The Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy, St. Michaels Winery, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and Mount Felix Manor and Vineyards are partnering to rejuvenate the historic tradition of transporting goods on the Chesapeake via the classic skipjack.
 
On Thursday, September 18, the Martha Lewis, will be loaded with 2000 pounds of Chambourcin grapes from Havre de Grace's Mount Felix Manor and Vineyard, a historic Georgian Estate encompassing 15 acres, to deliver to CBMM for St. Michaels Winery pick up.

"We named the wine 'Martha,' in honor of the Skipjack Martha Lewis that delivered our chambourcin grapes last year,"  said Mark Emon, winery president. The award-winning "Martha" wine will be featured for VIP tasting at The Maryland Wine Festival's 25th annual event, in Westminster, MD, the weekend following the annual grape voyage.
 
Once at the winery, Mount Felix's red grapes will be crushed and destemmed, fermented, and aged in oak barrels to be bottled and released next year. 

Most who are familiar with the Chesapeake Bay also know about the famous oyster-dredging skipjacks, which have declined from ~2000 in the early 1900s to about 30 today. When it was not oyster season, many captains carried goods from farming communities to the large cities surrounding the Bay.

"Skipjacks and other sailing vessels carried manufactured goods, oyster shells for paving county roads, bricks, fertilizers, and other bulk materials to Denton and other small rural towns. In return, they carried watermelons, tomatoes, other produce, and grains from farms to city markets," according to the Choptank River Heritage Center.

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September 7, 2008 (RALEIGH, NC) — Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of the award-winning firm Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, NC, has been hired to conduct the feasibility study and to create the conceptual design for the Northern Neck Oyster Hatchery Project (NNOHP) in Virginia. For the study — the project’s Phase One – Harmon is already at work to help determine the feasibility of a commercial-scale oyster hatchery in Northern Neck, the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. His conceptual design is also part of Phase One. Phase Two will see the actual construction of a high-production hatchery in Northern Neck. Construction could begin in 12 to 18 months. The NNOHP website lists two key reasons why the hatchery is needed: (1) the lack of oyster larvae and seed currently available in Virginia limits the industry’s stabilization and economic vitality; and (2) the hatchery’s ultimate goal is to supply the oyster industry in Northern Neck, and perhaps elsewhere, with quality larvae and seed. It also notes that the “level of public involvement will depend on the degree of success within the first several years of production.” In 2006, Frank Harmon’s firm was selected to participate in the feasibility study for up to three oyster hatchery facilities and/or oyster research and education facilities along the coast for the North Carolina Aquarium Division for very similar reasons. The firm was also hired to design the facilities. Harmon has extensive experience with projects that blend architecture with the enhancement of natural resources, including Duke University’s Ocean Science Teaching Center in Beaufort, NC, the Walter B. Jones Center for the Sounds, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Columbia, NC, and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Prairie Ridge Eco-Station. The firm is currently working on Merchants Millpond Outdoor Educational building in Gatesville, N.C., and the Walnut Creek Urban Wetlands Educational Park in Raleigh. The driving forces behind the new Virginia hatchery are the Northern Neck Planning District Commission; Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties; Bevans Oyster Company; and Cowart and Kellum Seafood companies.For more information on the Northern Neck project, go to http://www.nnpdc.org/NNPDC-PROJ/nnpdc-proj-0003.htm. For more information on Frank Harmon Architecture PA, visit http://www.frankharmon.com.

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Northern Neck Beach House awaits you. This Northern Neck waterfront home overlooks the Potomac River with views out to the Chesapeake Bay. This piece of prime real estate features a sand beach and the home has 5 bedrooms making it an attractive vacation rental. MLS #: R80506A  List    Price: $450,000 679 MARSHALLS BEACH ROAD HEATHSVILLE, VA 22373   LIST PRICE:    $450,000 DAYS ON MARKET:    63 PROPERTY TYPE:    R SUBDIVISION OR AREA:    NONE STREET #:    679 911 STREET NAME:    MARSHALLS BEACH ROAD TOWN:    HEATHSVILLE STATE:    VA ZIP CODE:    22373 COUNTY:    Northumberland WATERFRONT TYPE:    RIVER/CREEK RIVER:    POTOMAC RIVER CREEK:    N/A WATER DEPTH:    2-3 Feet WATER FRONTAGE (FEET):    117 WATER VIEW (WIDE LONG LIMITED):    RVR WIDE FLOOD ZONE:    No LOT SIZE:    .4249 DEED BOOK/PAGE OR INSTRUMENT #:    DB520/272 TAX MAP #:    19-1-82 HOMEOWNERS ASSOC:    NO YEAR BUILT:    1940 SQFT +/-:    1862 TOTAL ROOMS:    8 BEDROOMS:    5 FULL BATHS:    2 HALF BATHS:    0 GARAGE:    None FIREPLACES:    Family Room, One Fireplace CONSTRUCTION:    Block Masonry, Vinyl Siding FOUNDATION:    Slab/Crawl Space HEATING SYSTEMS:    Electric, Forced Air, Heat Pump COOLING SYSTEM:    Central A/C, Heat Pump FLOORS:    Hardwood, Tile, Wall to Wall Carpet PUBLIC REMARKS:    WOW - WHAT A RIVERFRONT LOCATION THIS UPDATED, RENOVATED BEACHFRONT HOME OFFERS…FABULOUS VIEWS FROM YOUR SCREENED PORCH,4-SEASON SUNRM,& HUGH RIVERSIDE DREAMING DOCK. ELEVATED HOMESITE OFFERS RIP-RAP AND STORM PROTECTION. MAIN LVL HAS 3 BRS,& DROP DOWN STAIRS OPENS ACCESS TO 2 VERY LG. FINISHED BR'S. RECENT RENEVATONS INC. SIDING, SUNPORCH, F/P,.MUST SEE VIRTUAL TOUR:WWW.CIRCLEPIX.COM/HOME/DSR7 DIRECTIONS:    BURGESS, RT 360 WEST, RIGHT ON HULL NECK ROAD (TOWARD EDWARDSVILLE), ALMOST TO END, LEFT ON MARSHALLS BEACH RD, TO SIGN ON LEFT.

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IRVINGTON

–AFTER the Civil War, as prosperity returned to the region touched by the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, it was the steamboat that hastened change.

In little towns such as Port Royal, Lottsburg and others up and down the river, produce began to flow from farm fields to big-city markets. Canneries sprouted on creeks and other waterways to process everything from tomatoes to herring roe.

Country stores, suddenly able to give customers from King George to White Stone items from Baltimore and beyond, popped up and began to thrive.

From May to early fall, patrons from Reedville to Fredericksburg could see actors and vaudeville productions on the James Adams Floating Theater.

A stage and theater nestled nicely onto a 138-foot barge. The water-going production did several shows a day, making it possible for patrons to see "Peg O' My Heart" without a long trip to a big city.

Church camps also popped up in several places, luring locals and families from as far away as Norfolk and Baltimore to spend weeks in the woods convening in the cool under the trees.

At Wharton Grove in Weems, a Methodist revival camp in Lancaster County, more than 3,000 people would attend Sunday services at the camp that was the closest thing to a vacation getaway for most.

These changes and more are featured in a fascinating exhibit at the Steamboat Era Museum in Irvington.

It's called "Steamboat's A' Comin'" and it chronicles the way the steamboat lines–which moved people, produce and goods along the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers–brought prosperity and social change in the period from 1870 to 1975.

Using oral histories, exhibits and a captivating number of real donated artifacts, the exhibit focuses on four things: canneries, country stores, Wharton Grove and the floating theater.

Museum Director Terri Thaxton noted that after last year's exhibit on the Civil War's impact on the region, it made sense to show how the steamboats were literal engines of change for the region that stretches from Fredericksburg to the bay.

Reaching out to local historians and those with connections to the topics, the museum found rich stories to share.

"We heard from those who remembered the canneries–that when they would empty the skins and other leftovers from canning tomatoes, the creeks would be red until the next tide," Thaxton said. "Everything that didn't go into the cans went overboard."

The cannery exhibit features a working surface where tomatoes were processed, tokens used by those doing the work and a huge carrier that wheeled the cans from wood-fired boilers.

Labels from the era have been reproduced, with names such a "Pride of Kinsale" and "Nomini Brand" on items ranging from corn to black-eyed peas

A similar display uses a storefront and real items from country stores around the region to show how, suddenly, customers at new stores at or near steamboat stops could get new clothes, a pump-action vacuum cleaner and the latest in men's razors.

Wharton Grove, the display shows, was more than just a spot where the Methodist church operated a camp during summer months. An old pump organ, pictures and testimonials from visitors show that this these week-long revivals were for many the precursor to family vacations.

Pictures of the camp at Weems–where the wharf was a quarter-mile long to handle all the boats and steamboats–show people dressed in full suits and dresses under the trees, staying in four-walled "tents" and walking the grounds at night to socialize.

A quote in a promotional piece touts the fact that camp visitors could fish, swim, visit under the trees or simply "join in the happy throngs under the great Tabernacle."

A scale model of the floating theater is joined by handbills and other information about the show that was a regular up and down the rivers and bay.

One advertisement boasts of "flesh and blood" actors, presumably a reaction to the movies that were starting to show up in that period.

The new exhibit is expected to run at least through December.

Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com

The following article is something I am a big proponent of. Good for the health of the Bay and it is a natural way to protect that valuable Northern Neck Waterfront Front. 

BY BILL FREEHLING

Date published: 8/11/2008

BY BILL FREEHLING

About a dozen volunteers braved the hot Westmoreland County sun this weekend to help finish a shoreline erosion-control project on the Lower Machodoc Creek.

The volunteers–who included members of the Northern Neck Master Gardeners and some nearby residents of Glebe Harbor–planted 4,800 plugs of marsh grass along a stretch of shore on Longwood University's Hull Springs Farm.

The 643-acre farm in the Mount Holly section of Westmoreland was bequeathed to Longwood in 1999 by Mary Farley Ames Lee, a 1938 graduate of the Farmville school. Longwood uses the land for research and natural sciences training.

About 15 feet of the farm's shoreline along the Lower Machodoc–which feeds into the nearby Potomac River–was wiped out in 2006 storms, including Hurricane Ernesto. The storms threatened an oak tree near the water that's more than 400 years old.

Longwood got a $40,500 grant from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2005 to design the "living shoreline project," which is intended to create an environmentally sound habitat that supports shorebirds, young fish, aquatic vegetation and other plant and wildlife species. Longwood then got another $75,000 grant from NOAA to do the work this year.

Within the past month, dozens of truckloads of granite and sand came to Hull Springs Farm. The project includes a stretch of shoreline about 410 feet long and 25 feet wide, said HSF Executive Director Bobbie Burton. A granite sill was built 26 feet from the shoreline to reduce wave action. Sand and stone were placed between the sill and bank.

Volunteers were brought in this weekend to plant the 4,800 marsh grass plugs 18 inches apart from each other. Walter Priest, habitat restoration specialist for NOAA, explained that the marsh grass reduces the energy of the water and holds the sand in place, thereby reducing erosion.

The volunteers planted two kinds of marsh grass–Spartina alterniflora closest to the sill and Spartina patens nearer to shore. A fence will go around the plants until the spring to prevent geese from feeding on it while it's still young.

Longwood intends to demonstrate the completed living shoreline project to contractors, neighbors, wetland board members and others. It's an alternative to hardened shorelines that aren't as environmentally friendly. University professors will do research on the project's effectiveness.

Longwood science students travel to Hull Springs Farm for a few days at a time to study various natural resources topics. It includes forests, wetlands and farmland where soybeans and corn are planted.

The university intends it to be an "education, research and demonstration center for best management practices" in environmental sustainability. Burton said other Virginia colleges have expressed interest in using the property, at which visitors have included third grade classes in Westmoreland.

The tiny town of Reedville climbed the charts to the No. 2 fishing port in the United States in terms of pounds landed last year. It is up from third place the year before.

Its catch of 421 million pounds trailed only Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where fishermen unloaded more than 777 million pounds of fish. Reedville's total last year represents a 13 percent increase over its catch of 372.5 million pounds in 2006.

The gain comes despite limits imposed on Reedville's industrial fishing fleet that restricted the amount of menhaden it could catch from the Chesapeake Bay.

Analysts say the fleet found increased numbers of fish in the Atlantic Ocean, where it is not subject to the bay limit.

"It's just the way the fish have distributed the past couple of summers," said Joe Smith, a research biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Beaufort, N.C., who tracks the menhaden harvest.

He said Omega Protein, which operates 10 boats and a reduction factory in Reedville, found good catches of menhaden off the Virginia capes, the Eastern Shore barrier islands and offshore in federal waters where state menhaden catch bans in Delaware and New Jersey do not apply.

Virginia approved its bay catch limit, which remains in effect through 2010, as a precaution against overfishing while scientists attempt to determine how many menhaden frequent the estuary.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission rates the menhaden population as healthy along the coast, but it lacks information on population trends in the bay.

Reedville's rise as a fishing port cheered Chuck Backus, director of the Reedville Fishermen's Museum, which celebrates the town's long history with menhaden.

"It's exciting to note that in addition to maintaining a treasured past, the community of Reedville maintains a national presence in the fishing community," Backus said.

Omega Protein converts its catch into fish meal and oil used for animal feeds and industrial purposes. Reedville also supports a number of snapper rigs, small boats that catch menhaden for crab-pot bait.

The value of Reedville's landings last year was $27.3 million, which ranks it only 28th on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's list of top ports by value.

Virginia's biggest port in terms of money is Hampton, which ranks fifth nationwide at $70.2 million. Hampton had been ranked ninth in 2006 with $51 million in landings. A rise in scallop and summer flounder landings accounts for the increase, said Jack Travelstead, deputy commissioner at Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

Contact Lawrence Latané III at (804) 333-3461 or llatane@timesdispatch.com

Between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay is a place that takes you back in time. It's known as Virginia's Northern Neck. Steep in history with some of this country's oldest settlers and the birthplace of our first president, Virginia's Northern Neck is a region where visitors find charming small towns, quiet life and an ideal place for retirement with its low taxes. Just as laid back as the area itself are the native realtors. This laid back lifestyle has been instilled in them since birth. It is this comfort zone that the native realtor is in that makes his clients feel right at home with him. Some native realtors are retired waterman. Well almost retired as they still fish a few crab pots and oyster several weeks each fall. It is something that they can't totally get out of their blood. Some realtors can tell you where the best restaurants and shopping are but when you get in the car with native realtor he'll probably take you to a place where you can get a sandwich and sit by the water. Sometimes he'll even swing into a place where the local crabbers tie up or might take one of the 2 water ferries that cross 2 of the many rivers in the Northern Neck. Some people get there news from the paper or internet but when you ride with a native realtor you'll learn that the best way to find out what is happening is to talk to the people.

Copied from Free Lance Star

LIVELY

–When visitors to Belle Isle State Park have questions about the pristine, 733-acre facility on the Rappahannock River, it's a good bet that manager Tim Shrader will know the answer.

Since 1993, not long after the site with six miles of shoreline was purchased with state park bond money, Shrader has been on site in Lancaster County in the Northern Neck.

In the beginning, said the friendly, soft-spoken park chief, he was a one-man staff, spending many a night on the property in a building that had no running water.

In the years since, the facilities and staff have grown slowly. There's now a campground with 28 sites, boat ramps and a snack bar, a restored mansion and guest house rented out for weddings and vacations, trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, and several picnic shelters.

A new visitor and educational center has been completed. So far, only its administrative offices and educational room are open to the public.

Because funding is still in the works, the green building that cost just over $2 million is still a work in progress.

The center is built with windows and big porches along its waterside to maximize river-gazing.

A high-pitched roof and open beams provide a large, beautiful space for displays that Shrader said will probably partly be made up of information about the Native American population that called the Northern Neck home long before European settlers arrived.

The visitor center has nuts-and-bolts facilities as well: offices for park staff, space for a gift shop, restrooms, a place to welcome visitors and space for meetings and educational programs.

Shrader said it was important in the design of the visitor center to have an environmentally friendly profile and landscaping to fit into the environment.

To that end, the building with long-lasting concrete siding was constructed with dark hues and earth tones, with gutters that empty into large rain barrels for watering plants, and light tubes that save energy by filtering natural light into the center.

Another feature that Shrader and the rest of the staff likes: windows on the ground floor and in the peak of the exhibit space that open and have both screens and shades for managing air flow and sunlight.

"The building is also built to use as little energy as possible, with eight to nine inches of Styrofoam in the walls for insulation," said Shrader.

Native plants and bushes were used in the landscaping, with long grasses and wildflowers planted a little farther out.

"We want to make it an animal-friendly environment but still maintain the view of the river," said Shrader, who noted that the building's architect went as far as checking the center's location from a boat on the river to put the building in the right spot.

Shrader said that as the park expands its staff, it will be able to take advantage of the park's rich wildlife and diverse ecology in educational programs.

With fields, forests, riverfront and marshes on the grounds, and wildlife that ranges from a small heron rookery to deer, foxes and more, the park can be the perfect outdoor classroom.

"We've come a long way from the park's first years," said Shrader. "This new visitor center will help us to continue that growth."

Aside from the Native American history, the land has more recent history as well.

The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. John Bertrand, a Huguenot, first acquired the property in 1692.

The Downman family operated Belle Isle plantation on the site throughout the 19th century.

dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/bel.shtml

Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com