Captain Greg Madjeski conducted a boat tour for St. Mary’s College alumni Saturday night. As they toured up the St. Mary’s River past Tippity Witchity Island, one of his passengers told him that she had heard that the Island used to house a brothel. Turns out she was correct:
“Formerly an Indian courting ground, according to legend, the island was owned by a Lynch family before it was purchased after the Civil War by Captain H. W. Howgate. A notorious Confederate smuggler, Howgate had run floating bordellos in Washington, D.C. When his activities came to the attention of the city authorities, they booted him out of town. So he headed downstream on the Potomac River, ultimately coming to the St. Marys River and to what was then known as Lynch Island, which he bought for $300. There, according to noted Potomac River historian Frederick Tilp, Howgate established “a gambling, drinking, and girlie place known as Happie Land and then altered the place name to a short version of Tippling-house and Witchery-house”-Tippity-Witchity. Eventually, the island itself took on the name, accommodating a lively trade with crews from schooners and cargo vessels who would visit for a little entertainment.” (from Chesapeake Bay magazine.)
Got me wondering if Captain Howgate was somehow related to or connected with Union Army General Hooker who helped popularize the term hooker because of activities in his D.C.-based headquarters during the Civil War (click here for story.)
How’s this for a conspiracy theory – Howgate’s floating bordello was generating too much competition for Hooker’s operations and they were the ones who sent Howgate packing. “To the victors go the spoils” right? Now if I can just find some theory on how the Pink Elephant’s operations came about.