Tall Ships Arriving in Three Weeks for Festival
By JOAN PRESCOTT
May 20, 2014
Haul a yard arm! Hear the cannon roar! Dress up like a pirate, and meet some real ones, too! Tall Ships At Cape Charles Festival is welcoming three historic tall ships, the Kalmar Nyckel, Privateer Lynx, and Schooner Serenity, to Cape Charles Town Harbor June 14-15.
The third annual waterfront tall ships extravaganza features all kinds of family fun, deck tours, day, sunset and pirate sails, live music, great food, helicopter rides and arts and crafts vendors.
This is small town, family-friendly America the way it used to be. Cape Charles, our deep water harbor to hospitality, presents a rare opportunity to get up close and personal as you explore the decks and meet the crews of magnificent tall ships and encounter roving pirates, a troupe of costumed re-enactors, and all kinds of family fun throughout the historic town and harbor.
Kids and parents will love the Captain Mayhem Pirate Adventure Sails offered three times daily on Saturday and Sunday aboard the Schooner Serenity, and all three tall ships have afternoon or evening sunset cruises both days. Reservations are recommended — visit www.tallshipscapecharles.com. [Read more…]
ORAL HISTORY: How Harbor Avenue Got its Skew
101 Tazewell Avenue, corner of Harbor, was “right on the beachfront” when built by Capt. Sadler c. 1912. Later, Harbor Avenue layout was skewed to accommodate the house.
May 19, 2014
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days. A grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities enabled 15 interviews to be transcribed, and the Historical Society has made this one available for readers of the Wave. All the transcriptions may be read at the Cape Charles Museum.)
1990 Interview of Virginia Fitzhugh conducted by Virginia Savage
PART ONE
VIRGINIA SAVAGE: I am talking to Virginia Fitzhugh, who was born and raised in Cape Charles. Virginia, what was your maiden name?
Virginia Sadler. I was raised in Cape Charles. I was born next door to the old Virginia Hotel and the Henderson Travis House. [Across from the Post Office, on the southwest corner. Her father was Capt. Sadler, a NYP&N steamer captain.]
West side of Virginia Hotel? Which would be right across from the Post Office on the corner of Strawberry and Randolph.
That’s where I was born. And then Daddy bought the house up in the middle of the block on Randolph. I don’t know who lives there now but he bought right in the middle. Alva Stiles used to live there. And then Daddy built the first house that was built this side of Pine Street other than the house that was back in the woods. And he bought the lot from the Scott Estate and built down there. And we thought we were right on the beachfront. The corner of Tazewell and Harbor.
Did he have to build that house on pilings?
No. He happened to get the house part of the land that was down there. And see, the beach came right up to Harbor Avenue. Sand and everything. That’s a built in place from Harbor right up to beachfront. That was sand that was blown up and built up all that up there. Daddy thought he was right on the beachfront.
Isn’t that amazing! I knew that Jeannette Edgerton’s house, for one, was built on pilings.
Well, all those apartments across from us, they’re all built on pilings. And we used to watch them and the pile driver would hit one and it would go out of sight and they’d have to put another one right on top of it. You see, that’s all swamp there. And because it had the cat o’ nine tails and the grass that grows on the beach and all that stuff. [Read more…]
Half-Millionth Visitor to Eastern Shore Welcome Center
Kerry Allison, Executive Director of the ES Tourism Commission; Jacques and Shirley Dumoulin; Fred Stant, CBBT Commission Chairman; Allan Burns, ES Welcome Center Manager; and Bill Murphy, ES Welcome Center Volunteer.
By KERRY ALLISON
Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission
May 17, 2014
Jacque Dumoulin and his wife, Shirley, driving from Florida to Pennsylvania to visit family, needed a break after they arrived on the Virginia Eastern Shore via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and stopped at the rest area on the right. As is often the case, they noticed the tiny, cheerful and information-rich visitor center housed in the same building and decided to take a look around.
When Mr. Dumoulin walked through the Welcome Center door, he was greeted by Allan Burns, center manager, as the official half millionth visitor to the Eastern Shore Southern Gateway Welcome Center, which opened in August 2009. It’s another milestone for the center, which has seen increases in utilization every year since opening and averages 10,000 visitors monthly.
The lucky Dumoulins were showered with gifts, all local treasures donated by Eastern Shore businesses. “We can’t wait to tell our daughter and her family,” Dumoulin said. “We’ve never stopped here before and had no idea this area was so interesting.” He pointed to the 3D map of the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge, one of the state-of-the-art features of the Welcome Center, which has four attention-grabbing light box displays, two 3D exhibits, a real-time video weather feed, videos showcasing local attractions, area restaurant menus, and over 200 rack cards touting everything from history, recreation, shops, restaurants and lodging to upcoming events. A touchscreen information kiosk in a corridor just outside the center helps visitors who stop in during off-hours. [Read more…]
3rd Annual Crabby Blues Festival Saturday in the Park
The town turned out for last year’s Crabby Blues Festival despite chilly weather. This year will be warmer!
By TAMMY HOLLOWAY
May 16, 2014
Saturday, May 17, from 3-8 p.m., the 3rd Annual Crabby Blues Festival sponsored by Rayfields Pharmacy will fill Central Park with the sounds of great music, the smell of good food, and the feeling of good community fellowship.
This year will be bigger and better than ever with even more adult and kids games, music sponsored by ESLAND, food from fabulous vendors, and adult beverages sold by Citizens for Central Park.
Performers include the Cape Charles Community Band, Freshwater Frank and the Fish, The Motto, Mr. B. and the Boys, and the classic sound of the Inspectors.
Don’t miss the chance to bid on a Jimmy Buffett autographed guitar, which is among many fabulous silent auction items. And you will want to shop the park green to check out the unique and creative art and gift vendors.
For the first time ever we will have commemorative Crabby Blues Festival T-shirts, sponsored by Ocean Cove Seafood and available for adults and kids. A limited number have been ordered so make sure to get them early in the day!
Advance tickets are $10/adults and $5/children. At the gate they are $15/adults and $5/children. Purchase tickets at Rayfield’s Pharmacies, Sullivan’s Office Supply, Kings Creek Marina, Northampton Lumber, Little Italy Restaurant, and the Cape Charles Christian School. [Read more…]
Love Train Dance Party Saturday on Mason Avenue
This Saturday, May 3, at 12:30 p.m. is LOVE Train! on Mason Avenue. The Cape Charles Business Association is raising money for a permanent LOVE installation with a dance parade (walking is perfectly acceptable). Requested donation of $5 for adults, and $1 for children.
FRIDAY 4/25: Blessing of the Fleet Schedule of Events
The 7th Annual Blessing of the Fleet begins 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Cape Charles Town Harbor. That morning a Navy yard patrol craft is scheduled to arrive at 9 a.m. and will offer public tours from noon until 4 p.m.
The 5:30 p.m. ceremony begins with the National Anthem sung by Emily Guemple.
Master of Ceremonies is U.S. Representative Scott Rigell.
Coast Guard Station Cape Charles will provide the Color Guard.
U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen will conduct the Throwing of the Wreath.
Live Music by HM Johnson will follow from 6-9 p.m.
Seafood dinners will be sold by the Cape Charles Volunteer Fire Department.
Sunset for the Old Fun Pier
April 21, 2014
The Cape Charles Fun Pier is no longer, but a resurrection is in the works. Just before Easter, an excavator ripped out the portion of the pier resting on railroad-style ties, which was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The far portion of the pier is built on deep pilings that withstood both Sandy and Irene with no damage at all. Town staff repaired the pier following Sandy, but now a FEMA grant is paying for a replacement. However, the replacement portion will again be built on less expensive ties instead of the pilings proven to withstand hurricanes. The pier is scheduled to reopen before Memorial Day. (Wave photo)
ORAL HISTORY: Last Words from David Mitchell
David Mitchell today (13 years after his remarks transcribed here). Photo courtesy Marion Naar
April 21, 2014
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days. A grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities enabled 15 interviews to be transcribed, and the Historical Society has made this one available for readers of the Wave. All the transcriptions may be read at the Cape Charles Museum.)
David Mitchell speaks April 12, 2001
PART 5
[Audience]: “When you were in the ball club and traveling, did you go on a bus? Did you sleep on the bus?
Oh yes, we had a bus. We always had hotels that we would go to stay in. I had a kind of hairy experience coming out of Upstate New York. We played up in Utica and Ithaca, New York. We were coming down from there and what happened, the bus had broken down in New York and we had to hire a limousine to take the team, there were 18 heads. Coming back, the left front tire blew on this limousine and we were coming down this mountainside. And the driver hollered, “Don’t nobody touch it!” He was afraid someone would grab the wheel and try to steer it. We came to a stop right to a guard rail and nobody got hurt, didn’t even scar the car or anything, but that was something that lived with me for a long time, because if we had gone over . . . . There was a 50 or 75 foot drop down there and I guess all of us could have been killed or get broken bones or something.
We were staying in a hotel in New York on 7th Avenue, I can remember a young lady that had been down here visiting and all she was talking about was this Glass house in Cape Charles. It’s the house right across from where Raymond Spady lives, that was new at that time. Somebody described it to her as the Glass House and so she wanted to see it. So this lady was visiting my friend’s girlfriend and this particular night we were going out and I didn’t have a date, so they asked me if I would mind taking this girl along. I said fine.
After taking her out that night, I took her out the next day and showed her the sites, the farm, the houses and different places. And she enjoyed it so much, that she told me that if I was ever in New York, to please come by and see her. She told me about her boyfriend and everything. [Read more…]
