Focus on Coastal Towns

Once hailed as the fishing capital of the East Coast, Reedville grew from a small fishery established by Captain Elijah Reed in 1867. From this fisherman’s town located between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers on the Northern Neck, watermen have cast their wickerwork, pots, and pound nets to catch fish, crabs, and oysters for hundreds of years. Even today, Reedville is one of the most active fishing ports in America, and home to a menhaden commercial fishing industry.

Several sport-fishing charters are available for the recreational fisherman. Each year, the town plays host to the Reedville Bluefish Derby, featuring $110,000 in cash prizes. In October, visitors enjoy watching the annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race that runs from Baltimore to Norfolk. Boats ply past the Smith Point Lighthouse, the long-standing beacon of the area. One of the late 19th-century caisson lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay, it sits just off Smith Point. Reedville sailors also participate in the Turkey Shoot Regatta in October, hosted by the nearby Yankee Point Marina. Classic sailboats, such as the 1911 skipjack Claud W. Somers (below), compete. Last year’s featured boat was the Godspeed, a replica of one of the early 17th-century sailing vessels that brought the settlers to Jamestown.

Historic Reedville’s golden age of prosperity from the menhaden fishing industry is reflected in the Victorian mansions that line the historic district’s Main Street. The Reedville Fishermen’s Museum, founded in 1986, preserves the rich heritage of the fishermen and watermen of Virginia’s Northern Neck and Chesapeake Bay. In addition to the Covington Building housing permanent and changing exhibits, the museum features the William Walker House, built in 1875, a typical waterman’s home at the turn of the century. In the water, the museum showcases the Claud W. Somers, a 42-foot skipjack built in 1911, and the Elva C., a 55-foot traditional workboat dating from 1922. The museum plans to expand its campus to include boat building facility and model-making enterprises.

In other efforts to preserve local heritage, the Greater Reedville Association and the Virginia Folklife Program produced a traveling exhibit, “Because My Work is What I Do: Watermen of the Northern Neck,” featuring the voices of the watermen describing the pleasure and hardships of traditional livelihoods harvesting oysters and crabs, working pound-nets, netting menhaden, and building workboats. It documented these vanishing occupational traditions and advances understanding of cultural, social, and ecological issues affecting both the Northern Neck and the watermen. Out of this work emerged the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, retired menhaden fishermen who perform the work songs they once used to coordinate their raising of nets by hand.

While Virginia's native oysters continue to succumb to disease and are threatened by pollution in many areas, signs of resurgence by young oysters on new man-made reefs, keep hopes of maintaining the population alive. With the assistance of waterman, the Virginia Coastal Program is reconstructing the oyster's natural reef habitat to support the dwindling, but persevering oyster population. In the late 1990s, two oyster reefs were constructed in the Great Wicomico River, just down stream of Reedville's Cockrell Creek. For more information on the reef restoration effort, visit the Virginia Oyster Heritage Program.

This fisherman’s town is also home to Smith Island and Tangier Island Cruise boats, which operate from May through mid-October. The isolated island towns are well worth the visit and the cruise across the Chesapeake Bay is most enjoyable.
 

Virginia Coastal Program

Reedville Fisherman's Museum

Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race
 

Located between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers on the Northern Neck, Reedville is one of the most active fishing ports in America.






The Reedville Fisherman's Museum showcases a skipjack and traditional work boat, both dating from the early 1900s.






Located in the historic district, the Gables now serves as a bed and breakfast.