Chapter excerpt from Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland, by Mary and Bill Burnham
EASTERN SHORE
Onancock
Onancock bills itself as the "Gem of the Eastern Shore," and thanks to a new generation of imaginative shop owners, it has achieved legitimate "must-see" status. As you pop in-and-out of fine antique and jewelry shops on Market Street, you might notice a theme take shape. Tom Thumb features herbs and crafts. Bizzotto's Gallery and Café combines good food, handcrafts and art. Dining table bases in Truffles Bakery, a café and antique shop, are old treadle sewing machines.
Combining two or more businesses under one roof is one way Onancock entrepreneurs survive the off-season. Karen Tweedie, owner of The Spinning Wheel Bed and Breakfast and Evergreen Antiques, operates a mail-order jewelry business in the back room of her antique store on North Street. That makes three businesses, but she’s outdone by the Onancock Deli/Laundry with adjacent tanning salon and car wash.
"There aren't a whole lot of people coming through, so most businesses rely on a second income," said Tweedie, who "escaped" Washington, D.C. a dozen years ago. She and most other business owners prefer things like they are: the overhead is low; the nights are quiet and safe.
Onancock is a case study in how the Eastern Shore has developed in recent years. It is close to Hampton Roads and 190 miles from Washington, D.C., and draws couples and families from both regions on long weekend getaways. It reflects chic, urban tastes as much as that of traditional Shore life. That said, the charm still remains. "It's a quick ride, and it's like you're coming to a completely different place," said Tweedie.
Tourist season in Onancock runs May through October and that's when, down at the town wharf, a visitor can book a fishing charter or ferry trip to Tangier Island. While waiting for departure, take a seat on the "Liar's bench," where old men have been known to tell a tall tale or two about fish they've caught. On this same wharf is Hopkins & Bros. General Store, one of the oldest on the East Coast. While it’s maintained by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, it’s still a working store and restaurant.
Onancock’s old-time fishing-village charm is mostly intact, even as restaurants, jam-packed antique shops, fine art galleries and bed and breakfast inns have opened. Whether from-heres or come-heres, this is a town proud of its 300-year history. The 18th and 19th century homes are well-preserved, many with wrap-around porches and Victorian gingerbread, some in the Eastern Shore style of “big house, little house” with a colonnade and kitchen in between.
Attractions
The Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society takes good care of Kerr Place, a 200-year-old home built in the Federal style by John Ker. Detailed finishing and vibrant colors reflect Ker's fine taste for his period. In the parlor stands a pianoforte, a musical instrument made in Vienna. On the second floor are interpretive exhibits, and on the first floor, a museum store with works by regional artists, crafters and authors. Outside are restored gardens. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. except holidays. Closed January and February. Admission is $4; children free (757-787-8012, www.kerrplace.org).
The Capt. Eulice passenger ferry departs for Tangier Island daily Memorial Day Weekend to mid-October. The island is just a 12-mile trip one-way (five of it on Onancock Creek), but it's a different world altogether. Cost is $20 per person round trip; children 6-12 are half price, under 6 are free. No credit cards accepted (Tangier-Onancock Cruises, 757-891-2240, http://tangierisland-va.com/eulice)
For a different kind of trip, Capt. Mary Cruises will take you on birdwatching and sightseeing trips on her 16-foot boat (757-787-3903).
Pam Barefoot has made her Blue Crab Bay Co. specialty food products famous, starting as a cottage industry whose products were seen in the Julia Robert’s movie “Sleeping with the Enemy.” If you haven’t tried the Sting Ray Bloody Mary Mixer or Barnacles Snack Mix with the characteristic light blue crab labels, you’re in for a treat. Go to their Web site, or visit the gift shop, four miles south of Onley on Route 13 in the Accomack Airport Industrial Park (800-221-2722, www.bluecrabbay.com)
Turner Sculpture on Route 13 in nearby Olney is famous nationwide for their wildlife sculptures in bronze and silver. Watch the foundry process and browse through the gallery (757-787-2818, www.esva.net/~turner)
Dining:
The friendly Argentinean namesake of Armando’s might be in the kitchen, cooking up his “New American” cuisine, or conversing with patrons on the patio. Specials like lobster ravioli, the professional service, homemade bread and fine wine list make for a memorable repast. Eat inside or on the garden patio. Thursday evenings feature a gourmet tapas menu; dinner is served Friday through Sunday, with a live jazz trio playing most Saturdays in the summer (10 North Street, 757-787-8044).
Step into Bizzotto's Gallery and Café and you might feel like you’re in a Soho gallery instead of a small fishing village. The chef/owner, Miguel Bizzotto from Argentina, not only makes all the dishes, he makes the fine leather handbags displayed for sale. This storefront, with its pressed tin ceilings and original wood floors, was once a hat shop. The mirrored shelves where women admired their chapeaus are still on the walls. While waiting for your meal, browse the art craft items for sale: jewelry, pottery, and artwork. By the way, the food is awesome: creative salads and wraps for lunch, imaginative international dinner specials (41 Market St., 757-787-3103).
Flounder's Restaurant is in a 19th century Victorian home that still sports original wallpaper, lighting and wood floors. They have a rare thing on the shore – vegetarian specials – as well as seafood, beef, homemade desserts and the drink of the house, the Famous Blue Whale. Locals spread the word about the Sunday brunch buffet. Closed Mondays (145 Market Street, 757-787-2233).
Eastern Shore Steamboat Co. serves seafood from Hopkins Bros. store on the wharf. Eat lunch or dinner out on the dock or inside the historic 1842 general store (2 Market Street, 757-787-3100). If you're looking for a casual spot for lunch or dinner, Peppers serves specialty sandwiches and fresh salads daily (151 Market Street, 757-787-3457). Stella’s is a busy pizza and sandwich shop across from Armando’s on North Street. Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday (757-789-7770).
Lodging
Colonial Manor Inn Bed and Breakfast has a fully handicapped-accessible suite on the first floor with a ramped entrance. There are also ramps to the gazebo and sundeck, an outside intercom system, and a massage therapy studio (84 Market Street, 757-787-3521, www.colonialmanorinn.com).
76 Market Street Bed and Breakfast is an 1840 Victorian at the same address as its name, with central air conditioning and featherbeds (888-751-7600, www.76marketst.com).
Spinning Wheel Bed and Breakfast is an 1890s home, complete with rockers on the front porch (31 North Street, 888-787-0337, 757-787-7311, www.1890spinningwheel.com)
Information: 757-787-3363, http://onancock.org, www.ChesapeakeBaysampler.com
Event
The main event of the year is Harborfest in mid-August, and the Christmas season brings caroling, home tours and a parade. 757-787-3363, esvaonancock.org??
Insider tip
Stop in the Corner Bakery for homemade donuts and the taste the famous Eastern Shore sweet potato biscuits (36 Market St., 757-787-4520).
Trip Journal: Locustville
One afternoon we decided to go exploring with Kirk Mariner’s Off 13 book, which is the Bible for off-the-beaten-track spots on the Shore. This trip led us to the unlikely town of Locustville. Passing down the main street felt like stepping back more than a century. This small cluster of homes, a hotel and general store truly hasn’t changed much since before the Civil War when Locustville was a stop on the stagecoach line from Maryland south to Eastville. Still standing are the original tavern, hotel, church, school and store.
A lot of old-time general stores say they’re just like they were 100 years ago, but they’re really not, not with those boutique-style gift items and upscale groceries. Except for the soda cooler, the Locustville General Store really is the way it has always been, maybe since it opened in 1844. It exists for the reason there was once a general store at nearly every intersection in rural Virginia, not as a tourist stop, but to meet the needs of local people, which today in this case, are the Mexican laborers who work the nearby tomato fields. When times are slow, the owner sets in the back near a pot-bellied stove. The original floors haven’t been refinished; the owner merely polishes them with motor oil once a year. Modest grocery items and cigarettes line the shelves.
Nearby, the Locustville Academy still stands in the 1859 building built to educate boys and girls headed for college. It’s the lone survivor of about a dozen schools of higher learning built in the 1800s. There’s a small museum inside, operated by the Society for the Preservation of Locustville Academy. It’s only open during garden week in April and by appointment (757-787-4826).
A “come-here” has purchased and is renovating the Locustville Hotel (1820), and the Wynne Tref Bed and Breakfast has a private suite and serves breakfast (open March-October, 757-787-2356).
Locustville is located on the “seaside” of Route 13, near Olney. From the "T" intersection, turn down Burton’s Shore Road, then left on Seagull Lane to reach Burton’s Shore, once a popular place for sunbathing and picnics. The view is to Cedar Island where you can see the abandoned Coast Guard station.