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32-615: United States Lightship 101 , now known as Portsmouth as a museum ship, was first stationed at Cape Charles, Virginia . Today she is at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum in Portsmouth, Virginia . Portsmouth never had a lightship station; however, when the vessel was dry docked there as a museum, she took on the pseudonym Portsmouth . A National Historic Landmark , she is one of a small number of surviving lightships. Lightship Portsmouth (LV-101)

64-580: A tugboat for the trip. The original passenger ferries, Cape Charles & Old Point Comfort , side-wheeler paddle steamers , could hold an entire train on their two tracks. In 1889 the New York the first propeller driven ship, 200 feet long, 31 feet beam was built for the run to Norfolk, and in 1890 the Pennsylvania , a larger vessel (260 feet long, 36 feet beam) was added. In 1907 the Maryland

96-745: A Maritime Loblolly Pine Forest, and ends at a low bluff overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. The preserve provides habitat for the federally threatened northeastern beach tiger beetle and is part of the Lower Delmarva Important Bird Area. During fall bird migration, the forest abounds with migratory songbirds and raptors resting and feeding before continuing their journey across the Chesapeake Bay . The Cape Charles Harbor serves local industry and commerce operations as well as tourists and recreational users. The harbor

128-469: A cost of nearly $ 300,000, the New York, Pennsylvania, and Norfolk Railroad (N.Y.P. & N. R.R.) was dredging a new harbor out of a large fresh-water lagoon between King's and Old Plantation creeks in lower Northampton County, and Scott planned to develop a new town around it called Cape Charles City. The appellation "City" for any place on the Eastern Shore was romantic, a vision of the future that

160-765: A day ran along the train line. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the PRR operated the day train, the Del-Mar-Va Express , and the night train, the Cavalier. At peak levels in the mid-1940s, the company also operated southbound, the Furlough, and an additional night train, the Mariner, in addition to unnamed local trains. Northbound the PRR added the Sailor, the Mariner night train, and an unnamed local train. By 1957

192-528: Is frequently utilized by Town residents and visitors for sightseeing. Cape Charles is also home to one of six public boat ramp sites in Northampton County , and one of only three sites on the County's Bayside. The nearby 29-acre Cape Charles Natural Area Preserve, owned by Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation , has a long boardwalk that traverses several natural communities, including

224-530: Is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km ) of it (16.06%) is water. The Chesapeake Bay impact crater formed about 35 million years ago during the late Eocene when a comet fragment or asteroid struck the U.S. Atlantic continental shelf in the area now occupied by the southern part of Chesapeake Bay and adjacent landmasses in the Virginia Coastal Plain. The resulting structure is an approximately circular, 53-mile-diameter crater centered near

256-576: Is situated directly on the Chesapeake Bay , bordered by King's Creek to the north and Old Plantation Creek to the south. The land in town is low lying and relatively flat, with the highest point of elevation at 15 feet, and a slope of less than 1%. Most of the developed land in town is between 5 and 10 feet in elevation. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 4.4 square miles (11.3 km ), of which, 3.7 square miles (9.5 km ) of it

288-537: The New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad Company (NYP&N), and purchased three plantations comprising approximately 2,509 acres from the heirs of former Virginia Governor Littleton Waller Tazewell . Of this land, 40 acres were ceded to the NYP&;N, and 136 acres went to create the Town of Cape Charles (technically known as the "Municipal Corporation of Cape Charles"). Some of this land, named Cape Charles for

320-517: The USA average). STAR Transit provides public transit services to Cape Charles. The town owns one of two public beaches on the Eastern Shore of Virginia , and the only public beach on the bayside of the Eastern Shore. The beach extends one-half mile along Bay Avenue with a paved walkway bordering the length of the beachfront. Residents and visitors of the town use the beach for swimming, sunbathing, and similar recreational pursuits. Public access onto

352-428: The age of 18 living with them, 30.4% were married couples living together, 19.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.1% were non-families. 43.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 26.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.91. In the town, the age distribution of the population shows 22.1% under

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384-460: The age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 22.0% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 23.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 76.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $ 22,237, and the median income for a family was $ 29,167. Males had a median income of $ 25,536 versus $ 23,984 for females. The per capita income for

416-459: The beachfront is provided by two wooden walkovers located near the end of Tazewell and Randolph Avenues, as well as the town's Fun Pier which also has a wooden walkover. The beach is stabilized with buried groins and a bulkhead. In 1987 the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the harbor and channel and deposited the sand along the beach area, which greatly expanded the width of the beach and improved

448-563: The formation of Conrail . With the breakup of Conrail many short-line railroads acquired parts of the route – freight service between Pocomoke City, Maryland , and Norfolk, Virginia was operated by the Eastern Shore Railroad between 1981 and 2006 and the Bay Coast Railroad between 2006 and 2018. The section north of Pocomoke City was operated by Norfolk Southern Railway as its Delmarva Secondary. In 2016,

480-646: The geographical cape found on the Point and headland to the south, Scott sold to the Railroad Company to serve as the southern terminus of the line on the Delmarva Peninsula from the Northeast states. In that same year, construction of the railroad began. In Cape Charles, the Railroad Company built a harbor port to handle steamships and freighters from Cape Charles to Norfolk. The original Town

512-493: The merits of the plan and took a hiatus from PRR to work on the new line. Cassatt surveyed the line on horseback, designed ferries and wharfs, acquired other railroads, most notably the Eastern Shore Railroad (1853), and the line was ready for operation in 1884. The line was financed by many PRR interests and was officially merged into the PRR in 1921. Through the first half of the 20th century, several trains

544-532: The mouth of the Bay to Norfolk Portsmouth , Virginia Beach and Chesapeake on the SouthSide / Tidewater and across Hampton Roads harbor to Hampton - Newport News on the northern Virginia Peninsula . The last ferry left Cape Charles in 1963. Cape Charles served as a terminal for railway freight barges that carried rail cars from the former Eastern Shore Railroad which later became Bay Coast Railroad across

576-564: The mouth of the Bay to Norfolk. The Bay Coast Railroad ceased operations in 2018. There is also a cement factory nearby. The town hosted the Northampton Red Sox in the old Eastern Shore Baseball League . The Cape Charles Historic District and Stratton Manor are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . As of the census of 2000, there were 1,134 people, 536 households, and 278 families residing in

608-573: The named trains were gone, and all that remained was a once-a-day Philadelphia –Cape Charles train. In 1958, the route was shortened: from Philadelphia to Delmar, Delaware at the Delaware–Maryland border. The last train was a Wilmington–Delmar train, Blue Diamond, ending in 1965. The original ferry crossing was 30 miles, which was later reduced to 26 miles when the terminals were relocated. Both passenger and freight ferries existed. Up to 30 freight cars could be loaded on flat barges pulled by

640-455: The quality of sand along the beachfront. Beach erosion is an ongoing problem and will require sand replenishment on a periodic basis in order to maintain a sandy beachfront. Adjacent to the public beach is a municipal pier which extends across the stone jetty at the entrance of the harbor. The wooden pier, which is known as the Fun Pier, has a railed siding and several built-in benches, and

672-695: The railroad might make possible....In 1890, the United States Army Corps of Engineers dredged the harbor basin, its entrance, and a channel through Cherrystone Inlet and built stone jetties protecting the harbor outlet. By 1912 the Engineer Corps estimated that Cape Charles harbor handled 2,500,000 tons of freight a year." Cape Charles was, for many years, the terminal for the Little Creek-Cape Charles Ferry , providing passenger and car ferry service across

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704-571: The town of Cape Charles. Under the Köppen climate classification , Cape Charles features a humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers and chilly, but not very cold winters. Temperatures routinely exceed 90 °F in the summer and typically dip below the freezing point during the winter, though it is somewhat rare for temperatures to dip far below freezing. Cape Charles on average receives roughly 45 inches of precipitation annually. Cape Charles receives 2300 hours of sunshine annually (higher than

736-443: The town was $ 13,789. About 21.5% of families and 28.4% of the population were below the poverty line , including 43.4% of those under age 18 and 23.0% of those age 65 or over. Cape Charles is located at 37°16′03″N 76°00′51″W  /  37.267522°N 76.014125°W  / 37.267522; -76.014125 (37.267522, −76.014125). Cape Charles lies on a peninsula and is surrounded by water on three sides. The town

768-475: The town. The population density was 309.4 people per square mile (119.3/km ). There were 740 housing units at an average density of 201.9 per square mile (77.9/km ). The racial makeup of the town was 53.79% White , 42.86% African American , 0.09% Native American , 0.44% Asian , 1.59% from other races , and 1.23% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.82% of the population. There were 536 households, out of which 21.1% had children under

800-670: Was donated to the City of Portsmouth, Virginia , to become a part of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. Portsmouth was dry docked at the London Pier in Portsmouth. Although she was never stationed there, she has taken on the city's name. In 1989, Portsmouth was designated a National Historic Landmark and is open for visitation. Lightship are numbered, the stations have names. Light Vessel 101

832-526: Was absorbed into the United States Coast Guard she was reclassified WAL-524, but still kept a station name on her hull. During World War II the vessel was not armed, however many other lightships were. In 1951 LV-101/WAL 524 was reassigned to Stonehorse Shoal, Massachusetts , where she served until decommissioned in 1963. The lightship then sat in harbor at Portland, Maine , until her fate had been decided. On 3 September 1964 LV-101

864-442: Was assigned to the stations: Cape Charles, Virginia Cape Charles is a town / municipal corporation in Northampton County, Virginia , United States. The population was 1,009 as of the 2010 Census . Cape Charles, located close to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay , on Virginia's Eastern Shore , was founded in 1884 as a planned community by railroad and ferry interests. In 1883, William Lawrence Scott became president of

896-507: Was built in 1915 by Pusey & Jones . She first served as Charles in the Chesapeake Bay outside Cape Charles, Virginia from 1916 until 1924. After that assignment Portsmouth served just over a year as the relief ship for other lightships in her district. She was then moved to Overfalls, Delaware , where she was stationed from 1926 to 1951 as Overfalls . In 1939 when the United States Lighthouse Service

928-526: Was built with the same dimensions, and the last ship was the Virginia Lee . Because most of the route served a rural area, revenue expectations were never met. Branches were abandoned and the final remnant of passenger service, a shuttle between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Delmar, Delaware , was discontinued in the mid-1960s. NYP&N’s identity was lost with the Penn Central merger and

960-600: Was originally developed to load and unload railroad cars on barges. The harbor includes extensive bulkheading, as well as commercial docking facilities for industrial uses. The Industrial land use in the Town is concentrated at the Cape Charles Harbor area, and includes the Eastern Shore Railroad , Bayshore Concrete, the commercial dock and the Sustainable Technology Park. New York, Pennsylvania, and Norfolk Railroad The NYP&N

992-461: Was surveyed, platted, and laid out with approximately 136 acres divided into 644 equal lots. Seven wider avenues which run from east to west were named for Virginia statesmen and political leaders; the streets which run north and south were named for fruits. The original layout of the Town is still very visible today, and was inspired by the layout of Erie, Pennsylvania , a city in which Scott was formerly mayor. Historian William G. Thomas writes, "At

United States lightship Portsmouth (LV-101) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-472: Was the vision of William Lawrence Scott , an Erie, Pennsylvania, coal magnate, who wanted to build a shorter railroad route between the coal wharfs of Hampton Roads by utilizing a ferry line across the Chesapeake Bay and a railroad line up the Delmarva Peninsula to the industrial north. Scott enlisted engineering help from Pennsylvania Railroad Vice-President, Alexander J. Cassatt , who saw

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