Letter 9: DelMarVa
We call this letter DelMarVa for the Eastern peninsula of the Chesapeake Bay. It includes parts of Delaware, Marilyn and Virginia. We are taking it south to north so should be VaMarDel. The natives call it DelMarVa or the Eastern Shore.
Monday, April 20 we arrived in Virginia Beach, Va and parked in the First Landing State Park, named because in 1607 the Jamestown settlers stopped here before going up the Chesapeake to the James River to starting Jamestown. Just as we parked, we started hearing jet engines reving for take off, then we decided it was thunder. Actually we believe it was both. We had a large electrical storm where the thunder started on one horizon and went close over us to the other horizon. Some times we heard the crackle of the lightning as it went overhead. Then it rained! HARD For about 15 minutes. When it stopped we had a lake by our trailer door. Soon it was clear enough for us to walk on the beach and see
the storm to the east above ships in the Chesapeake channel. Arriving back at the trailer the lake had disappeared. It soaked through the sand.
Tuesday, April 21 we explored the town and drove the beach area of Virginia Beach. They had a really nice boardwalk, 
except it is concrete instead of boards. It is made for bicycles, skates, and walking while enjoying the beach and the water without getting sand all over. Hotels and restaurants line the inland side. King Neptune 
was even watching over all the tourists - see Olivia at bottom left. This is a much better beach town than the others we have seen. Very clean with a large expanse of well kept sand between boardwalk and water.
We then drove in to the commercial part of town and visited a Home Depot, Lowe’s and Total Wine shop. The afternoon was spend relaxing before we walked the beach again. Would you believe on this very sandy beach there are a few agates and a little beach glass.
Wednesday, April 22 we started the day at a Chevy house (RK Chevrolet) for the Suburban’s oil change and to fix the inside mirror. Our inside rearview mirror and driver’s outside rear mirror have automatic dimming so that at night they “haze” for better vision and eye comfort. The inside mirror displays the temperature and heading direction. We were having trouble with all these features. Fred was lost without the direction and temperature, but the worst was the dimming of the mirrors even though it bright and sunny out. It was hard to see. We reported this problem to the serviceman. Fred told him the only change was the park proof of entry tag hanging from the mirror, thinking maybe he had loosened the connection. He couldn’t find a problem and suggested we pay for a thorough diagnostic to find the problem. Fred had tried removing the hanging tag with no effect. We opted to see if we could fix it ourselves, maybe it was out of adjustment somehow. We fiddled with it all morning. It only got worse. Now when the information would display it said it needed to recalibrate. Some of you GM owners know the drill. We read the manual, again. To recalibrate you must turn the mirror information on and drive in tight circles at less than 5 mph until the sensors found their bearings. It wouldn’t work. Maybe we weren’t doing it right. We tried again. All afternoon, when we found a partially empty parking lot Fred drove in circles. How embarrassing! People would stare. It’s a wonder the police weren’t called!
In our planning we had not realized how close we would be to the Pitt’s (Olivia’s ancestors) place near Smithfield, VA. And when we did we started out across Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Suffolk cities to Isle of Wright County. This is also the home of the Smithfield hams and we saw signs leading the trucks to their slaughterhouse. When Teenya was a Senior in high school we had visited this area with Olivia’s parents and found the historic 
St Luke’s church.
At the church Olivia went into the gift shop to talk about the genealogy of the area and location of the Pitt’s house and after a while the lady asked her if her driver was ok? Olivia laughed and told her Fred was not drunk.
The building’s Gothic character is reflected in its
buttresses, stepped gables, brick-traceried windows and medieval, timber-trussed roof. In the 17th century, the General Court of the Colony of Virginia was permitted to convene in the church.
The volunteers keep some of the records and books of wills, deeds, and marriages in their gift shop and were very helpful. They took us on a tour of the church and told of the 
windows and the 
ca 1630 English chamber organ-the only surviving, intact instrument of its kind in the world. It was very intriguing how the pipes appeared to be recessed, when the coloring was causing the dimension. The guide at the church told us of the early days when people came up the river at the side of the church to attend services.
For nearly four centuries, Historic St Luke’s Church has persevered through war, destruction, misuse and abandonment, witnessing the great events of our nation’s history. This house of worship welcomed New World colonists, Revolutionary War soldiers who marched across the grounds and Confederate troops who camped beneath its great cedars.
When here with Teenya we were able to find the Pitt’s place at the end of county road 711 on Brewer’s creek. There is a stately 2 story white house and the colonial “Customs House.” The house is very near the Chuckatuck River. Most old places were built close to rivers as they were the highways of that time, hence the customs house in their yard. This time Fred put on the breaks as we came to the end of Hwy 711 and a STOP sign, and no trespass sign. We were disappointed . We had hoped to meet the owners and visit with them. Our one benefit to that short drive was a 
pretty little lake with a swan on it, which posed beautifully.
The compass and mirror problem were still unfixed. We happened onto another Chevy house (Hall Chevrolet) as we were returning to our trailer. We explained our problem. They deliberated and took it somewhere out of our sight on their large lot. After about 30 minutes, he returned holding the campground tag. It was the problem. It was blocking the sensor on the rear of the mirror! There was no charge. Now we know!
Thursday, April 24 left Virginia Beach and crossed the mouth of the Chesapeake bay via the bridge-tunnel to Virginia’s Eastern Shore. There are two tunnels and several bridges. As we approached the first tunnel we were able to drive onto the manmade island. From an observation bridge we were able to see down to the
tunnel entrance. As we walked around the island we were also able 
to see across to the tunnel exit. Thousands of 15 ton boulders known as riprap were dropped to create the outer rims of the four man-made islands. They were then filled with nearly two million tons of sand and rock. Each island is about the size of Yankee Stadium. We drove under two of the world’s most important shipping channels, one into Hampton Roads and the other into the Chesapeake. All of this bridge-tunnel system was paid for with tolls. It cost us $20 to cross the 17.6 miles. We learned the history includes witnessing the blockade of the British ships allowing Cornwallis’s troops to be stranded and later their surrender for the American Independence. During the Civil War the Merrimac and Mariner's famous ironclad battle took place in the entry to the Chesapeake.
Earlier we mentioned we were now on the eastern shore. You might called it the Chesapeake peninsula. We would. But those who live here don’t call it a peninsula and don’t use the word Chesapeake. It's merely the Eastern Shore.
We found our new home at Kiptopeke, named for an friendly Indian, State Park about 5 miles up the peninsula. We parked in a 
shady spot of grass.
Fred had been trying to get his blood pressure medicine filled, but the last three CVS’s we went to didn’t have enough in stock, so we called ahead and the one at Onley (pronounced only) had it, so we took off to get it filled. Then we ventured to see some of the little towns of the peninsula. As travelers venturing across the bridge tunnel we found ourselves transported from a metropolitan, traffic congested existence to another world—a world that is quiet, neighborly and friendly. Our first little town was Onancock with a neighbor hood right down to 
the dock. It was founded in 1680 and has the feel of wealth and substance by its large well-kept homes.
The lady at the State Park registration booth recommended “Sting Rays” as an excellent place where the locals eat. She was not kidding! It is a filling station, gift shop, eating place with a wine list! The menu boards hung from the walls. Most items came with 2 sides like most places, except the list of sides was tremendous. Of course, salad, fried, boiled, mashed potatoes, then candied sweet potatoes, spinach, corn pudding, green beans, fruit salad, brussel sprouts, asparagus, and more. It was hard to chose. The main courses included prize winning BBQ, fried chicken, hot beef sandwiches (2 slices of Texas Toast with beef and smothered with brown gravy) and all kinds of sea food. They had six menu boards. One was for seniors and we couldn’t eat all we were served. Olivia chose crab cakes, spinach and corn pudding. Fred chose stuffed shrimp, French fries and candied sweet potatoes. Both came with cornbread. We should have taken pictures. The food was great. This place has been featured in Southern Living as the “best gas station food with a wine list.” MOAN!
The sunsets were pretty from Kiptopeke State Park at the old ferry dock. The barrier on the water line was
navy war ships that were actually made of concrete. They were originally made for the US shipping administration for $30 million. In 1948 these ships were purchased by the Virginia Ferry corporation for $370,000. the Ferry system lined the ships up to form a breakwater for the terminal. They were grounded and filled with sand. In addition to forming a breakwater the “Kiptopeke Navy” serves as an outstanding artificial reef which attract many saltwater fish.
Friday, April 24, Fred climbed 
on the roof and washed the awning over the slide. It had a tear and needed to be repaired and of course the first thing is get it clean. Next, let it dry. While Fred was on the roof, Olivia saw a Bald Eagle fly just overhead. It was exciting to see our national bird.
We drove off to see some more little towns. Cape Charles was the first with it’s homes built on 644, 40’x 140’ lots with seven avenues named for Presidents running east and west and six streets named for fruits or trees running north-south.
The town was started by railroad men in 1886. Their idea was to terminate a railroad at the spot, then ferry the rail cars back and forth across the bay to the mainland. It worked. The Eastern Shore was open to the large markets of main land Virginia and prospered due to the ease of trade. Cape Charles also prospered.
Most of the town is now Historic District with the majority of the original structures still standing, 
many in substantially original condition. Many houses have been bought and renovated to serve as summer or retirement homes. 
New additions with golf courses by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus are surrounding the quaint town. 
After driving the streets we visited 
the hardware store and enjoyed the crowded aisles that had everything Wal-Mart has along with a spit and whittle club, and the 
little boutique next door.
Olivia was reading an Eastern Shore guide book that recommended going to Willis Wharf’s old store for clam fritters, so away we went….only to be disappointed to find it had burned. A lady in her yard said, “Oh, the 
Exmore Diner has great clam fritters. Again we were faced with wonderful side dishes and we split an order of the fritters. We arrived at 
3PM and the parking lot was full! We were somewhat disappointed in the fritters, but maybe because we didn’t know what to expect. They were like pancakes, we ate with tartar sauce, but maybe we should have poured on the syrup??? Fred had collard greens and Olivia ate lima beans.
On our way back south we followed the signs to the 
Holly Spring winery and tasted their four wines. All very good. We would have ordered each sent home, but he didn’t have the license to ship out of state.
As we drove home down the eastern side on Bayside Drive, we saw field after field of crops being planted. They grow tomatoes, spinach, strawberries, green beans, sweet and white—including the famous Hayman—potatoes. We have seen packing houses for all of these. This would be a wonderful place to be during their picking season. One of the Eastern Shore magazines has a recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits. Sounded good to Olivia. We saw many fields planted with plastic protection over 5 rows and 
what appeared to be tall grass between. This was a puzzle to us.
There were very few farm animals here. We had driven hundreds of miles and only seen one small herd of goats, two pens of horses and one small herd of cattle. We’re not sure why. The result is there are very few fences. The countryside was very open.
Saturday, April 25 we continued our tour of this peninsula by driving north to Eastville, the county seat of Northhampton County. 
They claim to have the oldest continuous court records in the nation. The historic courthouse green hosted law offices on the left, the main building and the
old court office and court room. We were able to go into the court office and see 
where the records had been kept until 2004 when they were moved to a new facility.
Our next stop was Wachaperague the “Flounder Capitol of the World.” It was Saturday and appeared everyone was out fishing for there were boat trailers parked in every imaginable spot. From there we drove to the other county seat on the peninsula, Accomac.
On the way we passed 
Patti’s screened in porch. Knowing she really likes them we stopped to take this picture. We also saw some 
very pretty dogwoods, both white and pink. They are blooming all in the forests, but also in yards, like this. Accomac has a large display of 
old homes and there was a garden tour going on, so we tried to avoid the crowds. On the way back south to the trailer we stopped at the Chatham Road Winery for the taste of some more wine. The wines here have a softer taste and we prefer them to the harsh aftertaste of others. Then we succumbed to our memory of 
a good meal and stopped at 
Sting-Ray’s again. This time Fred had 
fried shrimp (very lightly battered) and Olivia the 
stuffed (crab meat) shrimp. YUM! The sides we chose this time are greens and mashed potatoes, squash and broccoli casserole. Because we can't get good seafood like this at home, we just have to take advantage of it when available.
The state park where we were located and in fact the whole peninsula is covered with pine pollen. Yellow dust is everywhere. It even sifts into the trailer through the screen. The ground is yellow. Yuck!
Sunday, April 26 we attended church at the 
UM Church by the Sea in Oyster, VA. And it really was by the sea. The port is just behind the big tents on the left. The night before they had a huge fundraiser for Hospice with all you can eat seafood for $50 a person. The back part of their building had been on Hog Island, but later moved to the Oyster location and merged with this church. Their pastor is young and dynamic. Certainly he will go places in the UMC. When we crossed the bridge-tunnel and stopped at the wildlife information center, the volunteers working there had told us of this church. We had asked if there was a Methodist church nearby and when he said, “YES!” we knew they must be Methodists. So we said, see you in church and sure enough they were there. We invited them to come to the park and have hamburgers and about 3 pm they showed up. We picked their brain about campgrounds since they are from Pennsylvania. We shared stories of our prior trips. They have a Sunnybrook fifth wheeler and when she entered our trailer, she said, “We have the same decorative picture!” Sunnybrook also makes Mobil Scout trailers, our brand. Both are the same age. We enjoyed their company and wish we had shared their time earlier.
Monday, April 27 after church a member told of an asparagus farm, so the Phillips came by and we went to the nearby farm. Without the directions from the local woman at the church, it would have been impossible to find. There were no signs of any sort indicating anything for sale. You had to know about this place to buy here! This was about one acre of asparagus. We had not seen it growing before and were surprised it looked like a bare field until closer examination. Sure enough those tender shoots were poking their heads up and she was cutting them. We followed her to her home where we bought a pound and look forward to eating. She told us to store asparagus to stand it in a glass or bowl with a little water in the bottom.
Back at the trailer we packed up to move. Fred had noticed a slow leak in one of the trailer tires and had pumped it up, but he was very uptight about driving on it. We planned to stop at the first tire repair place, which ended up being 40 miles up the peninsula. Sure enough they couldn’t fix a tire so sent us on to a Goodyear store another 5 miles north. They put on the spare, as the current tire had a bolt in it and it was in the exact hole as a former patch! They sent us on to Pokomoke, Va to another Firestone for a new tire and Fred opted for 2 new ones. We replaced the damaged one and the last older tire which had begun to show aging cracks. We should be in great shape for the remainder of the trip, tire wise.
Because of the tire detour we changed plans and headed to the state park nearby and found a beautiful wooded park 
with more pine pollen. Everything was 
yellow! As we parked the trailer, we noticed our suburban outside temperature read 92. Hot with only a faint breeze. Later we found it was much cooler in Waxahachie. One more hot day is forecast, then cooler weather with some rain. This is a Maryland State Park with nice parking spots and electricity.
Tuesday April 28, after a lazy morning we explored the park a little more and paid for the rest of the week. This is a nice park and the price is reasonable, $15 a night for seniors except Fri. & Sat. nights are double! We do have electricity so that is a big plus since the temperature had soared Monday.
Then we headed to 
Chincoteague, pronounced Shin-co-Teague. We drove through the town then on out to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island. We looked for the wild horses as we roamed the refuge and only saw their “poop” and a lot of it on the roads. Maybe another day on the other end of the island.
At the information center we were intrigued at the horseshoe crab. It looked like a stingray, with a hard back. Underneath it looked like a crab with eight pinchers.
They aren’t often eaten, but small ones are used for fish bait. We found the most important use for these strange crabs. Their immune systems are able to attack (extremely fast) and isolate harmful impurities in their blood. Today they are used commercially in the making of certain medicines. A small portion of a bath of medicine is injected into the live crab. Then by examining the reaction of the crab’s blood they can determine if impurities are present in the batch of medicine. Wow, who would have thought it!
In town we stopped at a duck decoy shop and learned a little about them. We saw Daisy and Shirley decoys and the 6” ones sold for $100. so much for getting Alan a life size one for Christmas.
Wednesday April 29 was a very lazy day. We made reservations for two state parks in Pennsylvania for Rachel's trip then went to Pocomoke City to the laundrymat. We also toured Snow Hill the county seat. After the exciting day we came in to see the
beautiful dogwood display in the woods.
huge ball screen. We walked around the world watching clouds, volcanos and other world events. We both put on 
space suits to impress you.
Fred checked out a 
fishing trip for this weekend. Maybe Saturday, if the weather holds. It had been overcast with moderate winds for several days. Rain had been forecast for the last three days, but it hadn’t happened. We would fish for flounder, a local specialty. Fred looked forward to the trip, but the flounder must be over 19 inches to keep. That’s a big fish, so the chances of a keeper aren’t good.While we were at the dock we witnessed
a new pier being installed and watched as the men in the water helped see to it that this pier was plumb as it was driven into the water/sand with a pile driver.Then a crab fisherman
came in with his catch of Jimmy crabs and put half into pots to save as bait for she crabs as soft shell crabs. He said in about 10 days the females would molt and the Jimmy’s will attract the females, then he can remove the soft shell females from his trap and sell them for a big profit.Many of the roads, big and little are called Necks. Church Neck Rd, Chicken Neck Road, Great Neck Rd, etc. We have found the definition of a NECK. Well it means it goes out on a point and most of the time it is a dead end.
We drove back out on Assateague Island and again saw the
pristine beach and this time we saw the horses.
Two herds of wild horses, referred to as “ponies” by the locals, make their homes on this island. The herds of about 200 are separated by a fence at the boundary between Maryland and Virginia. The Maryland herd is managed by the National Park Service and are kept on birth control to control their number. The Virginia herd is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company and is allowed by permit to graze on the
Chincoteague refuge. Each year horses from the Virginia herd are rounded up and many of the foals are sold in July. These ponies are swam across the Assateague Bay to Chincateague for a big event and auction.Today’s wild horses are descended from domesticated stock placed on the island as early as the 17th century by Eastern Shore planters. These farmers grazed their horses and other livestock on the island to avoid the mainland taxes and fencing requirements. Only slightly smaller
than other horses, these shaggy, sturdy animals are well adapted to the harsh seashore environment. Though domestic in origin, today these horses are wild. Many signs warned us not to approach the animals. They can kick and bite real well and are very unpredictable, even if they appears tame and friendly. They didn’t 
shy from us, but we kept our distance and stayed in the car. Park visitors find the horses a most interesting part of their visit. They are very popular. Other visitors are birders and beach bums. Both of us were amused to see the relatively new
bicycle bridge next to the existing bridge connecting Assateague to the mainland. It is about 1/2 mile long. We wondered about the history and who paid for it. Feds or state? Later we visited with a Maryland highway patrolman at our campground and he gave us some details. There had been a long history of accidents involving bicycles on the old bridge, so the federal government paid for a bicycle/pedestrian bridge. Maybe it gets more use in the summer than when we were there—no use whatsoever. Myra we know you would enjoy using this expensive bridge.We headed north to
Ocean City, Maryland and again saw miles and miles of high rise beach front property. They too have a boardwalk and this one really is of boards. Ocean City is on a barrier island and we drove north along it into Delaware. This island is very skinny, sometimes less that 1000’ wide, and all of it is used for development.Saturday, May 2 we went flounder fishing! We took a pontoon charter boat into the bays and started drifting with minnows. We fished at various spots hoping to get a good drift with the shifting winds and strong tide. We would get it then it would change and moved. We were able to see a lot of the bay and talk to a knowledgeable local, Capitan Charlie—it was worth the trip even without keeper flounders. Fred caught two 18” flounder, but they were too small for the limit by one inch. They looked very pretty to us. While on the boat Charlie, the owner, pointed out the Wallop Island base where they will be launching a satellite next Tuesday evening. Do we want to stay and watch???? We had planed to leave the area Monday, but may stay over and watch the launch.
We had been shopping for sour pickles (large sized pickles like large dills) and finally found some at a Sysco Distribution outlet store in Pokomoke City. We could only buy them in gallon jars. Now we have a gallon of sour pickles! We use them on hamburgers, sandwiches, with pinto beans, in tartar sauce, etc. We MAY have enough until we get back to Waxahachie. The store was interesting with large quantities of food items.
Sunday, May 3 we attended
Bates Memorial UMC in Snow Hill, Maryland. This sanctuary was round with beautiful stain glass windows on three sides. The ceiling was octagonal. It is a medium size congregation that started during the civil war. Evidently the Methodist Episcopal church was spit as to which side to take so this church was started from the other church. We didn’t ask which side this church was on. The other UMC is one block away. This building was built in 1903. They had several children and an active youth group that meets with 6 other church’s youth groups once a month. This too was a very friendly membership. This pastor was very pias and he prayed long prayers over every event during the service at least 12 times during the service.We were short of our internet service and asked a member if she knew of a public place where we could plug in. She opened the office, told us how to lock up and left us. How nice and how trusting.
Snow Hill has a lot of old homes and there were two across the street from the church that caught our eye. One is being refurbished
(we thought of Brad Yates of Colonial Restoration in Waxahachie) and the other 
a charming Bed and Breakfast which was painted tan and brown. This was different from other color schemes, but really attractive.Monday, May 4 the weather was turning gray and rainy, so we decided not to wait for the satellite launch and head on to Delaware. The Delaware coast is only about 50 miles and we stopped at Cape Henlopen State Park on the very tip of the Cape into the Delaware Bay where military fort Miles defended the bay during WWII. It had been overcast and then started raining. Olivia put on potato soup as it was that kind of day. We drove into civilization and found a Super Fresh grocery store. It is the nicest grocery store we have found on this trip.
Tuesday, May 5 we will cross the Delaware Bay, 16 miles, on a ferry to the bottom tip of New Jersey.
We apologize for the length of this letter. We stayed longer on DelMarVa than we thought we would, and the letter just kept getting longer.
For comments please email us at Olivia@bobheck.com or fredharrington@yahoo.com
We love to hear from you.
