Where in the world is Willis Wharf?

So many people at Bill P's camp in New Jersey asked me where I'm from that I figured I would post a few pictures of the town I live in...Willis Wharf, VA. It's technically a "seaside village" of about 200 people on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and at one point was one of the busiest seaports on the East Coast. Eventually, though, the oysters became scarce and there weren't enough fish to make pound-net fishing economical. Now clam aquaculture is big business, with several hatcheries in town and millions of clams shipped annually from here to markets all over the world.



Willis Wharf is the red dot above. We're about 30 miles from the southern tip of the Eastern Shore, and to go to Norfolk or any points south we have to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel that spans the mouth of the Bay...a neat (but expensive at $12) trip if you've never done it before.




My shop. It used to be a labor camp where the crews stayed when the fishing boats were ashore, so has lots of windows and doors. And wood floors...I really appreciate them when I visit folks that have concrete floors!




A view of Parting Creek, with a loading boom in the foreground that was used to unload boats. It's awfully pretty when the tide's up, but mostly mud flats when it's down...we have more that 5' of tide range on the average.





EL Willis restaurant, a great place for lunch if you're ever in town in the middle of the day.




Conch pots at the marina.




Remnents of hurricane Isabel. This was the winch building for one of the marine railways in town...the tide got so high during Isabel that waves smashed the back wall out of the building!




A work boat tied up at the town marina. She's being rigged for dredging crabs...only done in the winter around here.