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Virginia is a state where the Nation’s history unfolds, but it is also a place of great natural beauty and strong, local community. It is home to saltwater sunrises, cool mountain mists, and almost everything in-between.

If you read Virginia Sublime Part 1, then you already know how this survey of the State is structured, but just in case, this is a report back from my family of four’s recent trip to Virginia (and nearby). The State has essentially five distinct regions, of which I have now visited three. In the last article, I covered the Valley and Ridge Region and the Piedmont, while this post will focus on the Coastal Plain/Tidewater Region.

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Getting to Virginia’s Eastern Shore requires crossing Chesapeake Bay, one the Country’s largest, most beautiful and productive inlets (the Bay produces over 1/3 of the U.S.’s blue crabs- a popular delicacy). You can do this by either bridge or ferry. We would have liked to have spent some time on the Bay, but it didn’t pan out for this trip.

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If you are coming from the south, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (that’s right, it’s a bridge AND tunnel) is a marvel of its own.

Billed as one of the “Seven Engineering Marvels of the World”, the Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964, and has provided crossing to over 130 million vehicles since. It is also considered the longest Bridge-Tunnel complex in existence, measuring a full 23 miles in length (including 5 miles of access roads) and featuring two 1-mile long tunnels that plunge you under the commercial shipping lanes that connect the Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. It is an experience for sure, and well worth the toll to cross.

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COASTAL PLAIN/TIDEWATER REGION

The Tidewater Region of Virginia consists of a vast alluvial plain resulting from the terminus of several rivers and large bodies of water. The first English Settlements in America were in this region, including the 1607 founding of Jamestown.

Though we had planned to make a stop in the mainland portion of this region, time was not on our side, so our experience here will deal with the Eastern Shores of Virginia and Maryland.

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Our lodging this time was in the town of Accomac, Virginia. To its east, the historic town of only 519 people possesses vast coastal marshes that are protected from the ocean by a string of small coastal islands. There are beaches here, but they require boats to access.

We spent some time exploring, after arriving, and were rewarded with views of some stunning waterfront homes, remote (and dark) wooded roads, and lots and lots of wildlife (we saw two species of deer, wild turkeys, lots of herons and egrets, and more). It is a pretty, quaint and quiet place to home base, and was convenient enough to the beaches and National Park to the north.

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a rare photo of me in beachwear lol

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Our first stop was to the oceanside resort community of Ocean City, Maryland. Though the town has only 7,000 residents, it swells to host as much as 345,000 people on some weekends in the summer. This place was built to take it though, and we never felt overcrowded, either on the vast and beautiful beach or along its 2.5-mile boardwalk (then again, we lived in Chicago for ten years, so perhaps our idea of “crowded” is different than yours).

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Speaking of the boardwalk, this was my first time seeing an East Coast version, and our visit up and down it was meant to be a photographic centerpiece of our trip. It is indeed extremely photogenic, with two amusement parks and too many other attractions to mention in a single sentence. However, our youngest son developed a sudden cold with a fever, and so we made a quick retreat, first to the Ocean City Fire Department (these guys, some of them also parents, were amazing and so helpful) and then to the emergency room at nearby Atlantic General Hospital. Thankfully, Ellison’s symptoms disappeared as quickly as they emerged, but our day exploring (and photographing) the boardwalk was just not meant to be. It’s one of the things that happen as a photographer-parent on vacation (I can’t even tell you how many of these images were shot one-handed with a kiddo in the other arm).

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back in business!

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Lunchtime turned to dinnertime while we were in the hospital, but the little guy was a new man by the time we left. From there, we decided to keep it easy and headed into nearby Berlin, Maryland for a meal at The Atlantic Hotel.

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An historic inn dating back to 1895, The Atlantic Hotel is also a fabulous, and affordable dining spot. On our visit, the restaurant was full, but not over-stuffed, and even featured live music. We’d highly recommend a stop here (crab cake was delicious!), or even just to the town of Berlin, in general.

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I’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring small towns in the Midwest, and if Berlin is any indication, they do it better on the East Coast.

A town of just over 4,000 people, Berlin is small by any standard, but on the Friday night we visited, the only way to describe it was that it felt “full”. After dinner, we walked a few blocks back to the car, and experienced live music, storefront after storefront of boutiques and restaurants (no vacancies), a pop-up craft market, and tons of locals out enjoying the summer evening. It is no wonder that this place, a mere 8 miles from bustling Ocean City, was named the “Coolest Small Town in America” by Budget Travel in 2014. The town is also fairly diverse for a community of its size (about the same as the neighborhood where we live in St. Louis).

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The band, Stevenson’s Crossroads performing in Berlin

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If you are looking for a spot to centralize your stay near the Maryland coast, don’t pass up on Berlin. They even have a really good brewery!

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Burley Oak Brewing Company

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loved the design for their tasty LOST IPA

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Our next stop, and final day before heading home, was to explore Assateague Island National Seashore.

If the Park name doesn’t sound familiar, its images of horses on the beach or in the marshes probably are. Managed by the National Park Service, Assateague Island is a barrier island of saltwater marshes, bays, maritime forests and some of the most beautiful beaches we’ve ever seen. The 37-mile long island straddles the boundary of Maryland and Virginia, and sits partway in each. The northern entrance, through Maryland, is usually referred to as “Assateague”, while the southern entrance, through Virginia, is usually referred to as “Chincoteague”; the National Park encompasses both, but each side has a State Park as well, which is where the naming distinction comes from.

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Maryland side:

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The north beach on the north side of the island is a literal paradise of white sand. Shells are in abundance and easy to find, with new ones washing ashore with each big wave (the official rule is one gallon of shells per person per day). The waves here are on the rougher side, though seemed to be rougher the further south we went on the island. Nonetheless, it wasn’t anything my 6.5 year old couldn’t handle (with a little supervision).

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little man back on his game

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