Memories of Virginia/Exposition Grounds
Exposition Grounds,
Jamestown, Va., June 7, 1907.
This is Tide Water Day and men of the river, like Vikings of old, are gathering on the coast to pay tribute to tide water counties, and as it was in the wilderness period, so it is now, every path of the river leads to the sea.
The tide water men from each shore town.
Sail the river roads to Old Jamestown.
Their tributes to pay to the Hampton sea.
Tide water day of the jubilee.
The men of Cape Henry and Charles on the lee,
The men of Roanoke, the Island of Raleigh,
The men of Tappahannock, who love the Indian name,
The men of Rappahannock, of Civil War fame.
The East Shore, men of Old Accomack,
The men of the James, the men of the York,
The men of Elizabeth, the shire by the sea,
The men of Portsmouth, the men of Berkeley,
The men of Gloucester, the river men of Suffolk,
The men of Matthews, the river men of Norfolk,
The Essex men, the Sussex men, Vikings of the Sea.
The men of Warwick, the men of Denbigh,
The men of Hampton, the men of Newport.
The men of Old Point, the men of the Fort.
The tide water men, the bold, the brave, the free.
The sons of the Pounders, the men of the sea.
The Alpha men on the James to found,
The Keystone Arch of a New World Home,
The Scottish Chief of England's Union Crown,
The first British King of Old Jamestown.
On June 15, the Pocahontas Bell will sound its memorial notes over Hampton Roads. I will give you the keynote and after that event I will adopt the motto of Alabama, "Here I rest."