April 21, 2017
We rode up to Cape Charles and then back down to the end-of-peninsula wildlife refuge, actually a reclaimed Army post, called the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge (you might remember we saw a gateway to this refuge back when Jack and I first landed on this side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel – I think that was April 13).
Anyway, we found a way to get up to Cape Charles that did not involve any riding along the busy artery, Route 13. We crossed the busy road a couple of times, but we mostly headed north and then south again along Rt. 600, or Seaview Road. We discovered later that this used to be the road that was the primary north/south travel route.
For us, however, it was lovely and traffic-free (just about), although the day had turned quite hot for a change. We saw several interesting things, and once we got back across to Cape Charles, we had to climb “the hump” as we discovered the highest bridge was called by the locals (and over which we’d driven to obtain our dinner last night at the Shanty). One of the locals said that it had been built for the time when Cape Charles was a rail hub, and no one could cross the tracks on the ground, they were so busy. So rather than allow residents and visitors to sit in long lines of traffic to get to the beach, the town fathers built this high bridge over the rail tracks.
Today, the hump is no longer required, but has become a landmark.
We toured a bit through the shopping district, which has fun and quirky shops and restaurants. We saw a place called The Dacha Russian Tea Room, and another called Deadrise Pies (pizza). There was a local market for veggies and other fresh stuff, and lots of art galleries and gift shops. Bistros with on-street seating and fancy looking restaurants dotted the long main road.
Ending up at the public beaches, I walked along a boardwalk while Jack minded the bikes, just to see what I could see, and the beaches were surprisingly vast, clean, and fun-looking. Not having brought along the kite on the bicycles, we found that that beach would have been the perfect place to fly it. Maybe next time.
The last photo is a pair of osprey – one on the nest and one perched above.
At the boardwalk and the beach intersection, we found a Virginia Is for Lovers “LOVE” sign, and a very interesting (but somewhat deteriorated) info sign about a meteor impact that elevated the geology of Cape Charles so that it’s higher than much of the surrounding land.
Here’s what the info signboard said:
A meteor/comet two miles wide crossed paths with Earth 35 million years ago. Moving at a speed of 21 miles per second, it crashed here, at what is today the town of Cape Charles, creating the Sith largest impact crater on Earth.
The meteor blasted into the shadow sea that covered the state’s eastern half and exploded with more force than the combined nuclear arsenal of today’s world powers. Rock flew skyward, bedrock fractured seven miles deep, and enormous tsunamis raced westward to the tops of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Melted rock splashed upward in the center, hardening into a central peak nearly a mile tall, which is directly under Cape Charles. Over the centuries, sediment and debris have filled in the crater, and what is now called the Chesapeake Bay lays over much of it today.
Although the crater is not visible today, small earthquakes occasionally rock its fault lines, and two low ridges appear to mimic its contours far underground. One of these can be seen near the town of Painter, northeast of Cape Charles. The other is just east of Gloucester Courthouse on the western side of the Bay.
We spent a bit more time cycling around the neighborhoods of the town, with some really lovely old homes and others that were works-in-progress. We both commented on the fact that so many of the old places appeared to be getting renovations rather than being torn down to make way for something bigger and inappropriate (as happens in Jack’s old neighborhood in Hampton, VA).
Later we found a picture and information board about the famous Cape Charles lighthouse, but were interested to see that the community had designed their public water tower to appear as if it’s a lighthouse. Very clever.
We also found it rather odd that so many people park their boats in the streets. Later, we saw boats parked in a variety of strange places.
Town of Cape Charles Historic Marker
The Town of Cape Charles was founded in 1884 by Alexander Cassatt and William L. Scott as the southern terminus of the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad. The extension of tracks south from Maryland to Cape Charles opened the northeastern markets to Eastern Shore seafood and farm produce. Using railcar barges and passenger steamers, the new port established a link to Norfolk. Cape Charles enjoyed rapid growth and soon became the commercial and residential center of Northampton County. The old town historic district, with its many Victorian-style residences, is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
But Cape Charles is a small place, and if you’re not eating, swimming, sunbathing, or shopping, there’s not much to see. So we retraced our steps to the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge, which, as I mentioned, was once an Army Base.
The Visitor Center (2.5 miles along the bike path) was open for about 10 minutes when we got there, and the docent behind the desk was a native, and it was from him that we learned about “the hump” and Rt. 600, and so many other tidbits about the area. We kept them a bit long past their closing hour, looking around at the kid-oriented displays in the Center, but the guy recommended that we take the time to follow the Butterfly Trail down to the Big Gun. After sharing a granola bar, we did just that.
16 inch/50 Mark VII Gun #393
The 16 inch gun barrel, designated U.S. Navy Mark VII #393, was mounted in the rear gun turret aboard the famed battleship USS Missouri and saw extensive action during WWII. The USS Missouri is best known for the Japanese surrender ceremony held on board in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
This barrel is 66.6 feet long—50 times its 16-inch bore, or 50 calibers. Each gun weighted 239,000 pounds (267,900 lbs. with the breech). The built-up gun is constructed of liner, tuibe, jacket, three hoops, two locking rings, tube and liner locking ring, yoke ring and screw box liner. The gun had two main projectiles – armor piercing (AP) Mark 8 – weighing 2,700 pounds and 72 inches tall, containing 40.9 pound burning charge, all of which needed 660 pounds of propellant; and its smaller sister shell – high capacity (HC) Mark 13 – weighing 1,900 pounds and 64 inches tall, containing 153.6 pound bursting charge.
The gun barrel was taken off the Missouri during the Korean War when the ship was refurbished. The gun barrel was put into storage at St. Juliens Naval Annex in Chesapeake, VA, for possible re-use. But it was never remounted and lay in the yard alongside eight other battleship gun barrels for 55 years. When the U.S. Navy phased out its last battleships in the 1990s, the spare guns at St. Juliens (and others at Hawthorne, NV) were eventually declared surplus and were put up for sale as scrap.
The USFWS, however, worked closely with DOD to save this barrel for display at the Refuge. Gun #393 was selected for preservation because of its historic association with the USS Missouri.
About the USS Missouri (BB-63)
The USS Missouri, a 45,000 ton Iowa class battleship built by the NY Navy Yard, was commissioned on June 11, 1944. She spent the remainder of ’44 preparing for combat, transiting to the Pacific in November, and arriving in the war zone by January of 1945.
Missouri supported the Iwo Jima invasions, the Ryukyus campaign and raids on Japan’s home islands. In May, she became the Third Fleet flagship and was the site of the September 2, 1945 Japanese surrender ceremony that ended WWII.
Following the end of hostilities, Missouri returned to the US, participating in a naval review at New York in October 1945. In March 1946, she went to the Mediterranean on a diplomatic mission. Through the rest of the 1940s and into 1950 the battleship operated extensively in the Atlantic area. She was the centerpiece of a grounding incident off Hampton Roads, VA, in January 1950, but was quickly repaired and returned to service.
Missouri was the only US battleship on active duty in June 1950, when the Korean War began, and made two combat deployments to the Western Pacific. Following that action, and several training cruises to Europe, she decommissioned in Feb. 1955. For the next three decades, she was ion reserve at Bremerton, WA, and became an important tourist attraction. All four Iowa class battleships were reactivated ub the 1980s, with Missouri recommissioning in May of 1986.
Her next 6 years were busy, including (among other activities) a cruise around the world and a combat role inn the 1991 Persian Gulf War. She decommissioned for the last time in March 1992. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995, Missouri was transferred to Pearl Harbor, HI in June 1998 to be come a memorial.
We rode along a bit farther to an “overlook” and found low tide and a long, low tidal flat. There we discovered this info plaque about the Cape Charles lighthouse.
Having gotten seriously tired and hot (although we both were drinking good quantities of water) we decided to go by pavement back to the cut-across-Rt13 road along a part of 600 that we’d turned off from to get to the wildlife refuge. There I saw this old boat full of plants at the edge of a hay field.
We finished off with a long cool-down sit in the tree house with fans blowing, a shower, and a nice Leftover Queen’s Royal Salad (with a bit of everything in the fridge thrown in). Checked into the general health and well-being of our killdeer neighbors, and called it an early night.
Cycling stats: 34.5 miles, during 3 hours of ride time, at a 12 MPH pace.
April 22
Not much to say about Saturday, Earth Day, because it was raining and blowing, or getting ready to do so, most of the day. So I caught up with blog posts and Jack filled the car with fuel, and found a Custis historic marker (below), then got the groceries for our travel-time BillyBoil stew for tomorrow night. As the wind was getting fiercer, he pretty much broke camp on the outside, and since the awning really needed to come down, we changed our dinner plans from pork chops on the grill to sandwiches. The rains have come and we’re snug inside Roomba and pretty ready for an early departure in the morning to get to Belle Isle State Park.
peregrinations 