Friends and Neighbors (Virginia's Alders)

DESCRIPTION: The singer reports, "Friends and neighbors, I am now going to leave you..." He says that, despite what people think, it is not for any wrongdoing. He simply wants to go home to "the handsome young girl I left behind" among Virginia's alders
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982 (Cazden, Haufrecht, Studer)
KEYWORDS: love separation rambling farewell
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 35, "Friends and Neighbors" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC035 (Partial)
Roud #4603
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Virginia's Alders
NOTES [248 words]: This song is sung to the shape note hymn "Nettleton" (one of several settings for "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"). Cazden et al report that it has only been collected twice: From their informant George Edwards, and from a recording of another Catskills singer, Frank Edwards, who may have been related to George.
It certainly makes sense that the song is a local New York song. The main branch of the Susquehanna River rises in New York in the Catskills area and flows through Pennsylvania and a little bit of Maryland into Chesapeake Bay. Only from New York or Pennsylvania could the Susquehanna be considered a path to Virginia.
Cazden et al were unable to locate a "Kill's Ferry," and Internet searches reveal no more, but there were many ferries on the Susquehanna. Susan Q. Stranahan, Susquehanna: River of Dreams, John Hopkins University Press, 1993, p. 44, says that "A handful of ferries offered passage, including one that began ferrying passengers in 1695 at the mouth of the river at Havre de Grace, and another, to the north, started by John Harris in 1712." Probably one of these ferries near the mouth of the river is meant, because from there it is a relatively short distance to Virginia.
Alternately, perhaps, "Kill's Ferry" might be an error for "Hill's Ferry." There is a Hill Island in the Susquehanna near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (and even closer to Three Mile Island). Was there ever a ferry there? I don't know, but it looks like it might be a good spot. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: FSC035

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