Virginia's Eastern Shore

Sat, 03 May 2008 19:42:55 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: I've gotten the chance to visit here twice, and it is really lovely. Full of wildlife and history. Some good campgrounds right on the Bay.

Clip Source: travel.nytimes.com

Paddling, Wining and Dining on the Other Eastern Shore

NORTH, out of Virginia Beach, it was just water and sky, sea gulls and salt air.

This is the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, two skinny counties strung between Maryland’s own Eastern Shore and the Bridge-Tunnel. It’s only 65 miles long and no more than 10 miles at its widest. But time is its most elemental dimension: time for nature and wildlife to reclaim island after island, time for one economy to wither and another to grow, time for beaches to form, fill with shells, then vanish.

“There were pirates — including Blackbeard — and smugglers and false basements,”

By the 1920s, though, the islands were already in economic decline.

“The Eastern Shore is great for grapes,” Mr. Wehner says over a glass in the tasting room.

Another factor is the Civil War.

you have to see those deserted barrier islands

that means a boat ride or a kayak trip.

Tags: virginia, beach, wildlife, history, civil war, wine

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Virginia's Eastern Shore

Paddling, Wining and Dining on the Other Eastern Shore