Geographical Oddity

While attending school as a small child I recall making maps and doing research about varying United States areas, and foreign countries, alike.  Those times were called geography class.

Somehow, the maps and our study meshed neatly with some of our history and language classes, making for a more thorough lesson.

Living on The Eastern Shore presents a special kind of geography lesson in which likely few people ever participated.

The words “The Shore” are used by so many people to mean so many different things, and therein lies the problem.

New Jersey, Delaware, the People’s Republic of Maryland, and Virginia all have areas called The Shore.

Reading local newspapers and books, one would think that only Maryland possessed The Shore.  It doesn’t.

To make things more concise, people will add terms such as “Upper Shore” and “Lower Shore”.  Of course, that Maryland joint doesn’t recognize Virginia as even touching water.

So when Marylanders say Upper Shore, they really mean Maryland closest to Delaware; when they say Lower Shore, they are referring to Maryland near the Georgia border.

You must understand that the Atlantic Ocean barely touches Maryland’s eastern shore because of a strip of land called Assateague.  Assateague is a barrier island – 37-miles long.  The northern two-thirds are in Maryland, while the other one third is in Virginia territory.  That is, unless you query Marylanders who believe it is all in Maryland.

Until the 1933, this was one solid island.  Then, a violent storm cut a space through this fragile land creating two parts.

The United States government eventually decided it could better manage the land and created the Assateague National Wildlife Refuge.  Since this barrier island protects a Virginia island named Chincoteague, the Virginia portion is often referred to as the Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge, too.

Here comes the good part.

Virginia’s portion of The Shore forms the back side of the Chesapeake Bay.  This bay is also thought of as belonging to Maryland; only a portion of it is on Maryland territory. 

When you hear about blue crabs from Maryland, it should be understood they don’t often use navigational aids to maneuver around.  Oddly enough they don’t know if they’re swimming or residing in Maryland or Virginia.

For Marylander Use

Moving south on a map from Virginia’s Eastern Shore will take you to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, abbreviated CBBT.

The CBBT consists of a series of bridges and tunnels completing the 17-mile span across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay – the Virginia portion that Maryland thinks it owns.

It lands on a spot of terra firma between Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia.  This land practically borders on the North Carolina state line.

These cities are populated with military personnel, marine services, and copious businesses.  As such, major television stations are based there.  In fact, all the television stations are based there.

WTKR, WAVY, WTVZ, WHRO, and WPXV, are all major players in the Virginia Beach area, which is roughly 70-miles from where I live on The Shore (the Virginia part of The Shore).

Their weather broadcasts speak of The Peninsula.  I’m not sure of the existence of another peninsula other than the Virginia portion of The Shore (not the Maryland side).

I’ve written to the weather clowns – er, meteorologists – about this, politely asking to which peninsula they are referring, to no avail.  Perhaps reading is not a requirement for a meteorologist, or maybe they are just plain uninformed about the definition of a peninsula.

To sum all this up, high-tax, liberty-restricting Maryland is not the sole owner of the Chesapeake Bay or the only state that abuts the Atlantic Ocean.

Virginia actually separates the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and Maryland from North Carolina.

Virginia Beach meteorologists have discovered a mystery peninsula somewhere near the Chesapeake Bay.

Don’t you wish you paid closer attention or smoked less weed in elementary school?