History Comes Alive at the Historical St Mary’s City - A Living Museum

This trip has been a great history lesson and today we learned more American History from 1600 to the revolutionary war.  We learned that St. Mary’s was the fourth English permanent settlement in North America- the others being Mass Bay/Plymouth, MA, Jamestown, VA and Charlestown, SC.  St Mary’s was settled by the Calvert brothers and became the capital of Maryland for a short while.  St. Mary’s was to be a place where church and state were to be separate.  But when a new king of England decided he wanted less religious tolerance in the colony and wanted church and state to be one, the state capital was moved to Annapolis.  Historic St. Mary’s is an archaeologist’s dream as the old city is still being unearthed in search of artifacts. This outdoor museum also had an Indian long house and a recreation of a boat characteristic of one that would have brought the first settlers called - “the Dove”.  It was a hot but informative day in the old city before sailing back down the St. Mary’s River to Smith Creek where we’d anchored the previous night.

This Osprey needs put a little more effort into her nest

A young indentured servant that showed us around the tobacco farm

If it Smells Fishy, it Must be Reedville; Crossed the Potomac into Maryland

In the morning we motored about 5 miles north to Reedville arriving just as the sky was growing dark around 9:30 am and a brief shower fell on us.  Reedville was founded by a Maine fisherman that recognized the abundance of fish in the Chesapeake. At its peak it was home to seven menhaden fish processing facilities and now has but one still in operation.  What is a menhaden you ask?  It is a type of herring.  Today, they extract the alpha-3-omega fatty acids from the menhaden and put it in a pill, making cat food, or even some Pepperidge Farm cookies.  We were warned that when the wind is out of the south, the town smells fishy and we experienced just this.  However, it didn’t deter us from popping to the post office and then to a The Fisherman's Museum where the art of wooden boat building continues and we learned all about oystering and menhaden fishing once very popular here.  Also, Reedville was a stop on the steamboat route and the musical “Showboat” was based on historical groups that would travel by steamboat from town to town to perform shows.  We needed to push on so we left around 2 pm after fueling up. We headed north, crossing the Potomac that separates Virginia from Maryland, dropping anchor in quiet Smith Creek close to the mouth of St Mary’s River.

Classic Skipjack at the Reedville museum

Another hitch hiker

A modern menhaden fishing trawler returning to Reedville

Memorial Day. A little more Urbanna then to Mill Creek near Reedville

We felt guilty after last nights pint of ice cream, so we took a little jog through the neighborhoods of Urbanna and ended up at the visitor center (closed) that formerly was a tobacco house used in the 1700’s to sell then move barrels of tobacco down the street to the awaiting boats in the harbor for transport to England. It turns out Urbanna is known as having one of the oldest streets in America - the one where the tobacco was moved to the awaiting ships.  We raised anchor around 9:30 am and the wind was light as we headed down the Rappahannock River. The wind finally built to about 12 knots out of the north for our upwind sail (yes, we do sail upwind sometimes). We had to dodge many crab pots and fish traps along the way.   We chose to drop anchor in Mill Creek just south of Reedville and were the only boat around.  We watched several Osprey and a Bald Eagle soar all around, and listened to the many birds in the nearby trees.

One of many Dragonfles that hitched a ride up the Chesapeake

Motored up to Urbanna, VA; Heatwave Continues

We left the anchorage at 7 am taking advantage of the light breeze until it died around 10:00 am.  We motored the rest of the day until we arrived in Urbanna on the Rappahannock River around 4:30 pm. We dropped anchor adjacent to an offsprey nest in the cozy little harbor which had room for just two or three boats on anchor. We decided to hang out on Juno as the skies grew threatening so we sipped our gin and tonics and enjoyed cedar planked salmon for dinner. Afterwards, we dinghied ashore and walked through the small town to the grocery store. It was the only store open but we bought a pint of ice cream, baked beans, and zucchini with the $10 we had.  We then went next door to a bench while we ate our ice cream before it melted. It was still about 85 degrees at 8:30 pm with no wind so Harry rigged an air scoop and we turned in early at 9:30 pm.

Every Chesapeake lighthouse is unique

Anchored in Urbanna near an Osprey nest

East River in Mobjack Bay; Robinson’s Vintage Soda Fountain in Matthews, VA

We had a great breeze out of the east for our sail north to Mobjack Bay where we chose to move up the East River and dropped anchor with about 20 other boats around 3:30 pm.  As it was high tide, we knew we could not delay if we wanted to take the dinghy further up the creek to Mathews town because the water becomes too shallow at anything but an hour or so either side of high tide to reach this town. So off we went and about 1 mile later, we arrived at the end of the creek - Mathews town.  There we found an old General Store dating to 1870 and across the street, Robinsons - where we each got an ice cream from their old soda fountain. Back on Juno, we sat down and tried our best to relax in this most scenic area as jet skis and motorboats went zipping by - hardly the peace and quiet we were hoping for but then this is Memorial Day weekend.

The creek to Mathews

Shore Day Exploring Portsmouth and Norfolk, VA

Since the winds were forecast to be out of the north today, and making way towards the direction of the wind isn't always the most productive, we decided to spend the day onshore while awaiting a more favorable wind forecast for tomorrow. While it was about 90 degrees, we walked through the Old Town Portsmouth that had many beautiful homes and then took the $2 ferry to Norfolk where we walked the waterfront and saw a Boston Harbor Cruise boat tied up - presumably awaiting repairs.  We found a nice bookstore where we enjoyed the air conditioning, then grabbed a drink on the waterfront before taking the ferry back to Portsmouth. There we checked out an outdoor celebration showcasing African American heritage and celebrating unity.  Then it was back to the marina for a shower then to Juno for a late dinner concluding with strawberries and Trader Joe’s boxed whipped cream for dessert.

Portsmouth preserved architecture ranges from charming ...

... to more functional

Cooling down in a park fountain

View from Juno on anchor in Portsmouth

Preparations for Travels Up the Chesapeake; Anchored in Portsmouth, VA

We drove the rental car from NYC back to Chesapeake, VA arriving around 11:30 pm and relished being back aboard our cozy floating home. We used our last few hours of the rental car to do some grocery shopping and to obtain a cruising guide for the Chesapeake as we knew we wanted to spend two weeks exploring it but we didn’t know where to begin.  Our errands took us a little longer than planned and by the time we were ready to cast off, it was 2:30 pm but because ICW bridge schedules between us and Norfolk are such that we’d have to circle around for an hour until their next opening, we waited until 4 pm to depart Atlantic Yacht Basin.  We traveled through the lock adjacent to Great Bridge and then under several bridges and anchored at hospital point in Portsmouth, VA just opposite downtown Norfolk around 6:30 pm. We enjoyed our store cooked bbq ribs, cornbread, and baked beans while watching tugs and barges pass close by in this busy port.

Waiting for the "normally open" RR bridge to open

New York City for Sally and Luis’ NYU Graduation

Sally successfully defended her PhD in April and Luis completed his MD/PhD. We were returning to NYC for the official ceremonies.  Sunday we grabbed some oysters at Dock’s for happy hour then out for dinner with Sally, Luis, and Luis’ parents Enid and Luis, who were also in town for graduation. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet Sally’s future in-laws and we had a tasty Peruvian dinner at Pio Pio.   Katie arrived from Boston just in time for dessert.

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences that awards PhD’s had their ceremony Monday morning at the Beacon Theater on the upper west side so the Levinsons and Luis watched eagerly as each student was awarded their PhD. (Luis’ already had received his PhD a year earlier). This was the first of two ceremonies we attended -  the second was the all university graduation ceremony Wednesday morning at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. We had a beautiful sunny day for this open air ceremony and while we waited for the event to begin, Harry managed to get a personalized congratulatory message on the Yankee jumbotron for all to see. We were so proud of both graduates and so happy for them at having completed their respective programs of study. We celebrated Sally and Luis’s achievements with a bar-b-que on the roof of their apartment building along with other friends and fellow graduates.

Its official

Celebrating with Sally and Luis on their roof deck

Road Trip to Valley Forge and Spring City Pennsylvania

We made plans to stop by for a brief visit to Harry’s sister, Ani and her friend Joe en route to NYC so we drove north stopping en route for more Revolutionary War history at Valley Forge.  We arrived just in time to tour the home General Washington used as his headquarters for the winter’s encampment.  We drove through the park seeing several of the locations of various troop encampments, and redoubts - much as we’d seen just the day before at Yorktown.  We arrived at Ani and Joe’s around 6:30 pm, enjoyed a cocktail and some conversation poolside then headed to the rejuvenated former foundry town of Pheonixville for a nice dinner outside.

Washington's Headquarters at Valley Forge

Guards' quarters were a bit less opulent

Secured Juno at the Atlantic Yacht Basin; Yorktown History

By noon we’d refueled and washed Juno’s decks from all the bugs on the ICW then took her around back of the Atlantic Yacht Basin where she’d berth the next several nights while we’d be in NYC. We planned on arriving in NYC on Sunday so we had a day and a half to spare so we used a rental car to take in the history of Yorktown Friday afternoon.  It was hot and sunny but the National Park Service does a good job of retelling the story of how the French navy commanded by De Grasse made it possible for the continental army under George Washington and the French led by LaFayette to defeat British General Cornwallis at Yorktown.  It was all the more meaningful to us as we’d both read Nathanial Philbrick’s book, "In the Eye of the Hurricane" describing the battle of Yorktown.  We capped the day off with a drink at a bar on the York river before returning to Chesapeake for a $1 Dairy Queen cone and bed.

Juno tied up on a creek off the ICW

The view LaFayette had from a French redoubt of the British Army at Yorktown

Cannons were pushed up the wall of the redoubt to increase their range

Day 3 on the ICW Slow Going For Bridge Repairs and Closures; Dinner at the Lockside Bar and Grill in Chesapeake, VA

In the morning the 100's of insects we heard the night before were mostly dead but left little green droppings where they died. Yuck.  Our cleaning efforts had little effect. Hopefully the sun will naturally bleach away the stains.

We heard on the radio that the North Landing Bridge (at mile marker 20) was being worked on and wouldn’t open until after 6 pm. This was unfortunate as we were hoping to make it to Norfolk (mile marker 0) today and it would thus make for a very late arrival. But the winds were out of the SW at 10 and we had blue skies so we calculated our distance to the North Landing Bridge and realized we only needed to average about 4 knots (not the 6-7 we did yesterday while motoring) so we sailed and at times drifted along as the winds got light. The wind shifted to the NW at 12 and we continued sailing until around 2:30 pm when another boat informed us that the North Landing Bridge repairs were completed ahead of schedule so we picked up our pace and motored through the North Landing bridge around 3:45 pm only to discover that the next bridge about 5 miles along- the Centerville Turnpike bridge - remains closed between 4-6 pm. So, we slowed down our pace again, sailing along and caught the 6 pm opening along with about 7 other boats.  Once through the Centerville Turnpike bridge, it was a mad dash to the free town dock in Chesapeake adjacent to what was once the Great Bridge a site of historical significance during the revolutionary war. We decided to enjoy a dinner out at the Lockside Bar and Grill (great spareribs) just a short walk away and to leave Juno at the Atlantic Yacht Basin on the opposite bank of the ICW for the time we’ll be in New York City attending Sally’s graduation.

Lazy sail past Coinjock Marina

Secure on the free dock ready for the Great Bridge and Lock tomorrow

Eating on the back dec k of the Lockside Bar and Grill