Biding Farewell to the Bay!

Scenes like this will be missed! 

My parents’ home is (guess I should say "was") right on the Chesapeake Bay has always been a treat for this shutterbug.  The location is in what is called the Northern Neck part of the Commonwealth of Virginia near Kilmarnock and Wicomico Church. 

Twas always worth getting up at the crack of dawn to go out to the back porch for this million dollar view. More majestic scenes could be found with a short walk to the entrance to Ingram Bay Marina and the marina itself. 

There are usually some birds around to see and photograph such as these Buffleheads and seagulls. 

Below is a Common Loon. 

The brown house has been my parents’ waterfront domicile for decades. 

But alas the time has come for them to downsize and relocate to “senior living.”

 

Easter 2021 was the last time we spent time with my parents at the bay. 

 Instead of having the bay at their back door, it will be the Rocky Mountains. So that’s a big plus. They will be in a comfortable high-quality place with family close by. 

My wonderful parents are in the twilight of their lives. For some 30 years we children have been fortunate and blessed to spend time with them at their lovely home in this quiet, peaceful and gorgeous setting. Some lucky people will be the next owners of this slice of Heaven. 

My sister Ann been the family leader in preparing an estate sale that took place last weekend and various work and repairs on the house to prepare it for sale. Alesia did a nice job painting this red ornament on the garage and I painted the light fixture below it. 

I was tasked with seeing if I could sell this batch of silverware. It came from Baltimore ancestors of my father. The silver may have belonged to Judge James Kemp Harwood (1824-1895). He was a prominent Baltimoreon who on a few occasions had Robert E. Lee at his house, according to my research. 

Upon returning home, we visited a few shops that buy gold and silver. The guy at the first place (who will remain nameless) looked over the collection with his magnifier. He said most pieces had only thin silver plating and were of little value. 

Well, I’m sure glad a sought a second opinion! 

The next day we drove to Mt. Pleasant to visit Charleston Gold and Diamond Exchange. This nice lady, Alayne Vannoy, helped us. 

She did a test for silver by rubbing some pieces on a special black surface. The tests came back negative pretty much so I was not too optimistic. But I shared the research I had done, learning that “Baltimore Silver” was a thing in the bustling and expanding port city in the early 1800s. 

Between the two shop visits I put on my researcher hat and found quite a bit of material online about the Warner name on many of the pieces. Turns out that this was a family of prominent Baltimore silversmiths going back as early as 1803. 

Also, many of the knives, forks and spoons were stamped with the number 11. This was a system of quality control required by the city. Twelve stood for 100 percent silver while 11 meant 91.66 purity. Click here for more on this grading system. 

At Charleston Gold and Diamond Exchange I shared my findings with Alayne. After a bit more testing she spoke to her manager and weighed the goods in batches. Then she came back to us with a post it note with $425 written on it, or thereabouts. Later she showed another note for the remaining batch with $600 and something on it. After speaking with my parents we came back in the shop and said deal! We left with a check to my father for $1,070! I was so happy to help my parents in this way! 

Alayne said the silverware would be melted down. Why? She says people today just don’t desire such finery as in earlier times. The necessary polishing of the silver to keep it looking good is a big ask for many people, she said. 

Other family treasures were found in closets, boxes and folders of photos. My mother, an accomplished artist, sketched our two sons years ago. I had never seen this! 

And this gem (above) of me and four of my siblings in an undated Christmas-time gathering at the old house in Mount Vernon, near Alexandria, Va. 

here is another treasure: high school graduation pictures of all seven of the Harwood children. That’s me third from right. Thanks to Ann and Paul for setting up this shot, in freezing weather too. 

It’s a bittersweet feeling to say farewell to my parents wonderful Northern Neck, Va. home. 

But Alesia and I look forward to visiting my mom and dad in Colorado where they now live not far from Ann and Paul’s mountain retreat. 

Lots of fond memories live in my mind and even better perhaps my blog. Search “Northern Neck,” “Chesapeake Bay,” or “Kilmarnock” to see several posts from here since 2010.