Steamboat Era

Steamboat Era. Urbanna, Virginia. The golden era of steamboats began when two steam-powered side-wheel vessels out of Norfolk named Petersburg and Albemarle arrived in 1821 at the mouth of Urbanna Creek. In 1828, a Baltimore firm started the first commercial steamboat route on the Rappahannock River. Urbanna was one of the main stops. Early side-wheel steamers were unable to turn around in the creek. The steamers had to anchor in the Rappahannock River and launches (small boats) met the stemers, which brough passengers, U.S. Mail and other goods from the city. Steamboat traffic increased as propeller drive steamers could maneuver inside the creek. In 1845, Alfred Palmer opened Palmer's Wharf here at the foot of Watling Street. By the 1880's there were two other wharves in town; Gressitt's Wharf (located at Upton's Point Marina) and Donaldson's (located near Queen Anne's Cove Condos). When Palmer sold his wharf to Columbus (Captain Lum) Burton in the 1880s, the name was changed to Burton's Wharf and, later, to Urbanna Wharf-No. 12. A Civil War veteran, Burton, with his wife Lucy, raised a large family and ran a boarding house (Burton House) in their home just up from the wharf. The last steamboat, Anne Arundel, entered Urbanna Creek in 1937. As she stopped here on a final excursion trip from Baltimore, people closed their businesses and came out of their homes to watch an end of an era.