Grace Sherwood

The Grace Sherwood Stone

4449 N. Witchduck Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455

Everyone is cordially invited to stop by and see the stone.

In 2021 the Grace Sherwood Stone was moved next to the Old Donation Episcopal Church National Register of Hisoric Places plaque. Then the stone was again moved and placed in front of shrubbery out in front of the church historic graveyard.

  

 

Pete Owens, leader of the Historic Traditions Commission (HTC) standing behind the Rosemary bed in the Herb Garden

In 2013 the HTC voted to ask for charitable contributions for the Grace Sherwood Stone. After placement in the Herb Garden, on July 10th 2014 the "Dedication and Blessing of the Grace Sherwood Stone" was held.

The Reverend Drew Foisie opened the proceeding with a prayer
"Blessing of the Stone" Sermon:

Accept, we pray, this stone and its placement in this garden; and grant that as we look upon it, we will remember Grace and lay aside our prejudice and fear, and incline our hearts to walk in love and act with justice." Then Rev Foisie and others, using sprigs of Rosemary dipped in Holy Water, blessed the stone.

Belinda Nash (above) then gave a eulogy about Grace Sherwood. In 2012 she wrote about Grace in "A Place in Time: The Age of the Witch of Pungo."

Church Historian Bob Perrine (above) concluded the dedication. "Today we come together to honor a woman who was a member of our church. She reportedly helped people when called upon, caring for the sick with her extensive knowledge of herbs. Grace’s label as a witch was not lifted for 300 years until Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine in 2006 restored her good name.”

On Aug 5th, 2023 noted historian Scott Moore (above) visited Old Donation and provided his account of the Grace Sherwood story. He said beginning in 1697, talk of Grace being a witch started to surface, which fueled gossip in the community. Her husband James brought deformation suits to court which only fueled more gossip. A few years after James died Aug 15th, 1701, Elizabeth Hill came to the Sherwood’s farm and beat Grace about the face. Grace promptly sued the Hills for assault and battery. The court found in favor of Grace noting she had been assaulted, bruised, and beaten badly about her face. Elizabeth Hill got angry over the verdict believing her action was justifiable against a witch by showing how facial blood could prove Grace had magic powers. As a result of the court's ruling, the Hills began charging Grace in court with witchery. Eventually the court got tired of the Hill’s continued claims, and so did Grace, having been searched various times for marks of the devil and enduring trips in and out of court. Grace finally agreed on July 10th, 1706 to a ducking in the Lynnhaven River. The Court ordered the Sheriff to take precautions to preserve her from drowning, and then take her into his custody and commit her to jail secured in irons until such time Grace was brought to trial. The record is silent about any further action against Grace, and there is no proof she was convicted of any crime by the court, only that she was convicted as a witch by the waters of the Lynnhaven River. She eventually was released from jail and got her farm back.

Lacking Records, this is what might have happened to Grace Sherwood
James Sherwood (1660-1701) fell in love with Grace White (1660-1740), an illiterate, but beautiful young woman in the back country of Pungo. In 1675, both James and Grace at the young age of 15, had a daughter, naming her Elizabeth (1675-1725), five years before their official marriage.
In 1695 while tending her fields alongside her 20 year-old daughter, a next-door neighbor, Elizabeth Hill, the town gossip, went over to see what two beautiful women dressed in men’s britches were doing out in the field without a husband. In Elizabeth’s mind Grace made fun of her by introducing her to her daughter as Elizabeth. Even if true, Elizabeth Hill felt she was being ridiculed and went back home.
An angry Elizabeth Hill started spreading rumors about Grace working in the field alongside her daughter in men’s birches without her husband. Neighbors shrugged off her gossip saying, “So what?”
When Elizabeth Hill heard about what happened to women accused of witchery up North in Salem, Massachusetts, Elizabeth added to her stories the reason why her husband was not out in the field helping Grace, was because she was growing plants for her concoctions used in her devil’s brew. Elizabeth Hill even went further using outlandish tales about Grace sitting on her while she slept, and then escaping through a key hole in the form of black cat. Her tales ratcheted up to traveling to England in an egg shell and bringing back rosemary the same night, a plant which started all the rosemary growing in America. Again, neighbors shrugged her off saying, “So what?”
James brought deformation suits to court against the Hills to defend Grace’s good name which only fueled more gossip. Elizabeth Hill’s husband beseeched Elizabeth to let the whole thing with Grace just blow over. Not listening to her husband, it became obvious to Elizabeth she had to step up her accusations against Grace, but only if she could get Grace’s husband James out of the way. Since James always accompanied Grace to court to defend her against Elizabeth’s accusations, Elizabeth got the Hill clan to help her out. While at a court recess, James wandered into the cemetery grave yard. Waiting there, the Hills killed James. History has no not record how James died. This is just one possibility
With a show of great sorrow, Elizabeth Hill put on an act in front of the church congregation claiming Grace’s witchery had filled their house with evil spirits and even crept into her husband’s body killing this strong and healthy 46-year-old man. Church members believed Elizabeth’s story and helped to make a gravestone for James and buried him in the church graveyard.
Without her husband Grace had to fend against Elizabeth, and sure enough, not long after James was murdered, Elizabeth came to the Sherwood farm and maliciously beat Grace about her face since she had heard that facial blood was different from normal blood, perhaps the blood of a witch, and could prove Grave to be a witch. Grace defended herself the best she could making markings on Elizabeth's body which would prove significant later on.
This time, seeing her bloody face, the court ruled in favor of Grace awarding her just a paltry sum. This was the first court conviction against Elizabeth since she and her husband had been in and out of court for what seemed like many months. This conviction upset Elizabeth to such a degree that she went to the Hill clan to see if Grace could be killed, but killed slowly, like dozens of women were treated during the Salem Witch Trials. Could Elizabeth be so gruel?
On the day Grace was scheduled to be ducked, a huge crowd had gathered outside the court house to see Grace get her punishment for what Elizabeth Hill was claiming. Coming from miles around the crowd was set on seeing someone ducked in the Lynnhaven River. Elizabeth circled around the crowd with her gossip about Grace. To her discredit, the crowd began to believe the charges against Grace were concocted by Elizabeth Hill. Realizing these stories were made up, the crowd began turning against Elizabeth. What happened next could have happened to Elizabeth Hill, not Grace. Some grabbed Elizabeth, and ripped off her clothes. There they saw marks of the devil which was mistaken from the wounds Elizabeth had received when she had accosted Grace. The crowd dragged Elizabeth to the river and threw her in. As she fought against them, her screams subsided as see began swallowing water and drowned.
Grace collected her three boys, went back to Pungo and lived peacefully until her death in 1740.

Two women made famous not by any heroic action but by another. We have only to blame Elizbeth Hill for making a place for Grace Sherwood (1660-1740) in colonial Virginia history, along with blame on John Smith for making another place for Pocahontas (1596-1617) in colonial Virginia history.