Grace Sherwood was a healer, a midwife and a widowed mother of three sons. Her neighbors thought she also was a witch who ruined crops, killed livestock and conjured storms. On July 10, 1706, the 46-year-old woman was tied up and "ducked"--dropped into a river--in what is now Virginia Beach. The theory behind the test was that if she sank, she was innocent, although she'd also likely drown. She floated--proof she was guilty because the pure water cast out her evil spirit. Three hundred years later, a modern-day resident of this resort city has asked the governor to exonerate Sherwood, Virginia's only convicted witch tried by water. Belinda Nash, 59, also is raising money to erect a bronze statue of Sherwood and trying to find a place to put it. "I would like to see her name cleared because I don't believe she was a witch," said Nash, who has an affinity for Sherwood in part because Nash's reputation for having things she wishes for come true earned her the nickname "Samantha the Witch."

"Otherwise, I'd be ducked (too)," she added with a smile in an interview at the Ferry Plantation House, a historic home where she volunteers as director and, dressed in costume, tells visitors about "poor Grace." The courthouse where part of Sherwood's witchcraft trial took place was located on the old Ferry farm property, Nash said. Nearby is the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River, where Sherwood was ducked at a site now known as Witchduck Point. Nash hopes Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will decide whether to vindicate Sherwood's name by the 300th anniversary of the ducking, which Nash and a small group will commemorate with a re-enactment, as they do yearly, her daughter playing Sherwood.

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What a cool story. She must have been quite a woman. I hope she gets her statue.

My thoughts exactly.

It would be a wonderful way to rectify the woman's death. She was a healer and midwife, so she probably wasn't evil.

Hopefully she gets the statue, that'd be a great tribute to the memory of all those who were unjustly killed so long ago.

Thats really great that someone is taking action to help the midwife, against the wrong doings in the past, but what is disturbing is that no one else seemed to take action before this time now, and how long ago did this occur...... in 1706

If only they'd do that for the rest of the people that were killed because they were "witches." It's really great that they're doing that for her.

What a waste of time, don't they have anything more important to do?I think it's a little too late for that now.

I do not think it is "a waste of time."
And nothing is to late for innocent person to be convicted of doing something wrong, when they are good people. *snarl*
Its people like you that are ignorant and want to stay that way. Its like killing someone innocent and saying "It doesn't matter."
The world may have great problems, but that does not mean there should be no respect for those who lived in the past.
Also being convicted as a witch gives no right to be hurt. We are human too, and just so happen to have their our own religious ideas and beliefs, such as the native americans. The Church should recognize this and accepted it along time ago.

I thought it was very nicely worded, and I too thought it was a great story.

and I agree with Darkwind and Robert1.

Clearing a name on a record is a good thing.
Endless monuments to victims is victim worship which is unhealthy.
It encourages people to want to be victims so that they can feel special and significant, that being a victim is more worthy than being a hero or discoverer.

Why didnt they know how to swim?