What promises to be one of the largest and most interesting live stock and agricultural developments in this immediate section is being undertaken by Judson J. Fleetwood of Hertford on his plantation of 1,267 acres in Harvey’s Neck, Perquimans County. Mr. Fleetwood has gone in for the production of thorobred cattle and hogs and ?? to operate his own creamery and abattoir on the farm, and have his own refrigerator boat to carry his pork, beef and cream to markets of Edenton, Elizabeth City and Hampton Roads.
The farm that is now J.J. Fleetwood’s was in colonial times the plantation of the Harveys, a family famous in American Colonial and pre-Revolutionary history. It was known as Belgrade then and is known as Belgrade now. In early Colonial days Belgrade was one of the greatest plantations in America. The ships of the Harveys carried great cargoes of pork and wheat from Belgrade to ports as far as Boston to the North and Rio de Janeiro to the South. When the port of Boston was blockaded b the British in the fall of 1774, to punish the Bostonians for that famous “Tea Party” it was John Harvey of Harvey’s Neck who made up a cargo of corn, flour and pork and sent it to Boston to save those New England patriots from starvation.
Before John Harvey, there were other Harveys on Harvey’s Neck. In the old grave yard on the plantation there is a slap on which is still visible the Harvey coat of arms and the following inscription: “Here Lieth the Body of Col. Thomas Harvey, elder son of Thomas Harvey, Esq., formerly Governor of this Province, by whose side he was layd. He was a Good Man and Universally Beloved. Died ------. 1729.” The month and day are illegible.
John Harvey a Real Sport
But John Harvey was the spectacular figure of his family and era. He was one of the fomenters of the Revolution and when the King’s Governor of North Carolina didn’t call the General Assembly to suit Harvey, John Harvey organized a Legislature of his own and passed acts over the heads of the Governor and the King. He used to entertain his personally conducted Congress on his plantation, keeping 50 or 60 distinguished men as his guests for weeks at a time. He had the finest cellar of home made and imported wines and liquors in the country, more than 1,000 slaves to do his bidding, the finest stables in North Carolina, and his own race track. In April, 1775 John Harvey died; one of his blooded horses threw him and broke his neck.
Belgrade continued to be the garden spot of Perquimans County long after John Harvey; its ships still carried cargoes of wheat and corn and pork to Boston, Charleston, Rio de Janeiro and other ports up until the Civil War. Before the Civil War Belgrade plantation was valued for taxation at $100,000. And then came the war, freeing the slaves and Belgrade went down. The late Wm. R. Shannonhouse bought what is now J.J. Fleetwood’s plantation in two tracts for $12,000. He sold off the timber alone for $31,000 when timber was cheap. Mr. Fleetwood paid around $60,000 for the property in 1919 and 1920. A year ago the estate was badly run down, the ditches filled up and many acres grown up in underbrush and weeds. Already, under his magic touch, the ditches have been cut and most of the land put in order.
A Man of Enterprise
J.J. Fleetwood is a native of Perquimans County and one of the best farmers in his county. He has developed some of the best farms in his county and built up many a farm that had gone to waste thru neglect or bad methods. He was a pioneer in lumber manufacturing in is section and established the one big mills of Fleetwood & Jackson at Hertford. When he closed out the Fleetwood & Jackson business at Hertford about 18 years ago he went down to Charleston, S.C., and built the big mills of the Tuxbury Lumber Co. and stayed by them for five years. Twelve years ago he quit the lumber business for good and took up farming in earnest. Farming had been a side issue with him previously; but now he was free to give practical application to theories which he had acquired by experience, study and observation for upward of two score years.
As a timberman, early in life, he had discovered that the finest farming land in his county was in Harvey’s Neck. When Thomas Harvey, Esq. settled nearly 300 years ago he had his pick of the real estate ad he chose the best—that jib of land bounded on the North by Perquimans River, on the South and East by Albemarle Sound and on the West by the mainland that ?? toward what is now the town of Hertford. That is Harvey’s Neck; 10 miles from Hertford by road or water and ?? miles from Elizabeth City. Mr. Fleetwood had his eye on Harvey’s Neck for several years before he finally acquired the property. He first acquired 856 acres in the Belgrade farm in 1919 and added to this a purchase of 411 acres known as the Ashland farm, adjoining in 1920.
Mr. Fleetwood says he will proceed cautiously with his development, it being unwise to risk too many thorobred cattle on lands only recently freed of the cattle-tick, and adjoining lands yet to be made tick free. But he has already made a fine start with Short Horn Durhams and Herefords. He is making a finer showing with Poland China swine. Blooded hogs can be produced on the farm at once; registered cattle have to be imported to start.
Favors Japanese Labor
The great handicap of the development of the Fleetwood plantation is the labor problem, common to all large plantations. Negro labor is slow to acquire modern methods and the younger generation of white men don’t want to work for some one else. Mr. Fleetwood is seriously considering the importation of foreign labor for his plantation and is inclined to the opinion that Japanese labor, tho yet untried in this section, is the one best bet for the farmer of many acres.
Mr. Fleetwood has a vision of Belgrade restored to its once enviable position as the smokehouse and granary of Perquimans County. And he has the energy, the foresight, the executive ability, the resources and the ambition to make it one of the greatest plantations in North Carolina, with its own creamery, slaughter house and packing plant, with a refrigerator boat carrying beef and pork and cream with the Belgrade trade mark, from the farm to the markets of Edenton, Elizabeth City and Hampton Roads.
A visit to Belgrade Farm affords a good Sunday afternoon motor ride for progressive farmers in this section. It is reached by a good road all the way from Hertford and is only 10 miles distant from that town.
From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., May 5, 1922. “The original family cemetery was placed too near Albermarle Sound and the graves have become submerged under water. A half dozen of the gravestones were rescued and placed in the Harvey Cemetery which is further back on the point. All of the actual rest of the graves are underwater. The whole area is now a CIA training ground and inaccessible to the public.” From Find A Grave.com. The photo of Judson Fleetwood was published in the May 12, 1922 issue of The Independent.
No comments:
Post a Comment