For decades, the community of Pungo has honored Grace Sherwood, the last person convicted of witchcraft in colonial Virginia, with the naming of an honorary ‘Witch of Pungo” at the annual strawberry festival.
In 1706, Sherwood’s thumbs were tied to her toes, and she was thrown into the Lynnhaven River. According to the belief of the time, if she was innocent, she would sink. If she was a witch, she would float.
Sherwood bobbed to the surface. She served eight years in jail for her “crimes” and her story became legend.
In 1984, the Pungo Strawberry Festival began its 36-year run, and the tradition of naming an annual honorary Witch of Pungo was born.
Dorothy S. Whitehurst was named the festival’s second Witch of Pungo back in 1985. She died last month at the age of 91.
Her granddaughter, Angelique Thames, wrote the following about the strawberry festival and her grandmother’s time as the “witch.”
Dorothy S. Whitehurst, the second Witch of Pungo has passed away. Dororthy Whitehurst, 91, of Virginia Beach, served as the Honorary Witch of Pungo for the annual Pungo Strawberry Festival in 1985.
The Pungo Strawberry Festival was an annual event held during Memorial Day weekend and featured a parade, carnival rides, local eats and a host of entertainment.
Over the years the festival served as a time for the Hampton Roads community to come together, to share the beauty of our farmland and of course Pungo’s best red, ripe strawberries.
The Witch of Pungo story, written by Louisa Venable Kyle, became the basis for the selection of an honorary woman each year to represent the storyline of this famous character.
A press conference would be held each year in which a committee would announce the respected local woman to be selected. That person would not only ride in the annual parade but represent Pungo and greet festival-goers as they attended the weekend’s events.
Dororthy Whitehurst was a long standing resident of Pungo for many years, loving both the community and those living in it and attended the festival each year after time as the witch in 1985. She could be seen watching the parade from the grandstand or in one of the front yards of her Pungo friends that lived along the parade path.
She was also a participant in later Strawberry Festival parades including one in which many previous “witches” were in attendance. She loved to retell the story of the “Witch of Pungo” to her grandchildren and great grandchildren adding details that only those from Princess Anne County would know!
