Tale of Four Towns

Visiting the towns dotting the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay is a bit like stepping through Alice's mirror into a different era.

Tangier Island , a stamp sized parcel of land 3' above sea level in the middle of the bay, is a flash back to life in the 1700's. About the only thing new is motors in the boats but crabbing and oystering go on as about the only things to do there. Three or four names dominate the monuments in the cemeteries and the natives treat visitors as long lost friends.

Fifty miles up Pocomoke Sound and then the twisting Pokomoke river is Pokomoke City lodged in the middle of the Delmarva peninsula and reflecting the dual cultures of the Bay and "Shore" being but a few miles from Ocean city. A remarkably clean town with streets lined with charming old 19th century homes and friendly locals happy to engage in conversation about any era or aspect of their split personality. Pokomoke provides free docking with water and electricity on a well maintained dock stretching 1/4 mile along a lush waterfront park.


Back down the river and sound 40 miles (the last 2 hours quite bumpy as we rolled to a NW sea constrained in a narrow channel) to Onancock. Another neat little town with deep roots in revolutionary history. Arriving on a blustery weekend day at a quite "small" town marina we were entertained with all sorts of boat handeling acrobatics as skilled and unskilled boaters were tested by the winds, currents, tides and limited space. We were part of the show as we avoided drifting into a boat eating steel bridge downwind and close to our slip. We shot the boat into our appointed slip only to become jammed between the reported 13' (our beam width)pilings. Needing about 100 of our 150hp to extricate ourselves we serenely backed out and drifted to the adjacent "13'"slip and glided in with room to spare. Admiral's note .... very impressive!!

We attend church at a 200 year old Onancock Baptist church (now standing empty in fresh white clapbord) as members congregate in the new modern building just behind. The Sunday School class loved on us like we were rich relatives and the church service reflected similar warmth. This warmth is reflected outside the church as EVERYONE waves to EVERYONE on foot or riding bikes or in cars as they pass throughout the town. We sat on a bench on the main street enchanted by this phenomenon.

The next day we were off 30 miles directly across the Bay to Kilmarnock,Va where Larry's mother was born and raised. Larry's grandfather was a waterman for forty years before marrying and we were anxious to see if we could get some clues to his and the family lifestyle. Kilmarnock is still a quite small town now with many "come heres" but still a lot of pride in it's heritage. After a 2 mile bicycle ride to town (mostly up hill) we found a very helpful lady at the library who pointed us to some books on the town's history and in but a few minutes Larry found a picture of his mother taken in a 5th grade class picture at the grade school. We also picked up some valuable leads on other sources of information on grandfather's life as a waterman.

After a magnificent sunset seen from our anchorage in a delightful small cove and a nights rest we headed back to the Solomons at dawn a bit nervous about the six and one half hour run having seen mostly rough water the previous moving days. However God was good and we flew up the Bay with a gentle following breeze and sea.

All in all a great mini-cruise, 200 or so miles of Bay beauty and atmosphere with the boat humming along without missing a beat.

Joan is off to Montana mid month for a class reunion in Libby (someone notify Homeland Security!!) and then we hope to take another ten dayer possibly to the central eastern shore.

As usual pictures can be found under Tangier/Pokomoke/Onancock/Kilmarnock at Picasaweb.google.com/lropka