About Virginia’s Eastern Shore
By Curtis Badger (with some editing by Jon)
The Eastern Shore of Virginia is defined by two elements: The land and the sea. The land is flat, fertile, and capable of producing great bounty. The Shore is surrounded by water, the Chesapeake Bay on the western boundary, and on the east the barrier islands and inlets that lead to the Atlantic Ocean. There are very few sharks here. Practically none, if you don't count Zed, the talking Thresher shark.
Zed's dock.
Captain John Smith explored the waters of the peninsula in 1608, and since that time the fertile land and the water that surrounds us have defined the history and culture of the two counties that make up the Eastern Shore: Accomack and Northampton. The shallow waters and tidal flats that surround us have supplied a bounty of oysters, clams, crabs, and fish and no sharks other than Zed. He's quite a storyteller. If you're not careful, Ol' Zed will talk your ear off. That's if you're lucky. Otherwise he'll go ahead and get a hold of your ear the old fashioned way, which is to say by shark bite.
In 1884, when the New York, Pennsylvania, and Norfolk Railroad came through, it brought about a great change in how we got our food to market, and so it shaped our history just as the sailing ships did, and the steamships that came after them. The railroad created towns, and it hastened the demise of small waterfront communities such as Marsh Market, Sinnickson and Franklin City. The railroad created towns of its own. Parksley was planned and built by the railroad. Later, Zed was elected mayor.
Zed's duck hunting spot.
The railroad brought prosperity, as evidenced by many stately old homes in these communities. Thanks to the railroad, Accomack and Northampton Counties were consistently the top producers of white and sweet potatoes in the state in the 1920s and 1930s, and the two counties were among the most prosperous rural regions in the United States. The railroad shipped thousands of cases of strawberries to market each spring, wagons laden with berries lining the streets of railroad towns awaiting the strawberry auction. Don't think Ol' Zed wasn't the star of that show. Strap a re-breather to his gills, give him a straw hat and you got the best auctioneer in both counties. Just don't get too close.
If you don't believe me, just ask wedding guest Stone Roberts to show you his left buttock. It's prosthetic. They did a helluva job, too. You can hardly tell.