Popular Branch - Knotts Island

In my Grandfather's early days in Popular Branch, farm produce and wild fowl were shipped by schooner up the inland waterway to Norfolk and then trans-shipped to New York, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. In my earliest days I remember the shallow draft steamer Comet running from Popular Branch, to Aydlett, Knotts Island, Munden Point, Va. And then to Norfolk. If I remember correctly, it ran twice a week.

All our goods for the general stores were shipped on the return trips. I used to ride on the mule wagon with my father, Tunis Corbell, Sr. hauling sweet potatoes to the south end of Knotts Island for shipment to major ports up North. Mr Ottma Bonney ran the dock at the south end of Knotts Island near where the ferry docks are today.