America's Wetland: An Environmental and Cultural History of Tidewater Virginia and North Carolina

15. Urbanization and Depopulation

200 15 Urbanization and Depopulation Silkworms, Artificial Silk, and Technology In March 1540 the de Soto expedition observed the Apalachee Indians of northwest Florida (Tallahassee) making fine cloth spun from the bark of mulberry trees: ‘‘And they know how to process it and spin it into thread and to prepare it and weave it.’’ The women wore white cloaks from this cloth and made a fine appearance.∞ Some forty years later the Roanoke colonists were first to report the presence of mulberry trees in the Albemarle region, and they were quick to propose that the area would be ideal for silkworm cultivation. As early as 1711 settlers already had ambitious plans for creating a silk industry in New Bern. The British even passed an Act of Parliament to encourage silkworm culture in the colony (1769). French Huguenots, who had experience with silkworm culture, were particularly encouraged to bring their skills. Unfortunately, the native mulberry (mainly Morus rubra) proved unsuitable for silkworm culture.≤ In the 1830s a silkworm mania again attracted investors to sericulture. In 1836 plantation owners Josiah Collins and Ebenezer Pettigrew, both of Lake Phelps, jointly undertook large-scale culture of an imported mulberry (Morus multicaulis), a species considered ideal for culturing silkworms . By 1839 they had in cultivation forty thousand such mulberry saplings, which they planned to sell wholesale to markets in Baltimore and elsewhere. For whatever reason, this curious silkworm enterprise on the Albemarle peninsula dissolved in 1842.≥ Urbanization and Depopulation W 201 Nonetheless, the mulberry tree was to have great economic impact on the lives of people in the Albemarle region. In Europe, just before World War I, research on mulberry leaves and bark resulted in a new technology that exploited cellulose from wood products and cotton to produce, among other things, a man-made fiber (rayon), known also as ‘‘artificial silk.’’ This cellulose-based technology evolved into big business by World War I.∂ In America, this cellulose industry had its early roots along James River, Virginia, an area that has several times played a pivotal role in the history of the Albemarle region. As discussed in chapter 4, planters first migrated from James River settlements to the Albemarle region starting in the mid-1600s. Many of their descendants returned generations later, in the 1920s and 1930s, as economic migrants to work in the new silk factories. The town of Hopewell is on the James River very near the headwaters of the Albemarle basin (Blackwater-Chowan River). During World War I it was home of a DuPont factory that produced ‘‘guncotton munitions’’ from the same cellulose technology. This ‘‘guncotton plant’’ employed some draft-deferred men from the Albemarle peninsula, including George Hussey , son of the local boat captain mentioned in chapter 11. After the war, DuPont closed its plant, with devastating effect on Hopewell. However, in the early 1920s several industries were attracted to the old DuPont site. The biggest was Tubize Artificial Silk Company, which located here from Belgium in 1921.∑ Before long, Tubize had established an Albemarle ghetto in Hopewell, as one migrant from the Albemarle observed, ‘‘after DuPont had closed [Tubize] brought a different group of workers into the community. And as best I can remember most of them came from North Carolina. . . . When Tubize opened they recruited. They sent recruiters down to North Carolina, South Carolina and they recruited people off of farms. . . . I remember one block of the B Village section and everyone from that block came from North Carolina.’’ The record shows that many men and their families from the Albemarle peninsula answered the call for a better life in Hopewell. The men, their wives, and even their children found employment in Hopewell, especially in the ‘‘silk plant,’’ and some settled here indefinitely.∏ The wife of one such emigrant wrote fascinating letters to family back home on the Alligator River (Gum Neck), describing their journey and new life. On 1 November 1922 the whole family had taken the train from 202 W America’s Wetland Elizabeth City at 6 am and at noon arrived at Petersburg, ten miles away (according to an account in the Tyrrell County Times): ‘‘I found every thing like they promest. . . . People is coming hear from everywhere. . . . Mr George Hussey lives here.’’ She recounted details of their jobs (the older children earned $8.00 to $13.90 a week), rent ($9.00 a month, including lights and water), snuff (only...