Rediscovering America_ Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland - Bill Burnham [84]
Even though harvest of Virginia’s native oyster has fallen to a mere fraction of the days when millions of bushels were taken annually, enthusiasm here remains high for the “succulent bivalve.” Urbanna’s Oyster Festival, dubbed the state’s official oyster fest by act of the state General Assembly, draws up to 80,000 people who crowd the streets of this small town. It’s been held the first Friday and Saturday in November since 1958. (tel. 804-758-0368)
During the festival, vendors line Urbanna’s Virginia Street selling oysters in every conceivable way – raw, roasted, steamed, stewed, fried or frittered. There are two parades and ceremonial crowning of the Oyster Festival Queen and Little Miss Spat (a spat is a baby oyster). The amateur shucking contest is quite entertaining, but it’s all business during the official contest. Shuckers are judged primarily on speed, but also on more subjective qualities like the amount of shell fragments, clean separation from the shell and damage to the meat. Up for grabs is title as state champion and the right to represent Virginia at a national oyster-shucking contest. Urbanna residents Deborah Pratt and her sister, Clementine Macon, have each won the state contest more than a dozen times. Deborah has even gone on to the World Championships in Ireland.
Visiting peaceful Urbanna any other time really is “like traveling back 100 years,” a claim many towns make, but few deliver as Urbanna can. Virginians have been coming here to buy and sell for more than three centuries. As one of 20 Colonial ports established by royal decree in 1680, all tobacco and imported goods had to pass through its customhouse. In colonial times, tobacco-laden carts trundled down Virginia Street to the creek to be loaded onto ships. Plantation representatives stopped at the Tobacco Warehouse to exchange their harvest for immediate cash and credit.
TRIVIA: Urbanna was named for England’s Queen Anne in 1680. Queen Anne’s City was modified to Urb of Anne (City of Anne), then contracted into a single word: Urbanna.
Around Town
Built in 1766, Urbanna’s Old Tobacco Warehouse is the only surviving Scottish factor store in the country. Prior to its establishment, planters sent their tobacco and other crops directly to England and waited for months until supplies and goods came back on the ship’s return voyage. Today’s customers are tourists – the building has been converted into a visitor center. Pick up the self-guided walking tour brochure here. Continue on down the road to the historic waterfront where pleasure craft and fishing boats tie up at three marinas. If crabs are in season, pick up some live ones at Payne’s Crab House.
Back up on Virginia Street, the R.S. Bristow Store, in business since 1876, is a must-see. It had the county’s first gas station and supplied generations of shoppers with live chickens, coal and groceries. When built, most goods came from Baltimore by steamboats that landed at Burton’s Wharf at the foot of Watling Street. The store’s main product today is designer women’s clothing. Hats and gifts sit on the ceiling-high shelves that once held canned goods, but they’re still reached by ladders that roll along on wood floors. The giant red mill used to grind coffee and pepper is still in the window. The post office in the back of the store now displays shoes in the mailboxes. This was once the largest retail store in the county and the owners were the first people to have electricity in Urbanna. Their house is two blocks down Cross Street. The block outbuilding behind the house contained batteries that provided the electricity.
Next door to Bristow’s is Marshall’s Pharmacy where sodas are still served at the old-fashioned lunch counter. When’s the last time you sat on a twirly stool and ordered an ice cream soda? If you’re looking for some tips on fishing, eavesdrop on