Virginia's Rt. 13 on the Eastern Shore - for me a gateway to wonderful memories

Today, April 9, 2007, has been a marvelous day for me. I have driven across the 18-mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (opened to traffic in 1964) from Virginia Beach to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I spent my summer months there as a young girl and later as a young woman. I only went as far north as Accomac, Virginia. I went cemetery-hopping as one is wont to do when searching for long-losts relatives. Virginia's Rt. 13 on the Eastern Shore is one of the most dangerous and treacherous highways in Virginia. Make no mistake, 25% or so or our highway deaths, mostly caused by drunk driving illegal aliens occur there but that is not what I want to share with you today. Today, I want to share the beauty of the Eastern Shore. The fresh air, the roadside markets, the country churches that now hug the side of Highway 13 but once stood in open fields surrounded by farms and parishoners who traveled by horse and buggy to Sunday Services and picnics. Traveling on Rt. 13 through Nassawadox, Exmore, Keller, Melfa, and more puts you in harms way but also sends you racing right up the middle of the Eastern Shore and thereby missing all that the region has to offer. On one side is Tangier Island - the island that is sinking into the sea; the island where the dead are buried on covered vaults above ground in the front yards because the island is essentially under sealevel; the island where the young brides' husbands are the crabbers, the oystermen, the men who earn a living from the wealth of the Chesapeake Bay. You reach Tangier by light plane (I don't know how that happens, as in flights, etc) or you reach Tangeria by driving down to land's end in Onanock and catch a small boat that will carry you to the island. When you walk Tangier's narrow roads and visit its buildings, eat family-style at a resident's home, respect the language and people for they are not a quaint "tourist attraction"; they live at the edge of the sea and storms have been known to claim the lives of their men. They honor God and love the life of the sea. If you have the time to travel over one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World, The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, I recommend it. Go the speed limit which is 55 mph. The Eastern Shore will be there waiting for your safe arrival. It has been there for thousands upon thousands of years. One branch of my ancestors from the Old World ssettled on the Eastern Shore in 1617. It was to check upon the status of their descendents that I made my journey and, in truth, to enjoy the Eastern Shore. I did make it up to Keller, Virginia and, after going by the home of my mother's first cousins with whom we had lost touch over the years - seeing the home closed down and clearly no life there, I went down the road a mile or so and found my relatives - my maternal grandparents of course, and now the last of my second cousins all resting in the soil at Hollies Baptist Church. For some life on the Eastern Shore is harsh but from my summer weeks in Keller, Exmore, Nassawadox, and closer to the Bay, riding large ponies, watching the ponies at Pony Penning on Chincoteague - the Eastern Shore for me, is not a killing-zone - it is a place of fond memories. Going out one night with a third cousin, a commercial fisherman, on his large fishing boat, stretched out on lounge chairs on the deck, drinking a beer, being caressed by the warm breezes off the Bay on arms warmed by the sun by day, finally giving way to the need for a light shawl - memories of a more tranquil life - minus the violent storms - give rise and hope for this current time. One memory is of taking members of my family to Assateague to see the ponies who now sidle up to visitors yet never let you forget that they are really wild and really the masters of Assateague Island. For those of you who do not know, several centuries ago, a Spanish gallion foundered off the coast of Assateague. The Spanish ponies were part of the cargo. Many of them survived the wreck as the ship broke up and the ponies were able to swim to shore. They became the settlers of Assateague and so they remain today. We, humans that is, are allowed to visit now that there is an access bridge and a nice park as well as an excellent tourist information center. But never forget, the ponies of Assateague rule. Assateague was the home of the pony who later became Misty of Chincoteague. A friend took the journey with me and I pointed out the second floor of the old home built in 1915 or so for $2,000 with it's floors of boards later covered with lanoleum and rugs to keep out the cold in the bitter winters known on the shore. The curtains were still at the upstairs windows. And in a moment of peaceful reflection, I could feel the cool breezes of the night coming off of the Atlantic Coast of the Shore and I could heard the sound of the train that carried cargo up the coast in the quiet of the dark hours before dawn. Oh, the restful sleep with crickets singing you to sleep, and God's breezes moving the curtains ever so gently in the night. There are names such as Wachapreaque, Nassawadox, Keller, Belle Haven, Painter, Eastville, Cape Charles, Machipongo, Kiptopeke, Birdsnest, Cedar Island, Onancock, Accomac, and more. The Eastern Shore of Virginia is rich in heritage and ever changing. From my earliest memory as a very tiny girl, we road the ferry into Cape Charles and saw the cabins and settlements for the migratory workers that dotted Route 13. The migratory workers then were white and black, and they traveled the East Coast north from Florida during the harvest seasons much as the "wheaties" run their enormous combines havesting grain like giant locust from Texas up through the middle of the nation. Following the early Eastern Shore migratory workers, the Haitians moved in and some became adept at trqaversing the twists and turns of LBJ's Great Society Welfare State. But time continues to change things on the Shore and now - with construction booming - carpenters and builders from Mexico have found their way to reap the tax-free opportunities of the Shore. If you had only a short time in the area, I would recommend taking the turn off of Route 13 to Onancock - to land's end- an take the boat ride to Tangier Island. Return and spend the night in one of the B&B's in Onancock or the local area and then, a must - drive on to Chincoteague. Find a good B&B, drive over the cause-way to Assateague and live the good life among the ponies of Assateague. Enjoy afternoon tea at your B&B and perhaps take a scenic boat ride so that you can enjoy the water. Eastern Shore is a well-kept secret but the secret is getting out. When you leave the bridge-tunnel, there is an information center just on your right. Drive in, go inside, and gather-up all the brochures that interest you. All that the Eastern Shore has to offer is not along Route 13. As Robert Frost said..."take the road less traveled.."