1. Another World By Grayson Mattingly Copyright 2011

2. Another World By Grayson Mattingly Growing up one of my fondest memories was going to visit Grandma and Grandpa on the Northern Neck. My grandfather died when I was young, about 6 years old, but my grandmother lived on into her nineties so I was able to enjoy her for a long time. What I have done here is put together a collection of paintings and drawings that provide a look back at those early years when the old Prentice Creek house was standing. In some cases, I have done the art work from old photographs; in other cases, just from memory.

3. This is my grandmother, Ethel Grayson Hall (called Etta), and my grandfather, William Broun Carter (called Captain Broun which was pronounced Brown).

4. They lived in a house located on Prentice Creek on the Northern Neck of Virginia. This is a picture of the mouth of Dividing Creek. Prentice Creek branches off of Dividing Creek just above where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay.

5. This is their house painted many years after it had been deserted and Grandfather had passed away. This is the house where my mother was born and raised. Once widowed, Grandma lived in my aunts house that was nearby.

6. Etta and Captain Broun had four children: two boys, Linwood and Bill, and two girls, Daisy and Elsie. Elsie was my mother. Three of the children are shown here at the well pump..

7. Captain Broun was a waterman and had numerous boats that he kept tied up at the dock at the Prentice Creek house. The house was about two miles from the Chesapeake Bay.

8. The life of a waterman is not easy. My grandfather had several pound net traps and hired men to help him fish them – in all types of weather.

9. Once the net was fished, a lantern would be placed on one of the poles to keep boats from running into the trap in the night.

10. Grandfather also caught crabs and oysters. Here we see him with his helper steaming hard-shell crabs in his steamer that was located next to his oyster house on Prentice Creek.

11. Although still young when Grandma and Grandpa lived in the Prentice Creek house, I can remember Grandma cooking at the wood stove. Her fried chicken and apple turnovers were delicious!

12. I would sleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms that overlooked the meat house. Since there were no indoor bathrooms, I had a chamber pot I used and emptied every morning in the outhouse.

13. Grandfather was also licensed to operate vessels carrying passengers. Here we see one of the party boats -- popular at the time -- tied up at the Prentice Creek house.

14. My grandparents also had a large farm they operated. They had cows, chickens, and hogs. They also raised corn and tomatoes. Here we see the corn house that was used to store corn.

15. This This was the meat house where Grandpa stored the slaughtered hogs.

16. This is the Steamboat Piankatank approaching Ditchley Wharf that was located about 1.5 miles from the Prentice Creek house. My future father would take the Piankatank from Baltimore to visit my future mother. Grandfather would pick him up at the wharf. The steamboats were the lifeline to the Northern Neck up into the late 30s.

17. This is the White Stone Pavilion located in White Stone, Virginia about 10 miles from the Prentice Creek house. It was the place to go for dancing, swimming, and just having a good time.

18. And so was the life for Etta and Broun Carters family -- as well as many others who lived on the Northern Neck of Virginia into the early 1950s. Today the steamboats are gone, folks have running water in their homes, and White Stone Pavilion has vanished, as have most of the watermen. But it was a time that I was fortunate to glimpse through young eyes and now can fondly recall in my old age. It was, without a doubt, a world far different than the one in which we live in today.