Robert "Bob" Bowen 06.08.2000

In this interview, Bob Bowen offers a critical oral history of Broadwater, the community on Hog Island, Virginia, where he was born in 1932. This recollection provides specific details on the social, economic, and physical landscape of the barrier island before its residents relocated to the mainland. Key points covered: Infrastructure: The active North and South Coast Guard Stations and their role in community support; the design and eventual fate of the 1894 Hog Island Lighthouse lens. Economy: The seasonal shift between seafood industry (oysters, clams, crabbing) and market hunting (ducks, shorebirds); the practice of using duck traps and the eventual shift in his father's business to commercial oyster planting. Culture & Daily Life: Remembrances of the three local stores and the Methodist church; folktales that served as entertainment; and the method for herding wild livestock like cattle and ponies on the island. Environmental Change: Discussion of the 1933 Storm and how changes in creek drainage led to the silting up of waterways critical to the community dock. #VirginiaOralHistory #BarrierIslandErosion #HogIslandLighthouse #EasternShoreHistory #CoastalResilience #BroadwaterVA