Wednesday, October 7

The day began with another walk along the promenade in Virginia Beach. Rain was forecast for today, but it all happened before we went out. It was still cloudy as various military in civvies ran past. Their planes were racing back and forth overhead. We walked past a touching air carrier memorial. Great morning walk.

Then, as the sun shone and clouds cleared, we headed toward the East Virginia shore, the other side of the Chesapeake. To get there we had to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Built in 1964, the bridge/tunnel system is described as one of the seven structural engineering wonders of the world. Measuring 17.6 miles from shore to shore, the passage consists of 12 miles of trestled bridge, two mile long tunnels under the bay so large ships can pass over them, four man-made islands made by thousands of 15 ton boulders or rip rap. It was pretty impressive, and I will note that Chuck got his $12 toll's worth. She who hates tunnels put on a brave front and survived quite nicely. It was definitely my longest brave front ever.

Starting up HWY 13 toward Maryland, our first and most interesting stop of the whole vacation was at the Barrier Islands Cultural Center near Machipongo. The cultural center was the Almshouse Farm during the 1800's. Shortly after we were inside we were met by the center's historian Jerry Doughty. Since Jerry had lived in the area all his life and had the pleasure of a pioneer grandfather who had told him stories of the island's days of grandeur.

The beautiful town or island names like Wachapeague, Metompkin, and Chincoteague go back to the first Algonquin inhabitants. Their numbers dwindled and the remnants intermarried.

The area was the playground of the New York and Pennsylvania rich. Huge hotels and private gaming clubs for men were very popular at the turn of the century. Sea salt, seafood, and tourism made that county one of the richest in New England. Robert E Lee was one of the island property owners. And one of the biggest businesses was smuggling---from Civil War medicines to Joe Kennedy's rum running. Unfortunately, the prosperity was not to last. The use of DDT and arsenic in agriculture ruined lots of the seafood business. There was the depression and economic downturn in the 30's as well, and most significantly, the beginning of the hurricane seasons for the area, starting in 1933. The 1933 hurricane wiped out many of the hotels and mansions of the rich. They were never rebuilt.

Today there are times when potable water is a problem Global warming is placing all of the island at risk. Developers have exploited resources appealing to tourists. Jerry was truly worried about the area's future.

We moved to the attic where we looked at the unique chimney built for the almshouse. It was twisted in the attic so the smoke would blow the right direction. There were also beautiful examples of decoys that early hunters and islanders had carved. There was also a 4 barreled gun used to shoot birds.

After the museum we had lunch in the Exmore Diner. A true diner with pony-tailed waitresses and the menu at our booth. Good food. Then we were off to Chincoteague to find wild horses. Sadly, the horses were busy doing other things. It had been a great day. We drove into Salisbury, MD, for the night.