Bulletin Briefs

In this area you will find excerpts from previous Bulletins—a quarterly booklet that is one of the perks of membership in the Halifax County Historical Society.

The Only “Witch” Convicted in Virginia History

(Excerpts taken from article in Spring 2008 Bulletin.)
by Barbara Bass

In the early 1700s near Virginia Beach, there lived a healer and midwife named Grace Sherwood. Many of her neighbors believed she was a witch who killed animals, could ruin farmers’ crops and contour up storms. Sherwood sued these neighbors in court dozens of times, fighting witchcraft charges and/or slander. In her final court case at 46 years of age, she was accused of using her “powers” to cause a neighbor’s miscarriage.
On July 10, 1706, Grace Sherwood was tied up and dropped into the Lynnhaven River. Her arms were crossed and thumbs were tied to her big toes. Onlookers believed that if she sank then she was innocent (although she would drown). If she floated then she was guilty—because the water being pure—wouldn’t allow a witch to sink into its water. Sherwood floated which was a sign to onlookers that she was indeed a witch. She was tried at the Princess Anne County Courthouse and declared guilty. Placed in jail, but later released, Sherwood returned to her farm and died in 1740 at 80 years old.
She is still today referred to as “The Infamous Witch of Pung.” For years there was a movement to have her conviction overturned. At the time Virginia’s Governor Alexander Spotswood helped her reclaim her farm by paying the back taxes. However, it wasn’t until 2006 that her “good name” was restored. That’s three hundred years later!
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine stated on July 10, 2006:

“I am pleased to join the Mayor of Virginia Beach in extending best wishes as you work to promote justice in the 1706 “Witch Dunking” case of Grace Sherwood. With 300 years of hindsight, we all certainly can agree that trial by water was an injustice. We also can celebrate the fact that woman’s equality is constitutionally protected today and women have the freedom to pursue their hopes and dreams. The historical records that survive indicate that Mrs. Sherwood, a midwife and widowed mother of three, survived her '“trial by water” in 1706. Those records also indicate that one of my predecessors, Gov. Alexander Spotswood, eventually helped her reclaim her property. The record also indicated that Mrs. Sherwood led an otherwise quiet and law-abiding life until she died at the age of 80. Today, July 10, 2006, as 70th governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am pleased to officially restore the good name of Grace Sherwood.”

Grace Sherwood is known today, 300 years later, to be the only deceased person in Virginia to be exonerated of a crime. A statue of Mrs. Sherwood was unveiled April 21, 2007, on the lawn of Wayside Hospital in Virginia Beach in honor of the former midwife.