Rediscovering America_ Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland - Bill Burnham [107]
Information
Cape Charles/Northampton County Chamber of Commerce, tel. 757-331-2304, www.ccncchamber.com.
BRIDGE-TUNNEL TRIVIA: Construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel complex required building 12 miles of trestled roadway, two one-mile-long tunnels, two bridges, almost two miles of causeway, four man-made islands and 5½ miles of approach roads, for a total length of almost 23 miles. The first span opened in 1964. A second parallel bridge span was completed in 1999.
Events
Cape Charles hosts July Fourth fireworks on the beach and the Eastern Shore Blue Crab Music Festival later in July. (tel. 757-331-2304)
In October, there’s Schooner Feast (tel. 757-331-1008), along with a Harvest Festival and a Birding Festival at Sunset Beach Resort near Kiptopeke (tel. 757-787-2460).
Trip Journal: The Barrier Islands
Along the seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore is a chain of barrier islands, uninhabited except for wildlife. This wasn’t always so. Since the mid-1800s, people have tried taming this coastal wilderness by building beach resorts, hunting and fishing clubs, and even entire communities. All have been lost to the ravages of sea and time.
On an overnight kayak trip to Mockhorn Island we discovered the well-preserved relics of a once posh turn-of-the-century hunting retreat. The Cushman family of New York City brought hunters to their own private game preserve. The kills of waterfowl were tremendous, this being before imposed limits, the outlawing of live decoys and killing of shorebirds. The 1902 lodge is still standing, as is an original 1852 house, although bamboo and ivy are taking over (Mrs. Cushman was fond of planting non-native species on the island). A large livestock barn was used for dances. Another barn served as a slaughterhouse. Rusty hooks and scalding tubs testify to the self-sufficiency forced on island inhabitants by their remote location.
The amount of effort used to transform this wild island into a hunter’s playground is still visible – including a three-foot-tall concrete wall built around the farm to protect crops from saltwater intrusion. Everything had to be ferried over from the mainland; hence the club had its own small herd of cows and even grew feed for them. The Cushmans sold the island in 1948 to a government contractor who lavishly entertained generals that were flown in by helicopter for a weekend of hunting or fishing. Today, Mockhorn is a state wildlife refuge, with public access allowed.
Hog Island had a thriving community of about 250 people called Broadwater. Residents succumbed to a series of storms, and after the hurricane of 1933, gave up altogether, moving 17 houses by barge to the mainland town of Willis Wharf. The relocated community is now known as “Little Hog Island.” Many islanders even moved their dead from the cemeteries to mainland graves. The last baby born on the island, now nearly 70, lives in Willis Wharf. (Many photographs of Hog Island and its inhabitants were taken by noted New York photographer Rudolph Eckemeyer and are in the Smithsonian Institution collection.)
For some 50 years, the resort on Cobb Island was one of America’s most famous hunting and fishing resorts. Nathan Cobb owned and operated it, with help from his three sons. Arthur, the youngest, had a knack for accounting and a weakness for poker. Son Nathan Jr. lent his marksmanship on the island’s many wildfowl hunts. Warren Cobb sailed and guided guests on hunts, fishing trips and egg- or shell-gathering expeditions. A railway stop on the Eastern Shore railroad serviced resort clientele. Carts and wagons brought guests and luggage into Oyster, Virginia, where a sloop carried all to Cobb’s Island. Sportsmen reveled in the rugged life of hunting, and gentlemen enjoyed drinking, dances and games. Author Thomas Dixon visited in the 1890s, and several residents were photographed by Mathew Brady, the famous