Eastern Shore

Virginia’s Eastern Shore is the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula — a long, narrow finger of farmland and salt marsh between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic, reaching from the Maryland line south to the mouth of the bay. The terrain is flat: ditched cropland on the bayside and a chain of barrier islands, marshes, and inlets on the seaside. Two counties cover the entire region. Accomack runs from the Maryland line south through Onancock, Onley, and Chincoteague; Northampton picks up at the narrowing peninsula and runs to Cape Charles at the southern tip, where the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel carries traffic across to Virginia Beach. Tangier Island, reachable only by ferry, sits well out in the bay and remains one of the last working waterman communities on the Chesapeake. Most trips here focus on Chincoteague and Assateague — the wild ponies, the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, and the swimming beach inside the Virginia portion of Assateague Island National Seashore. Cape Charles has been quietly converted into a beach-town getaway with a working harbor; Tangier draws day-trippers for its isolated culture. Outside the summer season the region runs slow.