Location: Reedsville, VA
Out of the channel at Mill Creek, Reedsville was across the Wicomico River about thirty minutes and up Cockrell's Creek. Just inside the creek we were greeted by a large ornamental smoke stack. Later we discovered the stack was the remnants of the first fish factory built in Reedsville by the Maine native Elijah Reed himself. Reed came to Virginia to catch menhaden fish in the Chesapeake. He was so successful that around twenty fish factories moved to the area and the town was named Reedsville after him. Today only this stack remains along with a single working factory, and thank god. I don't think my nose would have survived if there had been more than one. The second we got to the north side of the factory I clapped my hand to my face, so hard that I nearly smacked myself. The smell, brought toward the town on the strong southernly, was like no pain I had ever endured. It was like week old wet cat food, two week old hot sardines, or just plainly old, dead fish. I demanded that we turn around at once, I'm not a princess but there are some things girls are just not meant to smell. Dad laughed at me and said if it was really bad we'd just go into town to restock then head back to Mill Creek for the night. Unfortunately the smell didn't immediately dissipate when we got ashore. However a little inland and the trees did a good coverup job and what beautiful trees they were. Fall was in full bloom here but the weather was mild enough for shorts.
Dad and I began walking down Main Street. We passed a couple of restaurants and many houses but no stores or banks or anything else that you would expect to find on a Main Street. Dad asked the first person we saw on the sidewalk if they knew of a nearby market/grocery. Luckily that person was Dave, a local who had raced many years in Annapolis and knew of the difficulties that came with cruising. He graciously lent us his car to take to Food Lion, 20 miles away. For my New England friends I should make it clear that Dave was a stranger. I was astonished at this kindness myself but it seemed the town was infused with it, that old southern charm is not just a saying. At the Food Lion our most notable purchase was two huge bags of Halloween candy. Dad and I weren't planning on dressing up for Halloween so we had to celebrate some how.
By the time we got back Dave was giving us a tour of his newly renovated house. It was gorgeous, the house along with the vegetable garden out back could have been its own HGtv show.
Dave introduced us to some other ICW travelers; Matt, Diane, and their two sons. Dad spent the Halloween night with the group handing out candy on Dave's front porch. He said it was a some sight to see, never a dull moment. The surrounding towns bused kids into Reedsville's Main Street to trick-or-treat by the hundreds. Dad said the street was full and some of them even came on tractors, but I'm not sure how much of that is true. I stayed on the boat, glad to have some time to myself, to plough through the bags of Halloween candy without any competition.
In the morning Dad and I went to see the Reedsville Fisherman Museum on the advice of Dave, Matt, and Diane. The museum turned out to be less focused on fishing but more on Reedsville history in general, which was very interesting. It was set up in three buildings with a dock out back. The first building was one of the oldest homes in Reedsville, preserved as if the original owners had just left (with some minor changes). The second building was a boat restoration work shop. Just outside the shop were boats that they had finished working on, which were gorgeous wooden skiffs & row boats. We stayed in the boat building shop for forever, Dad asked question after question, "how do you do this", "how did you do that". His head is already on his next project. Connected to the shop was a train set depicting Reedsville and the surrounding towns, the train doesn't actually exist in real life but I think the town just liked the idea of it. The last building was a gift shop/historical tour through Reedsville. The walls depicted any and everything that ever happened in Reedsville. The fishing industry was the center of the tour. The walls showed the evolution of the catching of menhaden fish in Reedsville and the products that use the fish. I was appalled to find a kind of Pepperidge Farm cookie to be one of those products but the other items that use menhaden were obvious; cat food, fish food, dog food, fish bait, etc. Out on the dock behind the gift shop was the rest of the Reedsville fleet, the boats that were not being restored inside the shop. The Claud Somers, a oyster schooner (skipjack), is used by the museum to tour the harbor with sightseers. The Elva C, is a pound netting boat with the capacity to store huge scores of fish, and when they caught too many fish they would pour over onto the deck. The dock also housed a chunk-stern deadrise boat that was being restored, this boat really showed the level of commitment the residents of Reedsville have for this museum. The boat was in bad shape, needing major repairs. It was donated to the museum and neighbors in turn were donating their time to renovate the old boat. The last boat on the dock was a by boat, these boats were still widely popular in Reedsville for fishing, crabbing, and exploring but were originally used as a ferry between boats to sell menhaden. Upon our return in the spring I am dying to come back to this museum for their "cocktails on the creek" happy hour, where locals bring a bottle of wine and an appetizer for everyone to share in the sunset together. In the museum gift shop we asked about any other hidden gems that are around Reedsville. The two volunteers inside were a great pleasure to talk to and we had a long conversation about the best local restaurants and jaunts. They told us to visit the Seafood Deli across the creek for lunch and to try to visit Urbanna, VA tomorrow for the last day of their Oyster Festival. The locals again offered us their cars or a ride to both places! Instead Dad and I took the dingy to the other side of the Creek and schemed how we could make the Oyster Festival on Saturday, around 30 miles away.
At the Seafood Deli we both ordered the soft shell crab sandwich. I was incredibly surprised when our meals came out to find a whole fried crab in between the buns. I expected it to be lump crab meat, I always say that I'll try anything once but the crab legs reminded me of Anthony Bourdain eating fried spiders. It took a lot of stomach over mind power to get my mouth to take the first bite but on the whole the sandwich was pretty good. However, I still maintain that if you're frying seafood you're ruining it. When we got back to the boat Dad and I listened to the weather and decided that if we left just before sunrise we should get to the Oyster Festival in Urbanna in sufficient time to enjoy it before it's end at 5 pm. So we packed up our stuff and prepared for the morning.
What we ate: grilled chicken, hot dogs, rice
By the time we got back Dave was giving us a tour of his newly renovated house. It was gorgeous, the house along with the vegetable garden out back could have been its own HGtv show.
Dave introduced us to some other ICW travelers; Matt, Diane, and their two sons. Dad spent the Halloween night with the group handing out candy on Dave's front porch. He said it was a some sight to see, never a dull moment. The surrounding towns bused kids into Reedsville's Main Street to trick-or-treat by the hundreds. Dad said the street was full and some of them even came on tractors, but I'm not sure how much of that is true. I stayed on the boat, glad to have some time to myself, to plough through the bags of Halloween candy without any competition.
In the morning Dad and I went to see the Reedsville Fisherman Museum on the advice of Dave, Matt, and Diane. The museum turned out to be less focused on fishing but more on Reedsville history in general, which was very interesting. It was set up in three buildings with a dock out back. The first building was one of the oldest homes in Reedsville, preserved as if the original owners had just left (with some minor changes). The second building was a boat restoration work shop. Just outside the shop were boats that they had finished working on, which were gorgeous wooden skiffs & row boats. We stayed in the boat building shop for forever, Dad asked question after question, "how do you do this", "how did you do that". His head is already on his next project. Connected to the shop was a train set depicting Reedsville and the surrounding towns, the train doesn't actually exist in real life but I think the town just liked the idea of it. The last building was a gift shop/historical tour through Reedsville. The walls depicted any and everything that ever happened in Reedsville. The fishing industry was the center of the tour. The walls showed the evolution of the catching of menhaden fish in Reedsville and the products that use the fish. I was appalled to find a kind of Pepperidge Farm cookie to be one of those products but the other items that use menhaden were obvious; cat food, fish food, dog food, fish bait, etc. Out on the dock behind the gift shop was the rest of the Reedsville fleet, the boats that were not being restored inside the shop. The Claud Somers, a oyster schooner (skipjack), is used by the museum to tour the harbor with sightseers. The Elva C, is a pound netting boat with the capacity to store huge scores of fish, and when they caught too many fish they would pour over onto the deck. The dock also housed a chunk-stern deadrise boat that was being restored, this boat really showed the level of commitment the residents of Reedsville have for this museum. The boat was in bad shape, needing major repairs. It was donated to the museum and neighbors in turn were donating their time to renovate the old boat. The last boat on the dock was a by boat, these boats were still widely popular in Reedsville for fishing, crabbing, and exploring but were originally used as a ferry between boats to sell menhaden. Upon our return in the spring I am dying to come back to this museum for their "cocktails on the creek" happy hour, where locals bring a bottle of wine and an appetizer for everyone to share in the sunset together. In the museum gift shop we asked about any other hidden gems that are around Reedsville. The two volunteers inside were a great pleasure to talk to and we had a long conversation about the best local restaurants and jaunts. They told us to visit the Seafood Deli across the creek for lunch and to try to visit Urbanna, VA tomorrow for the last day of their Oyster Festival. The locals again offered us their cars or a ride to both places! Instead Dad and I took the dingy to the other side of the Creek and schemed how we could make the Oyster Festival on Saturday, around 30 miles away.
At the Seafood Deli we both ordered the soft shell crab sandwich. I was incredibly surprised when our meals came out to find a whole fried crab in between the buns. I expected it to be lump crab meat, I always say that I'll try anything once but the crab legs reminded me of Anthony Bourdain eating fried spiders. It took a lot of stomach over mind power to get my mouth to take the first bite but on the whole the sandwich was pretty good. However, I still maintain that if you're frying seafood you're ruining it. When we got back to the boat Dad and I listened to the weather and decided that if we left just before sunrise we should get to the Oyster Festival in Urbanna in sufficient time to enjoy it before it's end at 5 pm. So we packed up our stuff and prepared for the morning.
What we ate: grilled chicken, hot dogs, rice
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