DATE: Sunday, July 13, 1997                 TAG: 9707130086

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   78 lines

GROUP'S EXCAVATION SEEKS RICH HISTORY OF FERRY PLANTATION

Through tight crawl-spaces packed with brick rubble and broken glass, excavators searched for this city's history beneath the Ferry Plantation House.

Clump by clump, volunteers and volunteered misdemeanor offenders from the sheriff's work force removed objects caked in tan-red soil.

Jo Howren, 56, her long, graying hair pulled back in a ponytail, helped and watched the continuation of a restoration project first envisioned a decade ago.

That's when Howren and a group of others interested in local history formed the Friends of the Ferry Plantation House. The group aims to turn one of city's most impressive Federal period homes into a historical resource.

The family of Howren's ex-husband once owned this land. Her wedding reception was held here, too. But her marriage to the history of this place has had a stronger pull on her heart.

Through decades when the house's future was in limbo, when the property belonged to developers and inattention allowed vandalism, weather damage and animal invaders to speed the structure's deterioration, Howren, the group's president, has been the most vocal of supporters.

Saturday, they dug.

Mixed in a rubble salad below the home were bottles, bits of metal, what appeared to be a crowbar and old nails. Also found were bits of fused brick, the product of a fire that destroyed the building on this plot before the current house.

``This whole day has just been wonderful,'' Howren said.

Local archaeology enthusiasts sifted soil through a screen, and members of the work force sat on the porch reading a yellowed 1962 newspaper.

Howren also found a copy from 1954 under some loose flooring.

``They'd just outlawed segregation,'' she said. ``The McCarthy hearings were going on. Eisenhower was president. And men's topcoats were $25.''

But the house's history predates local newsprint.

In October, the City Council approved a plan for the Friends of the Ferry Plantation House to return the house to its glory days, which were about 170 years ago.

The history of the land goes back further. In 1642, Savill Gaskin ran a ferry from a dock on the nearby western branch of the Lynnhaven River.

And Grace Sherwood, the Witch of Pungo, did her cell time in an old ``gaol'' house once on the site. It was occupied by a courthouse for Princess Anne County. The one at the site before the current house burned in the early 1700s.

The site also yielded a successful excavation in 1987, and artifacts including 18th century style buckles have been displayed in Williamsburg.

But past owners wanted it to be a residence, or to make way for a modern home to blend into the surrounding subdivision.

With the City Council setting aside $68,550 for the restoration, which could take up to $200,000 to complete, the group of history lovers will attempt to turn the house into a showcase for local history.

There have also been a pair of $1,000 grants - one for hiring a historical architect, and the other to fund the beginning stages of a documentary.

More often than one might suspect, the plantation has been confused with Ferry Farm, the childhood home of George Washington in Stafford County. Other rumors abound locally concerning the property.

If the site becomes a local museum, Howren hopes to put some of the rumors to rest and instead educate people about bizarre local truths. Such as how the site once housed Virginia's top witch.

There is no set time line. They are working below the house now and will move to the building's outside and inside. As long as money and support comes their way, the restoration will continue. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE

Amid the rubble, volunteers found old newspapers, bottles and a

fused brick, the product of a fire that destroyed an earlier

building on the site. Jo Howren, right, hopes the house will be

restored into a museum.

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