all of our people to see that at last the public highway from Glenns to the Owl Trap is in splendid shape for traveling. Mr. Vaughn has worked hard and well, and his work is appreciated by the public. We see in the faces of the people whom we meet smiles instead of frowns that the old mud holes produced. When the road from Adner to Owl Trap, which is a little over two miles, is completed, we will have good roads from Fredericksburg to Gloucester Point.
from the Mathews Journal
A school league having as its object the advancement of the educational interests of the Whites Neck section was organized recently at the Peninsula School. The following officers were elected: President, Paul McElroy; Vice President, W.B. Davis; Secretary, Paul A. Hobday; Treasurer, L.D. White. This organization succeeds the old Civic League which had been allowed to go down.
90 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 9, 1929
from the Gloucester Gazette
About the latest nifty thing in the way of wedding presents arrived via parcel post Tuesday for Mr. and Mrs. Harold Taylor, whose marriage was a recent event. The gift was a very young kid (goat), who arrived comfortably confined in an ordinary market basket, the trimmings of which he had already sampled for his lunch while en route. The wiseacres are wiseacring Mr. Taylor considerably about the kid.
80 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 11, 1939
from the Gazette-Journal
Plans were completed for a Swapping Party and Ice Cream Festival to be held on the lawn of the rectory at Gloucester C.H. on Friday afternoon, May 19, when the Woman’s Auxiliary of Abingdon Episcopal Church met at St. Andrew’s Community Center, with Mrs. James Smith president, presiding. Mrs. Smith named Mrs. G.G. Bray as chairman of the food committee and Mrs. William J. Porter as chairman of the Swapping Party. The festival will be held in the afternoon from 4 to 6 o’clock.
70 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 12, 1949
from the Gazette-Journal
The Virginia Forest Service has recently planted approximately 40,000 Loblolly Pine seedlings on two areas in Gloucester County. This planting was done with a Forest Service planter in 28 hours. This figure does not indicate record planting time because in some places over 2,000 seedlings were planted in one hour. The Virginia Forest Service can furnish seedlings and planting machine to anyone desiring to reforest their land for a very nominal amount.
60 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 7, 1959
from the Gazette-Journal
The Gloucester Village Business Association Tuesday night approved requesting the county sheriff to enforce two-hour parking in the village.
Bobbie Clements, membership chairman, reported that a probable 35 to 40 business establishments would join the Association.
50 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 8, 1969
from the Gazette-Journal
Approximately 100 citizens attended the public hearing Wednesday in regard to the establishment of a new sewage treatment facility for Mathews High School, with many expressing disapproval of the project. The hearing was conducted by A.W. Hadder, director of the enforcement division of the State Water Control Board, to which state agency the school board had applied for a permit. He explained that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss how the system would affect the waters on Stutts Creek, where the effluent from the sewage facility would be discharged. He noted that the present sewage plant at the high school is malfunctioning, and “something must be done to correct the situation,” which he described as an “on shore health hazard.”
40 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 10, 1979
from the Gazette-Journal
The Gloucester and Mathews area are currently undergoing a siege of dognapping, according to Mrs. Marianne Bear of the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society.
Random cars are entering the area and picking up well cared for dogs that are running loose and are either selling them to unsuspecting customers if they are fashionable breeds, or selling them to unscrupulous breeders, often the owners of puppy mills, she said.
Those dogs of less fashionable breeds are often sold to laboratories, according to Mrs. Bear, and their lives usually end in experimentation.
Mrs. Bear urges pet owners take precautions against losing their own animals in this manner by keeping them on leashes and at home.
30 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 11, 1989
from the Gazette-Journal
Bette Stephens was putting down the windows in her two-story frame home at Mobjack, getting ready for the rain which seemed imminent when she saw a funnel cloud coming her way from the east.
Less than a minute after the sighting, the tornado roared through the Stephens’ backyard, snapping off a massive willow oak. Branches from the oak crushed a carport, a 1969 Chevrolet and the tractor, but luckily missed the main part of the house by feet. Also damaged were a truck, windows, roofing, a barn, and carts in the yard; total estimated value of their loss was $25,000.
But Mr. and Mrs. Stephens consider themselves lucky; they, three cats, a dog and three horses were unhurt.
20 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 13, 1999
from the Gazette-Journal
School security along with overcrowding at Gloucester High School and Peasley Middle School were the topics as a steady stream of students, parents and other concerned residents addressed the Gloucester School Board for over 90 minutes Tuesday night. Those issues were also addressed head-on by school officials during the meeting. “Unless you direct me otherwise, I will proceed with the installation of security cameras at Gloucester High School,” said division superintendent Larry Hoover. The board members did not object to the move.
10 YEARS AGO
Thursday, May 7, 2009
from the Gazette-Journal
Peasley Middle School eighth graders in classes taught by Tonya Weaver and LeeAnn Rigau recently completed a project inspired by their reading of “Selavi, That is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope.” For a week, the students brought in baked goods and baked items after school for morning bakes sales. They donated their profits to the Heifer Project, which gives animals to impoverished villages. The children’s effort sent rabbits, bees, geese and chickens to a needy Asian village where they will be propagated and sold, helping to free child laborers for school attendance.