Thirty-five years ago, the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum asked a local group of retired menhaden fishermen to perform some of their work songs, known as chanteys, for a Fourth of July celebration. They became the Northern Neck Chantey Singers and spent decades touring the country.
Last Friday, three remaining members, now in their 80's, performed one last time for a dedication ceremony of a road marker honoring their legacy.
More than a century ago, before the hydraulic lift, Black fishermen strained to bring up fish-laden nets on menhaden boats out in the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic.
"Chantey singing was made to make their work go easier," chantey singer Lloyd Hill noted. "Through our history, Black Americans have always performed music when they perform menial labors. In the agricultural fields, in the mines, on the railroads, in the forest industry, and now in the sea industry. But contrary to popular belief, we were not singing because we were happy."
The lowest paid and hardest laborers, their singing was based on call and response to keep the men working together to pull in hundreds of thousands of fish in one net.
"And you sing about anything that comes to your mind, about experiences, about life, about ups and downs, about each other. And you're out there on the water, just you, the men, the fish and the seagulls." Hill told the gathering.
Some of those songs were, well, salty. So, the original 14 singers cleaned them up when they went on tour. Others like “Remember Me,” honored those who have passed on land and water. Lloyd Hill read out the names of the original 14, who brought chanteys to the world.
The museum, with a grant from Virginia Humanities and William G. Pomeroy Foundation unveiled a road sign to be placed on Main Street in Reedville to honor
the Chantey Singers.
In the late 1800s, these fishermen made Reedville one of the richest communities in America.