Updated April 30, 2014.
MARSH CAUSEWAY 1930'S AND EARLIER BY Sue Austin.
March 9, 2011. Scufflin Ln The plat of Mackay Island from a 1960 survey shows Scufflin Ln where Knotts Island Rd is now.
March 9, 2011. Comment - Frank Jennings: I do not know why, but I do know the area from about Wards Road north to the store on the present Knott's Island Rd. was referred to as Scufflin Town. More specifically the area about where the Williams farm was located; which is where our house is on the Island. This would include Raymond William's place and Jan and John Smith as well. I can only ASSUME that it is a derivative of the word Scuffling which means Rough, Confused Struggle, to Engage in a Scuffle.
March 9, 2011. Comment - Jane Brumley: My father, James
Nonie Miller, related stories of the folks that lived on this
road. It was neither the "front" road or the "back road" as we
know it today. It was sort of a horse cart path that ran somewhat
north of Gary Jones house thru Wards Road and on a bit south. As a
youngster and teenager part of it was still passable and I
remember going thru it with childhood friend, Carolyn Beasley
Meiggs (daughter of Ralph Beasley and Mattie Caton Beasley). I
remember the part South of Wards Road was a favorite "parking"
place for teenage couples in the 1950's. According to my father,
folks who lived there "way back then" were just poor folks who
seemed to "drink a bit" and got in fights. Maybe that is how it
got its name. It just being a varient of scruffy. I remember
stories of some "haints" (ghosts) being in that area too. You will
find that some words of Old English survived on Knotts Island way
into the 20th Century.
At one time folks that lived up Blackfoot were also known for
drinking, having a good time partying and getting in fights. My
mother, Ruth Elizabeth Waterfield Miller, said as a teenager her
parents did not like her visiting there. She related stories about
being there and the goings on there.
March 9, 2011. Comment - Melinda Lukei: None of the roads were paved in 1940. Maybe close to the 1950's. I know I would catch the bus at the courthouse and go to Knotts Island on the bus. I was about 12 years old before my folks would let me ride the bus by myself. The roads were not paved at that time. Ralph Beasley graded the dirt at least twice a week. I was born Oct 1937.
June 17, 2010. Comment - Natalie R. Twiddy: Harold Capps had always told me of the log road "corduroy road" and it was located South of the Causeway now. You can see a line of trees that runs parallel to the road, it doesn't go very far. Natalie R. Twiddy (granddaughter)
April 30, 2014. Comment - William L. Hudkins: When my father-in-law Burney "Big Possum" Williams was alive he talked about building the Marsh Causeway - laying small logs across the marsh, using mules to dig the canal, and shoveling by hand the excavated dirt back on top of the logs to make a crude roadbed.
June 17, 2010. Comment - Jane Brumley: If you look at the 1861 map you can see the old road. As a child I can remember when you could go from Blackfoot all the way past Harold and Mattie Capps original house (not new one on the current main road) to south end. We referred to it as the "cart path".
January 16, 2013. Comment - Jane Brumley: The WPA was originally called the Works Progress Administration and later, 1939, became the Work Projects Administration. The WPA employed millions of unemployed during the Great Depression.
