Cape Charles, VA Shirts

Cape Charles was drawn on paper before it was built on sand. In 1884, railroad men plotted a tidy grid at the lower end of Virginia's Eastern Shore to serve as the southern terminus of a new line down the Delmarva Peninsula, naming the avenues for Virginia statesmen and the cross streets for trees and fruits. Trains arrived, barges ferried the cars across the Chesapeake to Norfolk, and a town of gingerbread-trimmed Victorian cottages sprang up block by block. The railroad era ended, but its grid still runs straight to a beach that faces west, a rarity on the Atlantic seaboard, which means the sun sets over open water while half the town gathers at the pier to watch. Giant letters spelling out love stand on the sand nearby, holding still for everyone's photographs. Our Cape Charles design belongs to that hour: the pier in silhouette, the sun flattening into the bay, cottage rooflines and a gull or two catching the last light. Cape Charles businesses will take their places on this page as they join ShirtMap.