Mom's Last Trip Back to the Eastern Shore

This weekend a good chunk of the Smallwood family got together to take Mom (grandma) back up to her childhood town of Onley, VA., which is just Northeast of Norfolk (I learned it was pronounce naw-fuk). It was a great vacation!

We took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It was so windy I thought we would all blow over the edge when we got about 1/2 way across.

Once we got to Onley we went straight to The Corner Bakery. Ever since I have been in the Smallwood family I have heard about the famous Squashies. It would have been a travesty if we had driven 5 hours and not picked up Squashies. Squashies are not the actual name of the doughnut. Mom's brother who had Down Syndrome gave them the nick-name. The Bavarian Cream Puff with marshmallow filling and powdered sugar coating lived up to its hype! We actually pre-ordered 7 dozen to split among the 9 of us. No, I did not eat my 1/2 a dozen, but if they had stayed fresh for another few days I probably could have!

After we finished up at The Corner Bakery, Mom visited with a childhood friend. The rest of the group went to the Onancock Wharf. This is a picture of Susan with most of her boys. Afterwards, we drove up to Chinoteague and Assateague to see the wild horses and very braves seagulls who took pretzels out of Michael's hand.

The family was excited to get some authentic Eastern Shore seafood so we asked the maid at our hotel where she would recommend. She sent us to The Great Machipongo Clam Shack for the great food and the live local entertainment. We were optimistic when we saw the fresh local seafood for sale just off the restaurant. Ya know when you sit down with a big group and it gets quiet once the food comes because everyone is enjoying it so much that talking just doesn't seem quite as fun anymore? How about when the crowd hushes to listen to the oh so talented local artist? Yeah.....we kept talking and zoomed out as quickly as possible! I think most of us would choose that dinner as the low point of the whole trip.

Sunday morning we went to Onley's only United Methodist Church. Mom's grandfather was a preacher here, her mother was a Sunday school teacher, and her father directed the youth choir in this quaint red brick church. We were welcomed with open arms and heard many stories about Mary Ellen (Mom) from a few of her childhood friends.

After church we drove out to find the old Bull farm (The Bull's are Mom's parents, grandparents, and relatives). We found it with some help from the woman who's grandfather was responsible for the Bull family losing their fortune, farm, and the house. The house was empty and looked like it was being remodeled.

The house has the Bull family cemetery in the back corner of the lot. Susan was standing at the edge of the cemetery when she took the picture of the back of the house. It was a huge plot of land that made up most of a peninsula right on the bay that the family use to have and everyone was a little bummed that it was no longer in the family. But, no one is living in this house, so maybe one day in the future we can bring it back into the family.

It was wonderful! I think the only thing that could have made it more perfect (besides the food) would have been having all of the grand-kids come to take Mom back to her roots.