Eastern+Shore

Eastern Shore of Virginia

The **Southern Maryland** Railroad's Eastern Shore. 1881


http://www.flickr.com/photos/31727570@N07/4979674956/

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is a geological result of the last Ice Age. As the glacier that covered much of North American and northern Europe melted some eighteen thousand years ago, sea level rose, eventually flooding the lower Susquehanna River basin and creating the Chesapeake Bay. With the exception of the portion that was originally the Susquehanna River channel, the Chesapeake Bay is relatively shallow. The old river bed itself is the current deep Bay channel. Sediment is accumulating more rapidly in the deep channel than in most other parts of the Bay, but its presence is a reminder of the history of the Bay’s formation. The bulk of the watershed was originally forested. Trees play several roles in maintaining a healthy watershed. They buffer heavy rainfall which otherwise pelts the earth, causing soil to wash away. Trees absorb and evaporate large amounts of water during the growing season, thus reducing flood potential. As people moved into the watershed and cleared trees from the land, there has been a substantial increase in soil erosion, flooding and the delivery of sediment, nutrients, and other materials into the major tributaries of the Bay. - Anne Hairston-Strang  Forest Hydrologist, MD DNR Forest Service CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED

Estuary - a semi-enclosed body of water with a measurable degree of salinity Length - 200 Mi. Width - 4 to 30 mi. Depth - Average 21 ft.

Watershed for the Bay - 64,000 square mi. (6 states and Washington D.C.)

Chesapeake means - "Great Shellfish Bay" - Largest estuary in the U.S. 600,000 acres of wetlands - 90% of the Bay's fresh water comes from 10 major rivers (50% comes from the Susquehana) The bay has two outlets to the ocean - Cape Charles and Cape Henry and (man-made) Chesapeake and Delaware Canals

Barrier Islands http://www.burnhamvirginia.com/barrierisland-map.jpg

Formed by:

These 23 shifting islands of sand, as well as a swath of marshland and lagoons constitute one of the longest undeveloped stretch of shoreline on the East Coast. Wost are protected today by the Nature Conservancy's Virginia Coast Reserve. Since the mid-1800s, people have attempted beach resorts, hunting and fishing clubs, and even entire communities on these islands exposed to the ravages of sea and storm.

oday, [|Chincoteague Island] alone is inhabited. Of the others, only curious place names on nautical charts hint of days gone by when the islands made ideal fishing communities with pastures for grazing livestock.

On [|Mockhorn Island] are the deteriorating remains of a turn-of-the-century hunting retreat, farm buildings and even rusting farm equipment. You can still see where the pastures and waterfowl enclosures were. This is one of the few islands you can explore on foot, and even set up your tent for the night.

HOG ISLAND Starting in the mid-19th century the town of Broadwater, VA was located on the southern end of the island, but had to be abandoned in the 1930s when rapid beach erosion made its continued existence untenable. However, many of the houses and other buildings were floated by barge to the mainland and can be found in Willis Wharf and Oyster, VA. 1836: Hog Island contains several thousand acres. Eleven families reside on it, and live (as it appeared) in great comfort, on the returns of their fishing, and small amount of tillage. I visited several houses, on separate little farms, and was much pleased with the appearance and manners of the people. They were very civil, and kind in manner, without the least appearance of servility, or impertinent curiosity or familiarity. Every attention was offered that could have been desired, and nothing that was obtrusive or disagreeable. Indeed in the true and proper sense of the word, I have no where seen a more polite people than these plain and simple islanders. Hospitable they are in a high degree, and no doubt moral, and correct in conduct, according to their notions of

There is, however, a tradition that in the early days a vessel was wrecked near the island and a large number of hogs swam safely to shore, and some matter-of-fact person with no knowledge of euphony named the spot "Hog Island" and such is the name it carries to this day. How much more appropriate and far more beautiful is the old Indian name "Machipongo." The island as it is to-day is well worth a visit from the sportsman, fisherman and tourist. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND It is low lying, with here and there patches of fine trees: pine, oak, and red cedar. Much of the island is composed of sea meadow that lies high and dry at low water and is submerged at the flood. About three miles of the place is solid ground; the houses are comfortable frame dwellings of five and six rooms, a garden on one side with a high board fence to protect it from the salt spray that is driven all over the place during a storm.

The 250 residents of **Hog Island**gave up island life after the hurricane of 1933, moving 17 houses (and even loved ones from cemeteries!) by barge to the mainland town of Willis Wharf. The relocated community is now known as 'Little Hog Island.'

The name Broadwater comes from the Hog Island community of the late 1800 and early 1900's.
 * Cobb Island** was a magnet for the rich and famous, with a large resort hotel built by the Cobbs with their earnings from salvaging shipwrecks. Decoys carved by Nathan Cobb Jr. are exhibited in museums and worth thousands of dollars.


 * Assateague Island,** stradding the Virginia/Maryland border, is best known for its Chincoteague ponies. At one time the island had about 50 houses, a school and a store until a storm in 1962 wiped them out. Now a National Seashore, the island is accessible by car and has a great beach you can on for miles.

The last of the barrier island communities ended in the middle of the 20th century. With the exception of Chincoteague, all are abandoned today.

Eastern Shore

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is geographically removed from the rest of Virginia. It extends south from the Pocomoke River, which separates it from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, to form the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula and sits between the largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay, to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean, to the east. The Eastern Shore counties of Accomack and Northampton encompass approximately 480 square miles of surface area, which can be characterized as a peninsular mainland penetrated by bayside tidal creeks and buffered from the ocean by a string of low barrier islands and associated marshlands. Mainland terrain ranges in elevation from sea level to about sixty feet and runs approximately seventy miles from the southern tip of the peninsula at Cape Charles to the Maryland border to the north. Maximum width including the marshes and barrier islands is approximately fourteen miles.

There are about 53,000 people on the Shore. There are two counties: Accomack and Northampton There are 73 people per square mile on the Shore. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. The Chespeake Bay is on the west. Maryland is North Virginia Beach is South Accomack County has a larger population and larger land mass than Northampton County.