Town of Onancock
on Virginia's beautiful Eastern Shore
of the Chesapeake Bay
Small Town Life
On The
Chesapeake Bay
Towns bordering the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries share a heritage
that binds them together in countless ways. Some of these towns are the
oldest in the nation, their sites originally selected because of convenient
access to water and ease of water travel.
The early residents' dependence on the water for their livelihood fostered
in them a fierce spirit of independence, for they had to battle the unpredictable
weather conditions of the Chesapeake Bay. The mood of the Bay, usually
sublime and moderate in nature but occasionally violent and tempestuous,
was sometimes a threat to personal and navigational safety. Residents of
waterside towns enjoyed the peace and pleasure afforded by the Bay but
also had respect for its "might and majesty." An underlying quality in the
makeup of Bay-area people today is their ability to cope with change in
imaginative and ingenious ways.
These influences affected the lifestyle of waterside towns up and down the Eastern Shore as well as "across the Bay" on the edge of the western shore. Although the narrow shape of the Eastern Shore of Virginia peninsula places every resident close to the Bay or the ocean, the earliest towns were located near the outer edges of the peninsula. These coastal towns, molded by the Bay and its navigable creeks, blossomed long before inland towns were conceived of, and their growth was boosted in the mid-l9th century by steamboat-related business. Eastern Shore towns that developed more recently near the rail line were directly affected by the train though they too were influenced by the nearby water.
Waterside towns have had to make sensible adaptations to life as time progressed and as culture and commerce moved ahead. A common thread runs through the individual histories of the towns, a thread that weaves a strong fabric. The occupations and interests of residents, the demeanor of businesses, and the faces of the towns are similar. In small towns, leaders and "everyday" folk speak out on issues, and citizens voice their opinions in support or dissent of controversial matters. A market-place give-and-take of outspoken comments ensures equitable and intelligent. decisions for the common good. Such a relationship between the individual and the local governing structure is more easily accomplished in the small town setting.
This is the story of life lived by approximately 1700 people in one little Virginia town and in the area immediately surrounding it. Located on the bayside, approximately midway, north/south the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Onancock is a microcosm of other Chesapeake Bay towns. It has a distinct personality of its own, but it also replicates all small towns on the western and eastern shores of the Bay and on the creeks and rivers emptying into the Bay.
The towns on the Chesapeake Bay
Are diff'rent in manner and way.
But it is agreed —
That each one is keyed
In some kind of definite way...
To being related somehow
To all that the waters allow,
The view it provides,
The flow of the tides,
The movement of crab-boat and scow.
From: Anne B. Nock. "Child of the Bay, Past, Present and Future" Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., copyright 1992