Former Bay Ferry Still In Service

(Picture and article courtesy shoredailynews.com)

Ever get nostalgic about riding the Chesapeake Bay Ferries?

One of the ferries that formerly plied the waters between Kiptopeke and Cape Charles is still in service. The ferry Virginia Beach was put in service by the Virginia Ferry Commission in 1959. The Virginia Beach was a converted World War II LST that was used originally in the invasion of Normandy. Along with the Pocohontas, Delmarva, Old Point Comfort and the Princess Anne, the Virginia Beach was sold to the Cape May Lewis Ferry Company in 1964 after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel opened.

The Virginia Beach was renamed the Cape Henlopen and served on that route until the mid seventies according to Captain Richard Belote, a former captain of the Princess Anne and a long time employee of both the Virginia and Delaware ferries. At that time the ferry was sold to the Cross Sound Ferry Company to run between New London Connecticut and Oient Point on the northern tip of Long Island New York where she continues to serve today.

The Cape Henlopen is the only original ferry from the fleet to survive. The Pocohontas, Delmarva, Northampton and Old Point Comfort were scrapped, the Princess Anne is now a fishing reef off of Palm Beach Florida and the Accomac was being refurbished to send to the Amazon River when she caught fire in a Norfolk shipyard and was declared a total loss. All of the older ferries were of mid 1930s or 1940s vintage with the Accomack being rebuilt from the old Virginia Lee to accommodate automobiles only.

The Cross Sound Ferry Company apparently intends to continue to use the Cape Henlopen for a while longer. A photo on their web site shows the boat in dry dock in 2009 where she received new engines.

Summer Series At Wallops

Astronomy & Night Sky Summer Series

Save the Dates: July 14, July 21, and August 12

 Astronomy Summer Series

The NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center and its 

partner the Delmarva Space Sciences Foundation, will 

kick-off the Astronomy and Night Sky Summer Series at 

Assateague Island, Virginia starting Thursday, July 14.

Each event will begin with an Astronomy 101 

presentation at the Chincoteague National Wildlife 

Refuge Herbert H. Bateman Education Center Auditorium

 at 7:30 p.m. followed by night sky observations through 

telescopes and binoculars located at the north end of 

beach parking lot #1.

Discover the night sky through observations of Saturn, 

Jupiter, Mars, Earth’s Moon, clusters and galaxies. The 

series will continue on Thursday, July 21 and Friday,

 August 12. The Perseid meteor shower will be the focus 

of the event on August 12 when it is at its peak.

This series is a collaboration between Assateague Island

 National Seashore, Chincoteague National Wildlife

 Refuge, Delmarva Space Sciences Foundation, and the

 NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center.

The event is free and open to the public. The Astronomy 

101 presentation will occur regardless of weather,

 however, the telescope viewing is subject to 

cancellation due to inclement weather. Park entrance 

fees apply.

TIME MACHINE: 1931, 1975, 1834, 1885.

(Reader-friendly viewing of news archives/historical archives material)

January, 1931

          The Denton Journal, (Denton, Md.)               

September, 1975

          The Morning Herald (Hagerstown, Md).               

September, 1834

          Boston Post.               

September, 1885

          Peninsula Enterprise               

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