Qualla: Grace Sherwood https://qualla.com/grace-sherwood en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/9/c/grace-sherwood-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Grace Sherwood https://qualla.com/grace-sherwood Grace Sherwood: Introduction https://qualla.com/grace-sherwood/ Photo credit PumpkinSky, CC BY-SA 3.0. "I be not a witch, I be a healer." Grace Sherwood spoke those words from a stool inside Lynnhaven Parish Church in the summer of 1706, ordered to beg forgiveness for witchery she insisted she had never committed. She was a widow, a mother of three, a farmer who wore trousers to work her fields in Pungo -- a detail that scandalized her neighbors almost as much as her knowledge of herbal medicine. She was also tall, attractive, and possessed of a sharp sense of humor, qualities that drew men's attention and their wives' suspicion. For nearly a decade, the people of Princess Anne County dragged Grace Sherwood through courts, accused her of shapeshifting into a black cat, killing livestock with spells, and ruining crops with sorcery. She sued them for slander. They came back with more accusations. The cycle ended on July 10, 1706, when the county bound her thumbs to her toes and threw her into the Lynnhaven River to see if the water would reject a witch.

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/9/c/grace-sherwood-wp/dq9c-grace-sherwood-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Grace Sherwood: The Healer of Pungo https://qualla.com/grace-sherwood/ Photo credit PumpkinSky, CC BY-SA 3.0. Grace White was born around 1660, the daughter of John White, a carpenter and farmer of Scottish descent, and his English-born wife Susan. She grew up in Pungo, a rural corner of what is now Virginia Beach, and married James Sherwood, a small-farm landowner, in April 1680 at Lynn...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/9/c/grace-sherwood-wp/dq9c-grace-sherwood-the-healer-of-pungo.mp3 0:06 2 full Grace Sherwood: A Decade of Accusations https://qualla.com/grace-sherwood/ Photo credit PumpkinSky, CC BY-SA 3.0. The trouble started in 1697 when Richard Capps claimed Sherwood had cast a spell that killed his bull. The court dismissed it by mutual agreement, and the Sherwoods sued Capps for defamation. The following year, neighbor John Gisburne accused her of enchanting his pigs and cotton...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/9/c/grace-sherwood-wp/dq9c-grace-sherwood-a-decade-of-accusations.mp3 0:06 3 full Grace Sherwood: Thrown to the River https://qualla.com/grace-sherwood/ Photo credit PumpkinSky, CC BY-SA 3.0. The courts tried everything to avoid a verdict. Colonial authorities in Williamsburg called the charge too vague. The local Princess Anne justices attempted to empanel juries of women to search Sherwood's home for wax figures and her body for devil's marks; the jurors refused to ...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/9/c/grace-sherwood-wp/dq9c-grace-sherwood-thrown-to-the-river.mp3 0:06 4 full Grace Sherwood: Three Centuries to an Apology https://qualla.com/grace-sherwood/ Photo credit PumpkinSky, CC BY-SA 3.0. Grace Sherwood spent up to seven years and nine months in jail. No record of a second trial exists; the charge may have been quietly dismissed. By 1714, she had recovered her property with the help of Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood and paid back taxes on her lan...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/9/c/grace-sherwood-wp/dq9c-grace-sherwood-three-centuries-to-an-apology.mp3 0:06 5 full