Shore town's charm attracts artists, tourists

ONANCOCK, Va. — Virginia's Eastern Shore doesn't have the multimillion-dollar homes of North Carolina's Outer Banks or the boardwalks and arcades of resort towns like Ocean City to the north.

Major tourist development has largely skipped over the Eastern Shore and its low-lying, marshy string of barrier islands, leaving the remote peninsula thinly populated and much as it might have been two centuries ago. Farmers continue to till the sandy earth for soybeans, tomatoes and green beans, while watermen trawl the Chesapeake Bay for crabs and fish, as they have for generations.

But the outside world is beginning to take notice of the Eastern Shore's graceful inlets and historic towns. Few places are the changes more noticeable than in Onancock, a town of 1,200 about 75 miles north of Norfolk, where a small artist colony has sprung up that attracts hundreds of well-heeled tourists every summer to mingle with the weathered fishermen at the Onancock Wharf.

Art galleries now line the town's main thoroughfare, Market Street, as do a number of stately mansions from the early 1800s that have been beautifully restored and turned into upscale bed-and-breakfasts. Moneyed entrepreneurs from South America have opened restaurants serving Mediterranean fare and expensive martinis with names like the "Vantini" (a mix of vodka, champagne and peach schnapps).

A small playhouse produces works by Neil Simon and Truman Capote, using local talent and playing to an audience that is typically packed in the summer. Down the street is a gourmet food shop, where patrons can choose from dozens of imported wines and numerous types of cheese.

In juxtaposition to this "new" Onancock is the Corner Bakery, a family-owned shop in the town's small downtown, where crabbers and fishermen still stop for doughnuts and strong coffee before heading out to sea in the morning. At old Methodist churches with spires that pierce the sky, residents rummage through items at yard sales and munch on baked goods sold out front.

It's the town's isolated charm and these apparent incongruities that make Onancock special. Small-time development has revitalized the centuries-old downtown, but fast-food restaurants and retail chains are nowhere to be found.

First stop for any visitor is one of the Victorian-era bed-and-breakfasts that cater to the summer's burgeoning tourist crowds. A treat is the Montrose House located just outside the town center, set amid a well-manicured, two-acre Italian garden and outfitted with antique American and English furniture.