Reedville VA USA (Part 2)

After our day at Tangier Island we were looking forward to the start of the Rally drinks on the dock.  However, as we returned to BV to shower and change, dark clouds rolled in ominously and we could hear thunder in the distance.  We should have taken our waterproofs but we were seduced by a weather radar picture that showed the thunderstorms clearing soon.  How wrong the technology was!  How daft we were!!

The drinks party started well but the umbrella-holding, waterproof wearing majority were definitely right and the rain, very quickly becoming torrential rain, forced a migration to the restaurant veranda in short order.  And so we moved on to dinner much earlier than would otherwise have been the case, probably much to the relief of the restaurant staff as we all talked and talked pretty much until the restaurant closed.  Somehow we also managed to fit in a meal of soft shell crabs; well, what else could we eat this close to Tangier Island?

The morning of Sunday 10 June dawned bright and sunny and, having ‘solved’ the engine starting problem a couple of days before we thought we’d double-check that all was OK.  It wasn’t.  Once more the engine reluctantly juddered very slowly into action.  So, I spent the majority of the beautiful morning peering at other connections on the engine block and remaking them.  After a couple of hours’ work, we tried another engine start.  Success! For now.

Walter and Mary’s dock

With nothing more we could profitably do until the engine had sat without running for several hours, we decided to head ashore.  In general it seems that getting ashore around the edge of the Chesapeake can be a bit of an issue as much of the shoreline is private and, whilst there are plenty of docks, these are primarily private too. Apparently there are county ramps (slipways) that anyone can use but they are relatively few and far between.  However, Reedville is home to Walter Keith and Mary Frazier, Port Officers for the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) and friends of Neil and Ley Langford (Crystal Blues), OCC members who were on the Rally.  Crystal Blues was moored alongside their dock and they were quite happy for the other Rally members to use their dock as a mooring spot for our dinghies.  [Ed: and they very generously took all the yachts’ rubbish and recycling to the dump as well, public rubbish disposal facilities not being available in most US towns].

We spent a fascinating afternoon in the fishing museum opposite Walter and Mary’s home.  It began with a film about the menhaden fishing industry, describing the use of spotter planes in finding the shoals of small, oily fish; the method of catching the shoals (large mother ships with 2 small purse-seine fast boats); the use for the fish oil and protein (pet food, animal feed, a basis for cosmetics, and much, much more); and discussion on the number of fish caught (several million per mother ship per day) and the sustainability of the industry.  We have to admit to being somewhat sceptical about the sustainability section of the film but we also have to acknowledge that the film was probably made in the late 1970s (judging by the hair-cuts, suits and cars) and the numbers of fish still being caught and the methods being used to catch them have not changed in the intervening 35 or so years.  It is, of course, possible that the fish stocks are on the brink of a cataclysmic decline but there is no indication of that.

Having viewed all the fishing displays, we were shown around a tiny fisherman’s cottage dating from about 100 years ago. In its lifetime it had been extended from a one-up, one-down cottage with a separate kitchen to a 2-up, 2-down with a larger kitchen (still outside the back of the house but with a covered area between it and the main house).  No-one mentioned toilets and bathrooms and toilets; I guess there was a shed in the yard or down the road and a tin-bath by the fire.

Left:  model railway display.  Right top: wooden boat building shed.  Right bottom:  Maryland ‘skipjack’ oyster dredger, one of several old but operational fishing vessels still sailed by the fishing museum

Bizarrely, the fishing museum is also home to a hugely extensive model railway set-up.  This was originally built to attract additional visitors to Reedville at Christmas and, until quite recently, was only a temporary exhibit at the fishing museum during the festive period.  However, over the years the railway had grown so large that when the museum built a large wooden boat building shed, they designed the facility to house the model railway as well.  The model is based on a 19^thcentury plan to run a railway down the Northern Neck. In reality, the railway was never built but the modellers have lovingly constructed their track to run through all those towns that would have been on the line.  Due to the exigencies of space, there is little geographical accuracy, but all the towns represented are identifiable by their prominent buildings, landmarks and bridges (many of which operate).  Next door, the wooden boat building shed was not in operation on the day that we visited but it is in here that the old vessels that are owned by the museum, and still sailed by the museum volunteers, are maintained.  Some of those clam and oyster fishing boats were available for us to view outside alongside the museum’s dock.  Oyster fishing is still big business in the Chesapeake Bay or, rather, is a regenerating business in the Bay.  Different states have different rules and in Maryland dredging for oysters may only take place under sail whereas in Virginia motor vessels may be used. So, Maryland oyster dredgers (known as skipjacks) have a large plate attached to the stern with a V cut-out in it. The skipjack is pushed to the oyster bed by a power-driven vessel: the bow of the motor boat fits into the V of the stern-plate.  Once at the oyster bed, the motor boat disconnects from the skipjack, which is then operated under sail to harvest the oysters.  The return to harbour is achieved under ‘push-power’ as well but the letter of the law has been obeyed in harvesting the oysters!

Views of Reedville

We could have spent much longer at the museum but time was marching on and we had an appointment to keep that evening….

The Chisman Creek Band was playing in the pavilion at the museum and following evening cocktails on the veranda at Walter and Mary’s home, we were all encouraged to attend the music evening and even take to the dance floor.  It can safely be said that a great evening was had by all – the only problem being that it ended so early.  If we spend long enough in the country I’m sure that we will get used to the American timings for evening events but it still seems odd to us that a band will start an evening set at 1800 and finish it at (or before) 2100.  We’d taken a picnic to the concert but had such fun listening to the music, chatting and dancing that we entirely forgot to eat, so we retired on board and ate our delayed meal before plotting an early departure north to St Mary’s City the next day.

Reedville, VA, USA