Virginia’s Middle Peninsula takes pride in its workboat heritage, and the 1925 deck boat Peggy is a symbol of a century’s worth of pound netting, crab dredging, and deadrise racing.
Peggy, a Mathews-built deck boat based out of New Point for many years, will mark her first 100 years in September 2025. As part of the celebration, the Mathews Maritime Foundation has commissioned an original oil painting by Chesapeake Bay artist John Barber. The painting depicts Peggy at work off New Point Comfort Light.
Peggy was named after the daughter of the owner, Walter Burroughs of New Point, and built by Harry Hudgins in the William West yard. Walter and his brother-in-law Raymond Hudgins employed Peggy in the pound net fishery until Raymond’s death in the 1930s.
Captain Walter was soon joined by his son Richard and in the 1950s had the boat decked over and shifted into the crab fisheries. In 1946 the bottom was replaced by noted local builder Alton Smith. Ed Grinnell of New Point bought Peggy in 1961 and re-configured her for pound fishing.
Captain Ed would eventually return to crab dredging and he continued to work Peggy for 40 more years until finally (and reluctantly) selling her in 2001. New owners Kim and Gretchen Granberry took Peggy into retirement and cruised her from Maine to the Caribbean. The Granberrys kept Peggy in her working configuration and in 2008 donated her to the Mathews Maritime Foundation, in Mathews, Virginia.
The maritime foundation preserves Mathews County heritage through research, conservation, and education with locations at the Mathews Maritime Museum and the Gwynn’s Island Boat Shop.
The foundation oversaw an extensive overhaul with replacement of the pilot house, decks and motor. The mostly volunteer project was carried out under the direction of Eric Hedberg.
Peggy now works as Mathew’s roving maritime ambassador, appearing up and down the Bay at maritime festivals and events in ports such as Yorktown, Portsmouth, Urbanna, St. Michaels, Chestertown, Tangier Island, and Cape Charles.
Today, the foundation operates Peggy with a $10,000 budget to cover hauling, scraping, bottom paint, top sides paint, engine maintenance, repairs, and the list goes on. Festival fees and costs are also included. Volunteers bear some of the cost. The Peggy Foundation was established to invest and maintain funds to go towards keeping Peggy going for the foreseeable future.
You can help by entering the raffle for John Barber’s commissioned painting. Barber paints Bay scenes, has a studio in Richmond and his Chesapeake work has been featured at the Deltaville and Chesapeake Bay maritime museums. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award by the National Maritime Historical Society, praised for his efforts to preserve workboat history. He has also painted the White House and WWII memorials for the federal government, and even painted a commissioned work for President Ronald Reagan.
Raffle tickets for the original Barber painting, 10” x 18”, in-frame with hand-lettered nameplate and painting light are now available and a drawing will be held at Peggy’s Centennial celebration at Horn Harbor in September. Proceeds of the raffle will go towards the Peggy Endowment Fund. Visit the Mathews Maritime Foundation website for more details.
