It has been a few days since we have had internet service. So I will catch you up on our travels.
We left Urbanna on Tuesday morning and headed up the Chesapeake Bay to another small community called Reedsville, VA. It is north of where we have been the past couple of weeks and is a small town whose income comes mostly from a fish factory where omega proteins are produced from a small fish called a menhaden. This business has been going on here for over 100 years. It was started back in the late 1800's by a sea captain named Elijah W. Reed. At one time they had 15 menhaden factories here but now there is only one. If the wind is blowing just right and you are downwind from the factory the air is real "ripe". It is not a pleasant smell but the people here call it the smell of money. Before the Great Depression this town was the wealthiest town per capita in the country. These fish run in schools and they have large ships with two smaller ships that go out and find the fish and net them. They also have a spotter plane that locates the schools from the air. They can catch as many as 1 million fish a day. The industry is regulated by the Virginia govenment and the factory runs 24 hours a day from March to December.
We stayed in a small marina here a small distance from the town of Reedsville up a narrow creek. It was a nice quiet place. We were the only people around in the evening. They also run a ferry out of this marina that goes daily to Tangier Island. And because we were riding the ferry on Wed. we didn't have to pay for our first nights slip. We stayed here two days. What a deal!
Wednesday morning at 10 am we boarded the ferry for a 1 and 1/2 hour ride across the bay to Tangier Island. It is in the middle of the bay but is closer to the Eastern Shore than the mainland.
Time has moved very slowly on this island and they still speak the old English. The houses are real close together and there is only one narrow road. It is a crabbing and fishing village. We had lunch in the Chesapeake House which serves family style. It is probably the best meal we've had since we've been traveling. They had crab cakes that were delicious, clam fritters which I've never had before and they were great, corn pudding, green beans, potato salad, cole slaw, pickled beets and homemade rolls. We left this table stuffed. The following poem pretty much sums up this island.
"Step not lightlly upon these shores nor cast light hearded gazes upon out isle...take not a dim view of our dwellings nor laught at our narrow roads...do not misunderstand our language nor make joke of our native togue...so not mock our walk or look down upon our quaint ways...for upon these shores have walked men of God, made of fibre woven close for age... and inside these dwellings laughter and love have flowed to make mansions of our homes...our language is that of times past and ages still unknown and our native tongue speaks with truth, understanding and compassion...our walk is pride and labor - bend somewhat from our toil but never from shame...our quaint ways may be misunderstood as slow but time in abundant here and we wish it not away and fear not our streets, as narrow they are for they are rads of welcome to strangers, hightways to let all visitors come into our lives and exit for those who misunderstand us, or mistrust us or wish not our love..."