The Peggy Story
Original story by George Pongonis. Edited for the 2012 Gwynn’s Island Festival Program. Can you remember life before microwave ovens? As we live day-to-day, new technologies emerge which replace what we have grown to admire. Do you ever wonder about living in an earlier time? How different day-to-day life must have been for those who never knew the benefits of our modern conveniences. Just think about travel in the time prior to the introduction of engine-powered vehicles. No planes, trains or automobiles, and only sailboats for voyages over water. Those were different times in Mathews County. Back at what we used to call the “turn of the century,” Mathews was known as a prominent center for boat building. Boats were important around the Chesapeake before highways took over the “shipping” business. (Where do you think our common term for transportation came from?) Not just small boats either. Sea-going ships were built here in Mathews. Indeed, many sons of Mathews went to sea as w...