Life and Real Estate on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Planning for the event in Cape Charles called for the coordination of nearly every element of our community, private, business and public. Our own David Kabler from the Cape Charles office of Blue Heron Realty Co. had envisioned for many years the welcoming of tall sailing ships into the Harbor of Refuge in Cape Charles.  This bicentennial celebration offered him the perfect opportunity to demonstrate to the Eastern Shore community the power of tall ships in stimulating our economy. Beginning in February of 2011, David presented to the county government leaders and the leading economic powers of the Eastern Shore his Tall Ships Economic Development Initiative for the attraction of the tall ship industry. The first part of the plan called for our community’s participation in OpSail 2012 and afterwards an ongoing effort to attract tall ships throughout the year. Such an effort has proven to stimulate an host locality’s economy, tourism, education, community organization and infrastructure improvements, and during OpSail 2012 the Eastern Shore was no exception to this rule. The plan was readily adopted and publicly funded, setting into motion an organization of our community’s assets like we have never seen before.

In June, 2011, Blue Heron Realty sponsored our first tall ship visitor, Kalmar Nyckel, arguably the

queen of the tall ship fleet. She hails from Wilmington, DE, and is a replica of the 17th century Dutch trading ship that brought the first Swedish settlers to the area of Cape Henlopen, DE. The arrival of Kalmar Nyckel to the town harbor heralded the beginning of a remarkable weeklong visit that brought thousands of school children, tourists, and Eastern Shore residents to town. They toured the ship,  learning about 17th century transportation technology and nautical life and even taking sail charters aboard her out into the Chesapeake Bay. Government and business leaders throughout the County attended the ship that weekend to see first hand how remarkable such a ship is and how attractive she is to people of all ages and walks of life. To complement her visit, an anonymous donor generously sponsored the attendance of Queen Elizabeth I’s court, Historic Interpretations from Raleigh NC, replete with five Elizabethan tents populated by an entire troop of actors dressed in beautiful period costumes. Children came to the queen’s tent to be knighted, activities  of the 16th century were re-enacted, demonstrations of dance, games, food, and armour of the period were performed,  all set up in the new park in the center of town, appropriately called now Central Park.

After the excitement of the visit of Kalmar Nyckel died down, serious planning took hold for our community’s participation in OpSail 2012. More than thirty people, representing town and county governmental departments, local business organizations, and volunteers, began meeting monthly to organize what promised to be the largest festival ever held in Cape Charles.  Funding from Northampton County and the Town of Cape Charles provided seed money for grant applications that, together with generous private and commercial sponsorships, supported the wonderful concepts that made the Cape Charles Tall Ship Festival so special.  The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel offered organizers the use of the second island for public viewing of the spectacle of the Parade of Sail of the international fleet of tall sailing ships. The Bay Coast Railroad lent the use of their historic railyards for accomodating the many vendors and Historic Interpretations’ Elizabethan village. Cape Charles Town harbor generously offered the tall ships dockage at its brand new marina facility of floating piers. All of the schools of Northampton County participated in the Adopt-a-Ship program hosting the ships’ crews when they arrived at receptions and special events in their honor. Staging was erected for live music bands and food vendors of all sorts set up shop next to the docks. Hundreds of volunteers were organized by the Cape Charles Rotary for parking, transportation  and maning of the information centers around town. It is estimated that ten thousand people came to the four day event called Tall Ships at Cape Charles! You can imagine what kind of economic impact such attendance generates in a county of only about 13,000, in a town of  around 1,000.

Lasting impressions about our town, our county and our community were carried far and wide by the many visitors who left amazed by the wonderful scene of tall ships sailing in and out of the Cape Charles harbor. Months of public relations work generated huge interest in our event. Advertising on the highways, in printed publications and on the internet in websites and social media contributed untold benefits. All this together works long and hard towards establishing an identity for our community that will carry us forward for increased tourism, higher education, community cohesiveness and future improvements to the Eastern Shore of Virginia  in general. Now, due to the success of our participation in OpSail 2012, Northampton County has again funded the effort to attract the tall ship industry in their 2012-13 budget planning! And Blue Heron Realty is proud to say that we were the driving force behind the whole kit and caboodle!