Mother’s Day, May 10, 2026
The Chuckatuck Life
Hey friends!
Adrienne and I are excited to share something we’ve been working on — our new blog, The Chuckatuck Life 🪴
It’s a space where we’ll be honoring traditions passed down through generations while creating new ones worth holding onto, and celebrating the everyday moments that make life in and around Chuckatuck so special. Think homemade recipes, seasonal traditions, local history, and a little bit of small-town charm along the way.
Welcome to The Chuckatuck Life 💛
It’s Derby Day!
A proper drink tells its own story.
You asked for it, I finally gave in — here’s the story and secret behind my “perfect” mint juleps.
Cheers! 🥃 🐎
Snow Day – Fireside Message
Samuel Barron, 1836-1892
Carte-de-visite by photographer Penabert, Paris, France, taken circa 1864-1865 and inscribed to his future wife, Agnes Muse.
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Born in Virginia in 1836, this Samuel Barron would be the fifth by that same name in a long line of Barron family members committed to naval service.
His father, Samuel Barron (1809-1888) served as Commodore in both the U.S. and C.S. Navy. His grandfather, Samuel Barron (1765-1810), fought as a junior officer in the American Revolution and later rose through the ranks of the new U.S. Navy, concluding his career as a Commodore. His grand-uncle, James Barron (1769-1851), was another Commodore and the most senior member of the U.S. Navy upon his death in 1851. And finally, his great-grandfather, James Barron (1740-1787) served as Commodore of the small Virginia state navy during the American Revolution.
From his obituary in The Norfolk Landmark, Barron was described as “…conceived and nourished in a fondness for the sea, which was gratified at the early age of 16, when he went to the East Indies as cabin boy and returned as first mate, the trip lasting three years. After cruising all over the world, he, about the year 1855, began life anew on a cattle ranch in Brazil from which place he soon drifted to California and was there at the breaking out of the Civil War. When the news reached him, together with… George E. Pickett… he started for the Confederacy, and their experience and thrilling escapes from capture would read more like romance than facts.”
Upon arrival in Richmond, Barron was appointed Acting Master, and assigned to the C.S.S. Jamestown, in which he served during the battle of Hampton Roads (March 8-9, 1862), and on the C.S.S. Beaufort (renamed Roanoke) during the battle of Drewry’s Bluff (May 1862), and with the James River Squadron.
Barron was promoted to Lieutenant in February 1863, and 1st Lieutenant in January 1864, during which he spent most of his time in “service abroad” on behalf of the Confederate States Navy. This included work under his father in Europe, who was coordinating a variety of naval support efforts alongside Commander James D. Bulloch. During this time, the younger Barron aided in cruises of the C.S.S. Florida and C.S.S. Stonewall.
At the conclusion of the War, Barron traveled abroad, spending significant time in Mexico before returning to the United States in 1868. He married and settled back in his native Virginia, farming and later operating a ship brokerage company. In 1892, he died at the age of 56, following complications from a stroke. He is buried at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Warsaw, Essex County, Virginia, beside his wife and a number of other members of his immediate family.
Image: Carte-de-visite by photographer Penabert, Paris, France, taken circa 1864-1865 and inscribed to his future wife, Agnes Muse. Provenance: Barron family; former Bill Turner collection; courtesy of the collection of Fred D. Taylor.
Haunted History
Our annual night of readings from Edgar Allan Poe at Suffolk’s Riddick’s Folly House Museum.
From Nansemond County to Brazil
A night with the Hampton Roads Civil War Roundtable in Virginia Beach, speaking on the life of “renaissance man,” Hamlin Lassiter Norfleet of Suffolk.
What Are You Waiting For?
The October 5, 2025 worship service and my ordination at Bethlehem Christian Church, Suffolk.
Deliverance and Patience
The August 16, 2025 worship service of Bethlehem Christian Church, Suffolk.
150th Anniversary of Weaver’s Chapel Methodist Church
The year was 1875, and the country was in the midst of Reconstruction. In a small community along the Roanoke River outside of Littleton, Halifax County, North Carolina, it was said that “vice and ruin reigned.” One new arrival to the neighborhood noted that “the men and boys were spending the Sabbath playing baseball, cards, chicken fighting” and other such “evil ways.”
Finding the local moral condition “very bad,” a Mr. H. Throckmorton set about to make a change and found an old run down school house in which to start a Sunday school. Though resistant at first, eventually the community acquiesced, and next came prayer meetings. When they outgrew the school house, they built a brush arbor to accomodate more people and split logs for seating.
Realizing a spark had been created, Mr. Throckmorton sought to bring a minister in for regular services. After several instances of being turned down, he found an itinerant preacher – the Rev. John Travis Weaver – who lived in nearby Brunswick County, Virginia. Weaver agreed to attend, and preached an eight day revival that is said to have resulted in fifty converts.
The rest, as they say, is history.
A few months later, the congregants committed themselves to the creation of a permanent Church, and named it “Weaver’s Chapel” in honor of its first minister. By the next year, a log-framed and permanent chapel was built.
The original members/contributors to the creation of Weaver’s Chapel included the noted Mr. H. Throckmorton; numerous members of the Wilson families (Nathaniel & Elizabeth Wilson, Presley Wilson, Eaton & Elvy Wilson, Andrew Jackson Wilson); Thomas Morris; Thomas Pulley; J.M. Pulley; Durrell Gholson; John Harper; John Northington; and Sterling Johnston, and many others.
Tomorrow, I am excited to return to Littleton to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Church that my grandmother, great-grandparents, and numerous other family, called their own.
Founding Church Families/Members
Fred~on~History 