All posts by Viki Volk

Island Cottage Sale Interrupted by Hurricane Sandy

Photo by Jeffrey Clark

The last rendition of the biannual Island Cottage Sale, while off to a great star, was interrupted by the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. The Sale, scheduled for October 27 and 28, was cut short by the approaching storm and threat of high waters.

One item of special interest at the Sale was the unveiling of Southern Maryland Alive and Well! a small coffee-table book of photographs published by JefClarkArt. This is a limited edition book with only a few copies in existence. They make perfect holiday gifts for only $49. Every shot in the book was taken no more than a few miles from St. George Island with scenes of Potomac River sunsets, old barns, exotic animals, beautiful flowers and more. Contact us at JefClark@aol.com for details on ordering.

Returning from Nova Scotia, with Pictures

I have returned from a brief but enriching visit to Nova Scotia, the jewel in the crown of Canada’s Atlantic Provinces.

As the name implies, Nova Scotia has a decidedly Celtic flair. The landscape is stupendous and the scenes along the ocean front are as quaint and rustic as you get with thousands of sailboats on the water and in the harbors.

The peninsula [not island, as assumed] has quite the history: the Halifax explosion of 1917 was the largest man-made explosion in the world until the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. In 1912 it was the center of the recovery efforts following the sinking of the Titanic several hundred miles offshore and the sad story of that catastrophe is on display in the Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. In addition, Nova Scotia is full of great restaurants serving lobster and every seafood dish known to man.

The already apparent prosperity of Halifax is about to gain more momentum as the Canadian Navy prepares to invest several billions dollars in an updating of its fleet, with the local ship building industry taking the lead.

Capturing the Race One More Time

Sometimes it seems like you don’t need to boat up the St. Mary’s River from St. George Island one more time to catch the drama and pageantry of the Governor’s Cup – until you do.

There is always something incredibly thrilling about seeing the endless parade of beautiful and graceful sail boats with their spinnakers puffed out and their crews silently determined to get across the finish line at Church Point in Historic St. Mary’s City. And it helps a lot if it is a beautiful day with lots of brisk breezes, as was the case last week.

August 3 and 4 marked the 39th version of the Governor’s Cup, the oldest and longest overnight sailboat race on the Chesapeake. Scores of boats made the overnight trek from Maryland’s current capital to its first. The warning gun blared at 5:55 pm in Annapolis, and, 13 hours and 27 minutes later, the first boat crossed the finish line at St. Mary’s City.

Anchored off Church Point was The Dove, the replica of one of the two ships that first brought settlers to Maryland in 1634. The Dove served as the official boat of the Racing Committee which organizes the race each year.

Festivities on the banks of the St. Mary’s River add an element of celebration to the race’s finale, though in truth a lot of the sailors appeared to be a little too exhausted to add much to the party.

JefClarkArt was happy to cover the Governor’s Cup one more time and already has plans for GovCup 2013!