Things to do / Travel Guide
One of the best ways to get a feel for eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland is quite simply to drive it. The scenic drives through the region are jam-packed with breathtaking coastal and roadside views, idyllic fishing villages, pristine wildlife, and history.
Scenic Drives on the Delmarva Peninsula
Just a straight-shot 30-mile ride south along Delaware State Road 1/Maryland State Road 528 (Coastal Highway) from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to Ocean City, Maryland, this route will leave you marveling at the Delmarva Peninsula's beauty. With soul-soaring water views to the right and left, trace the thin spit of land that is the Delaware Seashore State Park. Rehoboth Bay and Indian River Bay to the east, the Atlantic Ocean always to the west, you will pass through Bethany Beach, South Bethany, and the Assawoman Wildlife Area. Continue past the Little Assawoman Bay to Fenwick Island and then cruise over the Delaware-Maryland state line to the coastal town of Ocean City.
Eastern Virginia Scenic Drives
Over and under and through the sea - the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a 23-mile, open water drive across the deep blue Chesapeake Bay. To drive across this man-made engineering wonder, start in either the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area going north, or Cape Charles, on the southern tip of Delmarva Peninsula, going south and follow U.S. Highway 13 over a series of trestles, causeways, bridges, and tunnels. Note that when crossing the bridge-tunnel, you'll have to pay a toll. The vast majority of the drive will be passenger- and driver-side views of the glistening Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, sea birds, and passing naval and commercial ships, and the drive will dip you down into two tunnels before you reach your final destination.
Sprawling, riverside antebellum mansions, bucolic farms, tree-lined roadsides, and lazy, river inlets await you on Plantation Road, Virginia State Road 5. This quintessential Virginia drive winds along the banks of the James River, moseying its way from Richmond to Williamsburg. The charming 55-mile excursion will take you past Fort Harrison and the Richmond National Battlefield, as well as some of the best colonial plantations in the region. Pick up State Road 5 in Richmond and follow its southeastern, squiggle-path along the James River until you arrive in charming, historic Williamsburg.
Widely considered one of the most beautiful roadways on the East Coast, the Colonial Parkway is a 23-mile historic journey through many U.S. historic sites. Even if you choose not to stop at the historic sites that line the route, the views of marshlands, brilliantly colored woodlands, and the stark blues of the York River and James River and worth your while. The Colonial Parkway starts in Jamestown (the first permanent English settlement in North America), passes through the Colonial National Historic Park, skirts the scenic banks of the James River, and passes through colonial Williamsburg, Virginia's restored 18th-century capital and one of the country's most important historic sites. The Colonial Parkway ends, quite fittingly, in Yorktown, whereGeorge Washington and the Patriot army brought the British army to its knees in 1781.
North Carolina Shore Scenic Drives
The Outer Banks Scenic Byway is North Carolina's Outer Banks in a nutshell: lighthouses galore, coastal communities, wildlife refuges, gulls and pelicans, white-sand beaches, and island-hopper ferries are just a few of this scenic drive's myriad highlights. The drive is about 110 miles long, and you will need to take two ferries to complete the entire route.
Start at Whalebone Junction and follow State Road 12 south past Bodie Island Lighthouse, Pea Island Wildlife Refuge, and Chicomacomico Lifesaving Station, and then continue on through the seafaring towns of Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, and Buxton. Just before reaching the end of Cape Hatteras, you will pass the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the towns of Frisco and Hatteras. From Hatteras you (and your car) will board the free ferry to Ocracoke Island where you will continue on State Road 12 through Cape Hatteras National Seashore the town of Ocracoke (the pirate Blackbeard's old stomping grounds) and the Ocracoke Island Lighthouse.
On the southern shores of Ocracoke Island you will take a toll ferry (cars welcome) for a fabulous two-and-a-half hour ride to Cedar Island. There you will catch U.S. Highway 70, which runs along the jagged shoreline toward a grand finale in the historic town of Beaufort. Reservations for the Ocracoke-Cedar Island ferry should be made in advance through the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Drive the Outer Banks Scenic Byway in segments with pleasant (and even spontaneous) stopovers, or make a long, leisurely summer day of it. While the lovely Outer Banks coastal and lighthouse views eventually slip out of sight, the memory of the area's quaint, seafaring charm will follow you all the way home.
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