Gwynn's Island

{{Short description|Island in the Chesapeake Bay}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Gwynn's Island |settlement_type = Island |nickname = |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_map = |mapsize = |map_caption = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_type3 = Town |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_name1 = Virginia |subdivision_name2 = Mathews County |subdivision_name3 = |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |established_date = 1642 |area_magnitude = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_sq_mi = |population_as_of = 2010 |population_note = |population_total = 602+{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} |population_density_km2 = |timezone = EST |utc_offset = −5 |timezone_DST = EDT |utc_offset_DST = −4 |elevation_m = |elevation_ft = |coordinates = {{Coord|37|30|26.48|N|76|17|24.79|W|display=inline,title}} |website = |postal_code_type = |postal_code = |area_code = }}

'''Gwynn's Island''' is an island in the Chesapeake Bay and the U.S. state of Virginia, lying off of the Middle Peninsula. A summer colony, the island is located in the northeast part of Mathews County, south of the mouth of the Piankatank River. It is connected to the rest of the county by a swing bridge over Milford Haven. The communities of Gwynn and Grimstead are located on the island.

==History== Archeological evidence found on Gwynn's Island indicates that the island was inhabited as early as ten thousand years ago. In 1642, Hugh Gwyn of Jamestown purchased the island; he and his family became the first English settlers there. On a 1670 map, the island was labeled "Wings Ile" and also "Guis Ile".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lccn.loc.gov/2002623131|title=Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670. London: Augustine Herrman and Thomas Withinbrook, 1673.|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> In 1776, Gwynn's Island served as a base for Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia, after the Burning of Norfolk. Bringing his army along with his Ethiopian Regiment and 2,000 blacks seeking freedom from slavery. They brought with them smallpox and typhus. Attacks by the revolting patriots led Dunmore to leave the island in the summer of 1776 leaving hundreds of blacks behind to die of sickness and starvation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cronin|first=William B.|title=The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake|year=2005|publisher=Maryland Historical Society|pages=182}}</ref>

thumb|Map of action at Gwynn's Island, Chesapeake Bay 1776 During the attacks on Gwynn's Island in July 1776, the only casualty on the side of the revolutionaries was one Captain Dohickey Arundel, commander of two eighteen-pound cannons, who attempted to fire an experimental wooden mortar of his own invention, "though the general and all the officers were against his firing it".<ref name="Griffin">{{cite book|last1=Griffin|first1=Martin Ignatius Joseph|title=Catholics and the American Revolution, Volume 1|page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicsandame01grifgoog/page/n267 239]|date=1907|publisher=M.I.J. Griffin|url=https://archive.org/details/catholicsandame01grifgoog|accessdate=April 17, 2017}}</ref> The mortar exploded on its first shot, killing Arundel instantly.<ref name="Cecere">{{cite web|last1=Cecere|first1=Michael|title=The War Years (1775-1783): Battle of Gwynn's Island: Lord Dunmore's Last Stand in Virginia|url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2016/05/battle-of-gwynns-island-lord-dunmores-last-stand-in-virginia/|website=Journal of the American Revolutuion|accessdate=April 17, 2017|date=May 26, 2016}}</ref>

=== Early 20th-century exodus of Black residents === In 1910, Gwynn's Island was home to about 135 Black residents, many of them landowners, with their own church and school. Following a December 1915 altercation between Black and White men, threats against Black residents escalated, and by 1921 the island’s Black population had departed. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources attributes the exodus primarily to racial tension and fear for personal safety, while some local residents and officials have contended that economic factors also played a role.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 25, 2024 |title=Black Exodus from Gwynn’s Island Historical Marker Approved |url=https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/press_releases/black-exodus-from-gwynns-island-historical-marker-approved/ |access-date=August 18, 2025 |website=Virginia Department of Historic Resources}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2023 |title=Gwynn’s Island Black Exodus Staff Memo |url=https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/BHR_Meeting_Sept_2023_StaffMemo.pdf |access-date=August 18, 2025 |website=Virginia Department of Historic Resources}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=South |first=Sherry |date=October 23, 2024 |title=Mathews supervisors seek rescission of Gwynn’s Island marker approval |url=https://www.gazettejournal.net/supervisors-seek-rescission-of-gwynns-island-marker-approval/ |access-date=August 18, 2025 |newspaper=Gloucester–Mathews Gazette-Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=South |first=Sherry |date=October 23, 2023 |title=Board discusses Gwynn’s Island marker application |url=https://www.gazettejournal.net/mathews-board-discusses-gwynns-island-marker-application/ |access-date=August 18, 2025 |newspaper=Gloucester–Mathews Gazette-Journal}}</ref>

In 2023, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) approved a state historical marker titled "Black Exodus from Gwynn’s Island," summarizing the departure of Black residents in the 1910s. The marker was formally approved in 2024. Some Mathews County officials and residents opposed the marker’s language, arguing that economic conditions rather than racial tension caused the departures. In October 2024, the Mathews County Board of Supervisors voted to ask the DHR to rescind its approval of the marker.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 25, 2024 |title=Black Exodus from Gwynn’s Island Historical Marker Approved |url=https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/press_releases/black-exodus-from-gwynns-island-historical-marker-approved/ |access-date=August 18, 2025 |website=Virginia Department of Historic Resources}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=South |first=Sherry |date=October 23, 2024 |title=Supervisors seek rescission of Gwynn’s Island marker approval |url=https://www.gazettejournal.net/supervisors-seek-rescission-of-gwynns-island-marker-approval/ |access-date=August 18, 2025 |newspaper=Gloucester–Mathews Gazette-Journal}}</ref>

==Present day== Thomas Edwards, a resident of the Island, is the Director of the Gwynn's Island Museum and has been at the helm since 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gwynnsislandmuseum.org/our-director|title=The Gwynn's Island Museum|website=www.gwynnsislandmuseum.org|access-date=June 13, 2019}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.gwynnsislandmuseum.org/ Gwynn's Island Museum] * [https://visitmathews.com/gwynns-island-festival/ Gwynn's Island Festival]

Category:Landforms of Mathews County, Virginia Category:Virginia islands of the Chesapeake Bay Category:Tourist attractions in Mathews County, Virginia Category:American Revolution