Editor’s Note: During the first full week of April, WYDaily will revisit some of our favorite pieces over the past year. This story was originally published on March 15, 2021. To see the original publication, click here.
HAMPTON ROADS – Throughout March, WYDaily is celebrating Women’s History Month by honoring influential women from our region.
Here is a list of five women whose lives touched the history of the Tidewater.
1. Clementina Rind: (Williamsburg) Following the death of her husband in 1773, Rind is considered the first female American newspaper printer and publisher.
Statue of Grace Sherwood, The Witch of Pungo (WYDaily/ Nancy Sheppard)
Here is a list of five women whose lives touched the history of the Tidewater.
1. Clementina Rind: (Williamsburg) Following the death of her husband in 1773, Rind is considered the first female American newspaper printer and publisher.
Statue of Grace Sherwood, The Witch of Pungo (WYDaily/ Nancy Sheppard)
2. Grace Sherwood, The Witch of Pungo: (Virginia Beach) Famous for her 1706 witchcraft trial in Princess Anne County, subsequent witch ducking, and final trial in Williamsburg, Sherwood was a 46-year-old Princess Anne County native who made history as the last woman in Virginia to be convicted of witchcraft. She was eventually released and her good name cleared in 2006.
The family is planning a memorial service and celebration of life at 4 p.m. May 15 at the Hornsby House Inn at 702 Main St. in Yorktown. Phil Bowditch was a well-known Peninsula real estate broker and continued his mother’s legacy of supporting the Yorktown Watermen’s Museum, which she co-founded to preserve the heritage of local watermen