Steamboat Era Museum donates books

In October board members of the Steamboat Era Museum were busy delivering the museum’s newest publication to Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck schools, libraries and museums. More than 46 copies of “Steam-Driven: How Steamboats Shaped the Future of Virginia’s Northern Neck” were donated.

The heavily illustrated coffee table book covers the Steamboat Era, the story of the steamer Potomac and the history and restoration of the Potomac Pilothouse. The 88-page, hard-covered book is filled with photographs, newspaper articles and personal recollections of the era. There is a pictorial timeline of the restoration of the Pilothouse.

Because of this donation, more students and residents will have the opportunity to learn about the Weems family, who redesigned their steamers so passengers could travel in luxury and style. It also looks at Hansford Bayton, an African-American steamboat captain who ran a successful business despite oppressive Jim Crow laws. Plus, the Dameron brothers, who bought a small country store that they turned into a landmark…