New Barrier Islands Center Film on Duck Carving, Hunting
September 8, 2013
Cape Charles Memorial Library will screen the latest Barrier Islands Center film, “Spirit of the Bird,” 5 p.m. Tuesday, September 10.
The film, which is by the director of “Our Island Home” explores the heritage of duck carving and hunting on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Celebrated carvers and hunting guides from the area are featured discussing the history of waterfowl traditions and how the heritage is being passed down to younger generations.
Featured area carvers include “Cigar” Daisey, Grayson Chesser, Mark McNair, P.G. Ross, and Carleton “Cork” McGee, as well as author/historian Curtis Badger.
WEDNESDAY 9/25: Workshop on Rising Insurance Rates on Eastern Shore
The public is invited to a free workshop entitled “Coastal Insurance: The Cause and Effects of Rising Rates” to be 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, September 25, at the Eastern Shore Community College Workforce Development Building in Melfa. [Read more…]
Annual Forestry & Wildlife Tour of Northampton County
September 7, 2013
The annual Forest Landowners bus tour for Northampton County typically has 50-75 participants. Teachers, local government officials, and interested citizens are welcome to join forest landowners on the tour, and scholarships are available for K-12 teachers.
Meet-up is 8 a.m. Thursday, October 3, at the Food Lion, Northampton Shopping Center in Exmore. Tour begins promptly at 8:30 a.m.
The day will be spent visiting privately owned forestlands to view and discuss active forestry and wildlife management options. The day concludes at Chatham Vineyards.
There will be numerous opportunities throughout the day for participants to interact with one another, and with natural resource professionals. Robbie Lewis, with the Virginia Department of Forestry, will be the main tour guide.
The tour will conclude by 4:30 p.m.
Registration is $45/person; $80/couple and includes lunch, refreshments, and transportation.
Register by September 25 at http://forestupdate.frec.vt.edu. For more information contact: Neil Clark at [email protected] or 757-653-2572.
ITINERARY
Stop 1: Mattissippi Tract, Explore the remnants of a house built during the Colonial Era. Discussion will cover topics such as pre-commercial thinning, aerial herbicide release, and waterfowl impoundments (they do duck hunt on the Shore ya’ know). [Read more…]
2 NASCAR Tickets for Saturday’s Sprint Cup in Richmond
Last-minute chance to purchase two tickets to NASCAR 400 in Richmond 7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 7. Tickets have $75 face value and are offered at half price, so $75 for both. Call Roger at 757-636-7777.
TUESDAY 9/10: Harbor District Public Hearing with Town Council and Planning Commission
Cape Charles Town Council and Planning Commission will hold a joint public hearing 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 10, at the Town Hall, 2 Plum Street, to hear public comments regarding proposed modifications to the Cape Charles Zoning Ordinance, Section 3.9 – Harbor District. [Read more…]
The Way We Were: 9 Years Ago in the New York Times
Once McCarthy’s Hotel, then Cape Charles Hotel, now Hotel Cape Charles. (1930s penny postcard)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
September 5, 2013
This week marks the 9th anniversary of the New York Times feature article “Waking Up Cape Charles.” The story is a useful and interesting benchmark of how far the town has come, how much things remain the same, and how history repeats itself. Although a 10th-anniversary retrospective would be the most appropriate, we just couldn’t wait another year. So here are excerpts from the article published September 3, 2004, by Tim Neville and annotated (in italics) by the Wave for today’s reader:
In 1991, houses in this town on the Eastern Shore of Virginia were so cheap that when Barbara Brown found one just four blocks from the Chesapeake Bay, she bought it with a credit card. The house — two stories and 1,500 square feet with three bedrooms — was in terrible shape, said Ms. Brown, who paid $15,000 for it. . . . Ms. Brown, a psychotherapist, gutted the place, rehabbed it and sold it in 1996 for $65,000. . . . Today it might sell for $250,000 or more.
That house, 123 Peach Street, has a tax value of $156,800 today. Barbara Brown has remained faithful to Cape Charles, and last year opened a new office on Mason Avenue, as reported by the Wave (click here to read).
[T]he economic boom is hard to ignore. Houses and commercial buildings that stood falling apart five years ago now sell for $250,000 or more. New homes boasting breezy British West Indies architecture — many approaching the $1 million mark — pop regularly out of the sand. McCarthy’s Hotel, closed for decades, is scheduled to reopen by Thanksgiving under a new owner who is restoring it to its 1930’s roots.
The “restoration” at 235 Mason Avenue, known as Cape Charles Hotel, looked nothing like the 1930s penny postcard pictured above. The Cape Charles Hotel ultimately failed, was sold by the bank, and underwent another extensive remodeling, opening in 2012 as Hotel Cape Charles. [Read more…]
EDITORIAL: Conflict of Interest
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
September 4, 2013
This editorial should not have to be written, because the issue should be obvious. Sadly, that is not the case in Northampton County – or especially Cape Charles, where conflicts of interest are more common than September hurricanes. (Click here for an egregious example five years ago.)
Resident in Cape Charles is a remarkable individual known to all as Bob Panek. Once the acting town manager, he now prefers to be the assistant. He was the chief consultant for construction of the Town’s wastewater treatment plant. He is president of Citizens for Central Park. At candidate debates before the last three elections, Mr. Panek decided which questions were asked and to whom, despite his unconcealed partisanship. And finally, which is the point of this editorial, he is chairman of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Public Service Authority, whose purpose is to study, implement, and operate water and sewer systems.
Mr. Panek was appointed by Cape Charles Town Council to represent the Town on the PSA. This was wrong, because it violates the principle of separation between a paid public employee and an elected or appointed official. One might have hoped that Town Council understood that principle, after two town employees ceased to serve on Town Council. A paid town employee should not be appointed or elected to a town board or commission and should not be the town’s representative on a county board or commission. [Read more…]
Missed the Lighthouse Raid Lecture? Catch It In Onancock
Lunch & Lecture: Attack! The 1863 Confederate Raid on the Cape Charles Lighthouse, 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, September 4, Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society, Onancock. [Read more…]
