If Capt. John Smith had had a good map showing Crittenden and Eclipse, when he got to the Nansemond River as he was going up the James River, he would have turned South and founded Jamestown on a high bluff over looking two rivers. But my dad and Chief &uot;Fishing Hook&uot; could not convince Capt. Smith, so he went up the James to a sorry, mosquito-infested, half flooded island. Capt Smith was afraid that the Spanish might visit and he wanted to be less visible, but that’s all another story.

My father did offer me a fully paid bonus of lunch to ride with him to Eclipse soon after I got in the business. I had no idea where we might be going, but I was sure it involved me on the &uot;dumb&uot; end of the measuring tape for an appraisal. On the way up to this delightful community I got an education on Crittenden and Eclipse.

The community of Crittenden/Eclipse is located at the mouth of the Nansemond River on the south and the Chuckatuck Creek on the north.

This peninsula was a perfect place for a fishing village, boat construction and repair business, and docks to ship goods to Norfolk and beyond.

The peninsula is almost divided by Bleakhorn Creek that runs nearly straight down the middle. On the north side of the creek is the Crittenden and Eclipse &uot;Village&uot; and on the south side of the creek is the Cedar Point subdivision and Cedar Point Club. The other physical boundaries are Route 17/Bridge Road on the west and nothing but water to the east.

According to Kermit Hobb’s &uot;Suffolk, A Pictorial History&uot;, Capt. Jim Crittenden built a store &uot;on piles of oyster shells&uot; there and was the first Post Master in 1879. The main businesses were oyster boats, shad fishing in February to April, and crabbing in the summer. It is thought that Eclipse was founded in the mid-1600’s about forty years after James Town by a land grant to the Gray Family from the British Crown. The fishing and the oyster business have declined over the years, but there are still a few oyster boats working.

The housing stock in this area includes homes more than 100 years old, waterfront homes in the one million dollar-plus range, a log cabin, and commercial boat buildings on the water front.

There has not been a lot of sales activity in the Crittenden/ Eclipse community recently. A four-bedroom home sold on Dixon Road with 1,700 square feet for $179,900 in March of this year. In September of 2004 a 3,900 square-foot home sold for $432,000.00 on River Shore Drive and in December of 2003 a waterfront home on Bleakhorn Road with 4,300 square feet sold for $663,000. If they had kept this waterfront home for six to eight more months, it may have brought over $700,000. In September of 2003, a seven bedroom home with 7,500 square-feet sold for $1 million. It would be worth considerably more in today’s hot market.

This unique area is being discovered, like all of Suffolk, by the rest of Tidewater. In a neighborhood where many homes passed down &uot;only in the family,&uot; where there were few homes that the same owners had occupied for 20 to 30 years (a Realtor’s nightmare) and you really did know all your neighbors, things are beginning to change. Foreigners are moving in from places like Virginia Beach and even some from outside Virginia!

The village also has a fantastic annual Fourth of July celebration, sponsored by the Crittenden, Eclipse and Hobson Ruritan Club, that includes &uot;raft races,&uot; an 11 a.m. parade, speeches, socializing, games for kids, dinner or picnics, and fire works at 9 p.m. at the church yard. A real old fashion Fourth of July!

My favorite part of this neighborhood is the old, historic homes and the absolutely breathtaking views across the James to Newport News from the homes on the north side of Wigneil and Mullican Road.

Harry Cross, a local realtor, is a Suffolk resident.