Peninsula In Passage

River Houses Two cottages perched on pilings in the Nansemond River, one on each side of the Godwin Bridge and accessible only by boat, have piqued curiosity since the early 1900s. “People thought they were oyster house or dens of iniquity,” Dorothy Davis says. The cottages, the only two remaining of several that dotted the river, were early 1900s summer retreats for families from Suffolk and Nansemond County. “Spending time out there was like you’d left the county,” says Davis, who with her husband, Richard, owned the cottage on the west side of the bridge. “Before daylight you’d hear the crab men come by and their search lights would wake you.” She fell in love with the river houses when she was 15 and first visited one – but never dreamed that 25 years later she would own Nix Club (also known as Nix’s Club), the oldest one in the Nansemond. Built in 1914 near Nix Wharf, the cottage was an early time-share with several local families dividing ownership. “It had two bathrooms and an artesian well with fresh water but no hot water,” Davis says. “Water in a barrel was warmed by the sun and those showers were so great that people would row out from the land just to take one.” The 1933 hurricane destroyed most of the river cottages. But after repairs Nix Club continued as a lively get away until the World War II shortage of materials left the house dilapidated with swallows and barn owls the only guests. After the war Davis’s brother bought Nix Club and added electrical power and a hot water heater – but the roof still leaked when he sold it to the Davises about 1958.

John H. Sheally II

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