WILD ACRES, Sporting Life

Wild Acres is a rare estate gracing Onancock Creek in Accomack County on Virginia’s Eastern
Shore. The area is a world-renowned hunting
and fishing mecca – an all-around sporting
paradise. Expansive rural land like that
found on Wild Acres is steadily disappearing.
True to its name, Wild Acres is a
haven for wildlife. Canada geese, 12
species of ducks, deer and turkey abound.
Bobwhite quail, mourning dove and small
game inhabit the woodland edge. Hunting
deer with bow and arrow, muzzleloader or
rifle reaps bountiful harvests. Waterfowl
hunting in blinds or with make-do evergreen
branches yields daily bag limits.
This 127.7- acre tract is also a vital
staging and nesting area for thousands of
migrating neo-tropical songbirds. It is ideal
for bird-watching and photography, making
it a premier wildlife lover’s destination.
Across the water from Wild Acres is the
759-acre Parkers Marsh Natural Area
Preserve. This sanctuary is home to the
northeastern beach tiger beetle, nesting peregrine falcons and the secret salt-marsh
sparrow.
Long before my birth, my maternal
grandparents gave Wild Acres with a preexisting
dwelling to my mother and father.
My grandparents lived just a half-mile
down the road in the village of Poplar
Cove. My grandfather, Harvey Mears,
owned and operated a country store there in
the 1920s where local patrons gathered for
conversation and to purchase flour, sugar
and hard candy. He also owned two nearby
barrel factories and the largest diamondback-
terrapin farm in the state. Steamboats
rolled in from Baltimore to load up with terrapin
meat bound for high-end restaurants.
Earlier history suggests that
Captain John Smith may have sailed past
Wild Acres during his explorations in the
Chesapeake Bay. Native Americans
frequented this land, as evidenced by
arrowheads or projectile points and other
dated tools poking up in the fields and
along the shoreline.
Named years later by my mother,
Wild Acres consists of 50 acres of harvestable
timber. In fact, the Virginia Department of
Forestry has recommended a harvest plan.
Mixed hardwoods. including oaks, sweet
gum, wild cherries, and other deciduous
species, as well as Eastern red cedars and
loblolly pines, are home to American woodcock,
Eastern gray squirrels, and myriad
birds. Flowering dogwoods, American hollies
and other small trees comprise the understory.
Southern bayberry (waxed myrtle)
and other thick shrubs provide wonderful
shelter along the periphery for nesters.
A vast brackish marsh draws
clapper rails, shorebirds and muskrats. It
also serves as a nursery for fish, crustaceans
and mollusks. Offshore, a shellfish lover
may plant an oyster bed or two.
The majority of a 14-acre field is
currently under the USDA Conservation
Resource Enhancement Program. A new
owner may elect out of this program and
resume farming soybeans, sunflowers, corn
and other area crops, plant a tree farm or perform another earth-compatible activity.
Toward the end of the field road leading up
the permanent-easement driveway is a line
of American elms and deodar cedars. Roseladen
trellises and sparkling white fences as
well as camellia, abelia and red bell bushes
accentuate the immediate area outside the
house. Pecan, walnut and pear trees flourish
on the one-acre lawn. In spring, the grounds
are enhanced with the sweet scents of
purple iris, daffodils and rhododendron
pollinated by butterflies, bees and
hummingbirds. In autumn, a lone bald
cypress showcases a coppery foliage.
With more than a mile of waterfront,
a boating, hunting or fishing
aficionado will cherish Wild Acres.
Ketches and schooners share the waterway
with powerboats and kayaks, as well as a
parade of hunting and fishing boats. My
mother used to describe our land as “the last
private property closest to Baltimore, starboard
side out the creek.”
My father and grandfather used to
suit up in winter and try their luck at rock
fishing along the shoreline. Angling in the
creek still yields puppy drum, croaker and
many other prized game fish, such as
speckled trout. Blue crabs also adorned the
dinner table throughout the year, offering
meals fit for a king. To this day they remain
abundant and delicious. The only hindrance
to fishing is the occasional competition
from bald eagles, ospreys and great blue
herons.
Sunsets along Onancock Creek
will touch anyone’s heart and soul. Our
nation’s largest estuary, the Chesapeake
Bay, can be seen to the west. From the air,
Wild Acres is a neatly packaged maze of
trees, rip-rapped coastline, beach and
wetland meadows glistening with marsh
elders, Spartina and wildflowers.
From the attic window of the onestory,
nine-room white bungalow, I used to
gaze upon this sporting paradise. The flocks
of ducks, herds of wild deer and divine
sunsets have left me with a lifetime of fond
memories. Wild Acres would make a wonderful summer vacation home or a year
round venue. Hunters could occupy a hideaway
from fall through spring and it will
make a wonderful preserve for an environmentally
friendly family.
Wild Acres is only a four-minute
boat ride from the closest town of
Onancock and four hours from Washington,
D.C., and Baltimore.



http://www.emilygreyphotography.com

Emily M. Grey, a resident of Onancock,
Virginia, on the Eastern Shore, is a writer,
photographer, attorney, naturalist and
wildlife biologist. Her passions are global
travel, nature and sports.

The Virginia Sportsman  Apr/May 2015