Photos by Joseph Insalaco
(Published in SPOKES, Fall 2014)
Several years ago I had a great cycling trip in Virginia’s
northern neck region (east of Fredericksburg, Virginia) and longed to again
enjoy its charms. A friend suggested
that I consider going even further east and cycle the Virginia’s Eastern Shore
region. He even offered a regional guide by Kirk Mariner entitled Off 13:
The Eastern Shore of Virginia Guidebook. U.S. Route 13 is a four lane
highway that runs down the center of the Eastern Shore. Mariner’s book focuses on the historical homes,
churches, buildings, and scenic waterways that can be viewed from country roads
found on the bayside and seaside of Route 13. Once the idea took hold, I
contacted my long time cycling friend Joe, and we soon found ourselves heading
southeast on our bicycles from my Northern Virginia home. Our route took us along the Potomac River into
Virginia's Northern Neck. From there we crossed the Chesapeake Bay and spent
a week touring Virginia's Eastern Shore.
Finally, we crossed the bay to the Maryland side of the Potomac River for
our trip back to Northern Virginia.
.jpg)
Leaving
Northern Virginia on a mix of roads and trails, we cycled first to historic Occoquan,
Virginia. From there we followed
Adventure Cycling’s East Coast route to Fredericksburg, Virginia. While it was a long day of 83 miles, we had
great weather. Along the way we met 3 cyclists from Kansas also heading
into the Northern Neck and a couple from San Francisco who were cycling to New
York City.
Fredericksburg
dates back to the early 1700 and offered many tourist options. Within 3 miles
of our downtown hotel we saw Kenmore Hall (home of George Washington’s
sister), Mary Washington College, a large farmers market and
art festival in a city park, an antique car show in the historic district, and George
Washington’s childhood home called Ferry Farms. While the Ferry Farm’s
“home” is not much more than a foundation and an archaeological digging site,
the farm has been recreated. Our tour of
the farm was self-guided using an IPad that provided detailed information on
each point of interest.
Leaving Fredericksburg,
we followed Adventure Cycling’s Potomac Heritage Route that took us east. Our next stop was at George Washington’s birthplace.
Unfortunately, none of the original structures remain on this property, but the
foundation of the original home had been unearthed. According to our docent, the house on the
property is relatively new and is only a replica of a grandiose colonial
home. From the foundation’s footprint, George’s birth home was much
smaller and simpler. However, the nearby
Stratford Hall, Robert E. Lee’s birthplace, was built in the 1730s and is quite
grand.
Cycling
on country roads often lets an ill prepared cyclist go hungry. That was
us about 1:30 in the afternoon. We were famished and quickly approaching Route
301, the major north-south highway through the Northern Neck region. We hoped we would find at least a fast food
restaurant near the intersection. When we got to Route 301, however, we did
not see any place to eat, just two new car dealerships. Since we needed
water, we went into the Dodge dealership. We were directed to a water fountain where we also
found some vending machines, which supplied our lunch. We felt like poor relatives as we ate
crackers while looking at a $150,000 Dodge Viper sitting on the showroom floor. The day’s weather was a little warm, but the ride
was still good. We cycled 54 miles, about half of the time on the
highways and the other on country roads, as we continued east to Montrose,
Virginia.
On our cycling
trips, we are often blessed with small gems that just make a day
wonderful. Last night, when checking into our motel, the clerk told us
that the only two options for breakfast were either going back 2 miles into
downtown Montrose, or 13 miles east. The
western option was for a local coffee shop that did not open until 8 a.m. The
eastern option would take us off our planned country road route and to a fast-food
restaurant. Neither option was appealing because we like early starts and
country roads. The next morning, looking out of our motel room, we
noticed that the gas station/Subway restaurant across the highway was
open. Unfortunately, the Subway part of the business did not open until 9 a.m. However, a nice woman
told us to “walk 1 block west and go to Johnny Wilkinson’s store, because he
makes breakfast sandwiches.” Johnny not only made us a great breakfast,
but also sandwiches to go. Never did a processed ham and cheese sandwich
ever taste so good when we stopped for lunch.
It surely beat yesterday’s lunch out of a vending machine. We had no
idea why the motel clerk did not offer this option to us.
Since our
planned ride to Reedville, Virginia, was relatively short, we decided to go 5
miles off route and visit the Athena Winery. There Ruth, one of the
owners, told us that they have been growing grapes for 13 years. She admitted
that it took a while for them to produce good wine. We sampled each of
their wines and purchased a bottle for later.
While at the winery we found 2
entertaining Killdeer birds. They built their nest in the gravel right
next to the parking lot. When we got close, the bird on the nest would spread
her trail feathers and the other would hop away and lie on its back and flap
its wings as if it were injured. Ruth told us that these birds have been
building their nest in the same spot for years and entertaining her guests.
You would think that they would move away from all the commotion of the parking
lot, but I guess they just like to people watch.
In
Reedville, we stayed at the Grandview B&B that was just a few miles from
where we would meet our boat the next morning.
The B&B’s name is well deserved with its view of the bay. In the “it’s a small world,” our hostess grew
up in Falls Church several houses away from the home where
I live. The Grandview’s hospitality was
wonderful and worthy of another visit.
We had a
short bike ride from our B&B to where our chartered boat picked us up for
the ride to the Eastern Shore. The boat,
Joyce Marie II, is a 36 feet long fiberglass boat with a 4 foot draft.
According to our characterized by a sharp bow that quickly becomes a flat
V shape moving aft along the bottom of the hull. It has a small cabin structure and a large
open work area aft. It is the traditional boat
used by watermen for everything from crabbing and oystering, to catching fish.
The Bay
was very choppy and our ride was rough so we appreciated a several hour layover
on Tangier Island. Not only did it give us
a chance to regain our land legs, it also allowed us to tour the island. The English settlement dates back to the
1600s, but Native Americans occupied the island long before. The island currently supports about 450 people
and its economy is based on tourism, crabs, and oysters. Mark lives on the island and operates a
passenger ferry service between the island and town of Onancock, on Virginia’s Eastern
Shore. He was born on the island and
has lived there all his 55 years. He told us that he is a fifth
generation Crockett on the island.
Looking at how low the land was in relation to the water level, I wonder
just how long the island will survive.
We
arrived on the Eastern Shore in the early afternoon and cycled to our motel in
nearby Onley, Virginia. After dropping off
our panniers, we toured Onancock and some of the surrounding country side. With views of the old homes and waterways, our
short ride was a precursor of what was to come.
Virginia’s
Eastern Shore is about 70 miles long and 10 miles wide. Cycling it is flat and easy, with the high
point being about 60 feet above sea level. We started our tour by heading
south on the bayside of the Eastern Shore. Much of Virginia’s Eastern Shore
is very rural with farms, plant nurseries, fishing villages, and small towns. We
varied our route to include trips to the water’s edge and through the small
communities. While many of the old
houses and churches we saw were interesting, we were not sure why some were
included and others excluded from our guidebook. Somewhat disappointing were
the houses and churches that were covered in aluminum siding. I
understand the necessity for preservation and reduced maintenance, but the
structures lost much of their appeal with the addition of modern siding.
Our end
point for the first day was the Holiday Inn Express, in Exmore, Virginia. Following Route 13, Exmore is only 13 miles away. However, our trip on the bayside roads was 52
miles long. This was typical of our “off
13” mileage. If we wanted to get
somewhere fast, Route 13 would have been the way. However, fast was not our goal.
The next
day we continued south down the bayside to Machipongo, Virginia where the bayside
route ended. From there we looped south
on the seaside to Oyster, Virginia.
Oyster is a fishing village on seaside, but it is not on the ocean. With the barrier islands, the ocean is not
easily accessible on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. After spending some time watching the
fishermen we headed back to Exmore. We
cycled 60 miles and ended up back at the same Exmore motel.
The
following morning started with “pea soup thick” fog that definitely impacted the
quantity and quality of our photographs. However, we found a few
interesting things. The first was
supposed to have been miles away on yesterday’s route. However, we found
the Cobb Railway Station in downtown Exmore. The station had been recently
moved and was undergoing renovations. Nearby, we also saw an Eastern
Shore Railroad caboose, the only remains of that railroad we found.
As the
fog lifted we entered the town of Accomac, Virginia There we saw hundreds of
old homes, some of which dated back to the early 1700s. According to our
guidebook, Accomac is so historic that almost the whole town is included as a
historic district. The town dates back to the 1600’s when it was chosen for the
county seat. Near noon we arrived in the
town of Atlantic, Virginia, one of the few “off 13” towns that had a
restaurant. The town was also home to
Marshall Manufacturing Company, one of the few places on the Chesapeake Bay
that makes wire-mesh crab pots.
Later in
the day we stopped at NASA’s Wallops Island. Wallops Flight Facility was established in
1945 as a center for aeronautic research.
We had timed our Eastern Shore visit to witness a rocket launch, but it
was delayed beyond our stay. We spent an
hour touring its visitor’s center but were not sure if we stayed so long
because the exhibits were that interesting, or if the air conditioning was just
so nice.
We
reached Chincoteague in the afternoon and
dropped our gear at our motel before cycling out to Assateague Island and visiting the National Seashore
National Park and the island’s 1833 lighthouse. From there we continued
east to the Atlantic Ocean. Assateague is one of the few places where the
ocean is accessible on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. I waded into the ocean to satisfy
some symbolic notion of dipping my toes into the water at our most eastern spot. 
The next
day, we cycled a 50 mile loop from Chincoteague that took us north to Maryland, then west to the bayside,
before heading back east. Our first stop into history was Horntown.
According to our guide book, Horntown “is not only faded, it is actually
disappearing…Once one of the largest communities on the Shore...” It was
interesting to imagine the town as a large vibrant community. We next headed to the “marrying tree”
where Virginia couples “stepped over the line” to
take advantage of Maryland’s younger
marrying age. While the tree was not that interesting, we got there
on a serpentine road that took us back and forth between the two states several
times in a few hundred yards. Mostly we cycled through farm lands and
forests where we made several additional stops at historic homes and peaceful
waterways.
Our time
on the Eastern Shore was quickly drawing to a close. We had to get back to Onancock, Virginia
early the next morning, to catch our boat.
We wanted to leave our Chincoteague motel at 6 a.m. to beat the day’s
forecasted 95 degree temperature.
However, the motel desk clerk said that breakfast would not be set out
until 7 a.m. As we were
leaving, she decided to break the rules and give us some food. We were
initially flattered that she would do this for 2 old (but good looking) guys, until
we realized that she just wanted someone to talk to. Among many other
things, we heard about her first and only bike ride that was 7 miles and her first
and only camping trip where everyone got sick. Despite all the talk, she
was a real sweetie and provided a good breakfast.
From our
motel we headed west to get on the bayside roads that would take us
south. Mostly, we cycled through rural farm lands, wet lands, and swampy
forests. The only town on our nearly 60 mile journey was Parksley, VA, where we had lunch and visited the Eastern Shore Railroad Museum. The museum offered
several examples of rail cars that traveled the Eastern Shore, but did not have
any of the Eastern Shore Railroad. Our
destination was back to the motel in Onley, Virginia. Onley was one of several
Eastern Shore towns that sprang up along the railroad in the mid-1880. Because
of its location, the village was originally known as Crossroads. We were
told that Onley is currently Virginia’s largest commercial area on the Eastern Shore
and recently welcomed the only Walmart.
As we
waited for our boat to depart from Onancock, Virginia for Point Lookout,
Maryland, we got another glimpse of “island life”. Mark, our captain, had
brought his dog with him from Tangier. The dog was injured and needed to
have veterinarian care. While we waited for Mark’s return, Norwood, one of his buddies showed
up. Norwood was born on Smith Island but now lives on Tangier Island. He is responsible for
maintaining the underwater electric cable that powers Tangier. He said
that both he and Mark have cars in Chrisfield, Maryland, so they can get around when on the
mainland. However, neither had a car in Onancock and Mark had to have
someone pick him up and take him and his dog to the vet. Norwood likened living on an island to living
on a farm. He said that, instead of driving to town, islanders take a
boat. I understand the analogy but think it a little weak when you try
comparing walking from a farm to swimming from an island. We also met
Bonnie who shops for island residents, and brings the items to Mark’s boat when
he is in Onancock.
We
arrived in Point Lookout at noon and started cycling in the heat of the
day. We made several stops for drinks and to take a few pictures in St.
Mary’s, MD. St. Mary’s was Maryland’s
first capital and is home to St. Mary’s college. After that we pushed for
a total of 62 miles in temperatures that hit the high 90s. The last 9
miles into LaPlata, Maryland were on Route 301. We caught a tail wind that
allowed us to fly. Even with a 5 mile stretch that was milled into a
bumpy mess, we traveled at 18 to 20 mph.
We left
LaPlata, MD at 6 in morning to try to beat the heat, which was again predicted
to be in the high 90s. Our route took us over country roads, which
unfortunately, were filled with early morning commuter traffic. However, once
we reached National Harbor, Maryland, we were on bike trails that
offered a very relaxed ride. We crossed
the Potomac River on the Wilson Bridge bike trail. In Virginia, we took the George Washington Trail
to National Airport, the Four Mile Run Trail to Sherlington, and finally the
Washington and Old Dominion Trail to Falls Church. Our trip covered 650 miles by bike and 70
miles by boat over 12 days. Our daily
blog, photos, and routes can be seen at http://chesapeakebaybybike.blogspot.com/.
