The Eastern Shore (Delmarva peninsula) is really a world unto itself. Michiner's novel "Chesapeake" describes it pretty well. For years it had its own accent, . . .very Scottish with "house" pronounced 'huse"... though this seems to be dying out.
I take back roads down to Chincoteague and try to pass through Snow Hill to get an idea of the past prosperity of the place. The grandiose turn of the century houses in that little town are impressive (as is the sheriff's office trying ticket every car passing through). The peninsula was and still is a major truck farming area but much of it is returning to wilderness as the small towns slowly crumble. Wild life abounds and the birds seem plentiful. Long bare fields with corn stubble and in places bits of green from some winter planting along with khaki colored tufted cattails making a 10' soft mattress like left-over of some sort of crop dot the landscape interspersed with woodlots and forests. Some large agri-businesses have a few factories, storage siloes but most of the small industries have withered except a small number of sawmills. Signs pointing to boat ramps are ubiquitous.
There used to be a rail line connecting Cape Charles - where rail cars were barged across the Chesapeake to Norfolk - connecting to Philadelphia and NYC. There still are several small branch lines running from the Virginia line up through Maryland into Delaware....there were two diesel engines with 8 cars for hauling produce on a track near highway 13. The bartender in Chincoteague....and this time of year it's only the locals, watermen mostly, hanging out there - recalled his great-grandfather loading up wagons of oysters to take to the tracks for shipment north. He mentioned that the Virginia part had stayed occupied during "the War."
People who grew up near the Eastern Shore or "the Shore" (and "Old Colonel" is one of them) clearly understand what a unique environment it is. Incidentally, the national park police on both Chincoteague and Assateague (Maryland side of the line) are the heaviest armed park police I've ever seen. Every Park SUV has an M-4 5.56 with the full auto switch activated and a Remington Marine Magum 870 striped to the roll bars and most carry two sidearms. Either they are expecting an invasion, the local stills are a problem, or major smuggling operations cross those deserted beaches.
As for government for 120 years Maryland has been regarded as the most intrinsically corrupt state on the East Coast. I can't imagine they efficiently manage anything. But. . .you get what you vote for...or what is gerrymandered.
Here is a close up of the sunrise which gives a better feel of what one sees. The colors are nature's. (Looks like a Whistler painting "Symphony in Grey and Orange?", or perhaps more like Turner).
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/WgL2Xot.png)
