Right now, I can close my eyes and see that boat and hear the noises that it made.  When it came in the creek, it would blow the whistle and black smoke would come from it.  It was just great watching that steamboat come in.

Harvey Morgan interview; Luncheon talk following interview with mother.

Michael Kline interviewed Henry Gwyn Edwards for the Steamboat Era Museum Oral History Project. Henry Gwyn Edwards, born on December 18, 1904, in Mill Point, grew up in the area and still resides near his childhood home.  Edwards provides background about his early life, education, and career. He recounts his reluctance to attend school as a child and how his father took him on horseback to his first day of school. He completed his education at Cubs Creek High School, the only high school in the county at that time.

Interview with John Lee Callis 

John Norwood McCarty (1916-2012) was born to a farming family outside of Lively in Lancaster County, Virginia. His boyhood interplay with steamboats involved raising produce that he and his family then delivered to the bustling steamboat wharf to board the vessels for sale. McCarty provided vivid accounts of a rural steamboat wharf community, from a cooperative grower’s packinghouse to the local Speakeasy.

A local newspaper reporter, Haynes is owner of historic Hudgins House adjacent to the Crickett Hill Steamboat Wharf on the Piankitank River near the Gwynn’s Island bridge. She discusses the handwritten boarding house ledger dating from 1916 and overnight guests who came from far and wide.

Larry Chowning (Age 54 at the time) with Michael Kline and Dianne Jordan in Larry's Mother's living room in Urbanna.  Sprung from generations of family in Urbanna, Chowning displays a flair for uncovering intriguing details of the Chesapeake region through first person accounts. He is prolific author and knows every detail of making a living on the water over the past century.

The first part of Mrs. Olivia Mariam Williams Haynie's (1917-2006) interview is spent in bitter recollection of the atrocities committed by the Yankees during the Civil War, tales of great incivility passed down from her grandparents who witnessed affairs firsthand. From here Miriam Haynie takes listeners from her Reedville home to and through the Baltimore. Steamboats occasioned close relations between the Northern Neck and this cosmopolitan city.

At 100 years old Mrs. Morgan, with the help of her son, legislator Harvey Morgan, recalled her honeymoon voyage aboard a side-wheeler in the 1920s. The Morgan family has operated a pharmacy in Gloucester Court House for generations. 

Robert Stewart Edwards was interviewed for the Steamboat Era Museum Oral History Project. Edwards, born on September 30, 1914, was a lifelong resident of Gwynn's Island with deep roots in the community. His family, including the Fosters, operated a canning factory that employed many locals and migrant workers. Edwards himself was involved in the fishing industry and later operated a marine railway with his father. The interview provides a rich account of life on Gwynn's Island, focusing on the local industry and community activities during Edwards' early years.