VA: Onancock Historic Tour

Day 351

July 9, 2016

No Boat Travel

The first thing I did this morning, as I do every morning after I wake up, was try to remember where I was. It is not the name of the marina nor town that I care about so much as the dock configuration and the distance to the restrooms. With continuous movement from place to place over the last almost thirteen months, this brain exercise first thing in the morning is more challenging than one might expect. Even when I was home recently in my “dirt-house" bed, it took me a minute to remember I was home and only needed to walk a few steps across the hall to get to the bathroom. What a treat that was to wake up and realize I could just fall out of bed and the toilet was that close! This trip has helped me learn to appreciate the little things in life that I might normally take for granted.

With the weather still predicted to be abnormally hot and humid, we decided that we should leave the boat as early as possible to explore the area with the hope that the morning would be cooler than “high noon”. Of course by the time we got ourselves around, the clock already showed 10:00. However, we are not early risers and 10:00 is not too bad for us! We took our backpack and jumped on our bikes with hopes of finding some goodies at the farmer’s market.

We found several stalls selling crafts separated by about a block from the main market.  They had some nice looking items for sale. I particularly liked the little, polished metal animals that someone was selling. Ten or more years ago I probably would have bought something. However, I am now in the mindset of downsizing my belongings, not adding to them, so I passed on all the artwork being offered.

As directed by a very nice woman at one of the craft tables, we found the rest of the market just down the street. Here a man played a guitar and sang songs that I have heard Clark play on his guitar. We found more craft-type tables and a few vegetable stands. Sadly, the vegetable selections were either things I do not normally buy or things I already had on hand. I bought one cucumber. Walking around the grounds I did find a stall selling homemade bagels and bread, so I indulged myself at that stall and bought a loaf of homemade bread, two cinnamon raisin bagels, and a bag of English crumpets.

Market Street, Onancock, VA

Market Sign & Musician Playing Guitar

Market Day in Onancock, VA

When we were heading back to the boat to put our food away before exploring the area, the nice woman from the first craft table asked if we found everything we needed. Clark remembered to ask her where he could buy a watchband and she pointed us to the local jewelry store. We popped in there and low and behold they had something we thought would work for his watch. The only problem – he did not have his watch with him, so we could not be sure.

We left there without the band, went back to the boat, dropped off the food, grabbed the watch, and went directly back to the jewelry store to be sure to get there before they closed for the day.  Great news – he found a band though not exactly the right width was close enough to fix his immediate need. Now he does not need to pester me for the time or search for his cell phone to know what time it is.

After the jewelry store we decided to visit the two museums that we saw advertised earlier in the day as we biked down Market Street. 

Historic United Methodist Church
Onancock, VA

Market Street,
Onancock, VA

Historic Home in Onancock, VA
(the plastic flamingo on the porch takes away
from the authenticity of the home)

For our first tour we visited the old Onancock school where the classrooms have been converted into art studios, and one room has been set up as a museum. We found nothing “riveting” in this museum – some posters to read, some old boat models, and a lot of old tools used to make boats.

One-Room Museum in Old School in
Onancock, VA

Model Boat in Old School Museum

 From there we went to visit the other museum on Market Street – Ker (“car”) Place. 

Ker Place on Market Street in Onancock, VA

Ker Place

Here, a woman greeted us at the door and welcomed us into the house and introduced herself as our tour guide. Ker Place is an historic family home built c. 1801 by John Ker and his wife, Agnes. According to our tour guide, nothing was too good for Agnes, and the décor of her house emphasized her place in society.

17th Century Onancock Tribe Peace Pipe

Parlor of Agnes Ker

Historic Banjo Clock

In addition to all the expected antique furniture and room decorations one might expect to find in an historic house, I delighted in one exhibit currently on display at the museum which had nothing whatsoever to do with John or Agnes Ker. A local woman’s groups that makes rugs put together a display of rugs handmade in the design of various tarot cards. The detail amazed me; for example, the eyes on the cards with faces appeared to follow me around the room.

Tarot Card Handmade Rugs

Tarot Card

Tarot Card Handmade Rugs

Tarot Card Handmade Rugs

Tarot Card Handmade Rug

 On the second floor of Ker Place, in the room where John Ker kept his desk, the museum displayed two more special exhibits. The referred to the room as the “War Room” and displayed various weapons and items from history either leading up to or during the Civil War. 

General John Cropper Display in the
War Room at Ker Place

A decision made by Governor Henry A. Wise not to commute the sentence of John Brown at Harper’s Ferry contributed to the start of the Civil War. When asked for his input on the sentencing of John Brown and his cohorts, he said, “Hang them until dead!”

Special Exhibit in the War Room at Ker Place

One old sea chest had the longest history I have ever heard for one piece of furniture. The guide could trace the chest back to its origins of having been made in Spain to its rapid move from Arlington, Virginia to Onancock when the Civil War began and Robert E. Lee was no longer welcome in Arlington.

Historic Sea Chest Crafted in Spain in the 1600s

After the war room we visited the bed chamber and later we went down to see the artifacts stored in the basement.

Old-time Tricycle and other antiques in basement
at Ker Place

 The time approached 1:15 or so when we finally left the museum. Bob and Lynn, who we met earlier from a sailboat docked near us, recommended Janet’s Café, so we went there to grab lunch. The food tasted great when it finally came. The place was busy when we arrived, and our order sat at the end of a rather long queue. On the bright side, the café was air conditioned, so I was not in any big hurry to leave.

License Plate Art = "Janet's Cafe"

Yellow  sign seems to contradict red and white sign?!

"Janet's Cafe" as seen from across the street

 As we waited for our food in Janet’s Café, Clark studied the town map and found some potential places of interest to visit before going back to the boat. Ultimately we made our way all the way to the end of Market Street to the Route 13 highway - a distance of about 2.5 miles. Since we made it that far, we continued on to the Food Lion supermarket and bought some cereal I needed for the boat.

On the way back to the boat we passed an ice cream shop called Scoops where Clark stopped and bought himself a sherbet. I had eaten so much quiche at Janet’s Café that I had no room for any more food. Just the thought of eating ice cream on top of the quiche made me turn green.

Scoops Ice Cream Shoppe

Old-time sign in Scoops

All told today we must have biked about seven miles or maybe more with our back-and-forth traversing of the town. Eventually, however, we got back to the boat and stepped inside to enjoy the air conditioning we had left running all day in our absence. Awww! That felt nice! It did not last long, though, as after only about five minutes on board, Clark said he wanted to go see the Mallard’s at the Wharf restaurant that used to be an old store and still has the store shelves and some cabinets in place.  With the viewing of the old store now restaurant, I think we exhausted the historic sites Onancock has to offer.

Old-time Store -
Now Mallards at the Wharf Restaurant

Shelves in Hopkins & Bros Store Still in place

Small Merchandise Cabinet in
Hopkins & Bros. Store

When we finally settled down on the boat to “relax” for the rest of the day, I started working on the blog, and Clark decided he needed to clean his strainers. I must say that I like my idea of relaxing a lot more than his!

Cleaning the Strainer on the Port Engine
(creamed spinach anyone?)

Having had an over-sized lunch, I had trouble feeling even the slightest bit hungry for dinner. Thankfully I had the leftovers from last night's dinner on board to appease Clark's appetite without having to cook.

After dinner Clark went out for a stroll and was gone for hours. I found him on my way back to the boat from my shower. He was talking to other boaters. I swiped the camera to complete my blog entry for the day.

Onancock Creek

Onancock Creek in the evening

Sunset on Onancock Creek