Jeff Turner
of the
Blackwater Nottoway Riverkeeper Program writes:
Interesting reading about your great Uncle and his passion for killing snakes [See Our Fishing]. Way before I was Riverkeeper ( can't hunt snakes now because of that ) starting at the age of around 4, my Grandaddy "Preacher" Wright (who was certainly not one), my uncle and father would take me snake hunting on the Blackwater. Many a snake was was executed with shotgun or mustard seed with pistols. Size, gender or species did not matter. In fact I became trained to spot the targets for the group with the reward of a nickel for every snake i spotted. You can be assured I acquired quite a "snake eye" and still to this day can spot one 50 foot away running 20-mph in a boat. Sometimes even smelling them! Ahhh, those were the days. A snake on every limb and cheap ammunition. Well times change and so did I and the snake population in the Blackwater (much to many peoples chagrin) has rebounded. Its funny, now I help protect the snakes by protecting their environment and instead of the prosecutor I am now a Defender of the River...
...Attached is a pic of my Grandaddy "Preacher" Wright who was well known in the area as being the Blackwaters most knowledgeable of all patrons holding a very large cottonmouth.
Wait, don't these two men seem much alike?
... Preacher smoked a giant...King Edward cigar, always had a butt in the corner of his mouth, cussed really bad and drank heavily in the early days. I think that pic was taken about 1964.
Jeff, they both seemed to refer khakis as well. Collin was a King Edward man, seldom used four-letter words because of the more expressive ten-, twelve-, seventeen-, eighteen- and twenty-four vulgarities that were available even then. In his middle years, gave up drinking and gambling but kept the vocabulary. In response to the change, he was nicknamed the "The Saint" - another similiarity to Preacher Wright.
Preacher Wright of Franklin, Virginia.
Collin James of Cofield, North Carolina.
Please take note of the King Edward.