Last Tuesday in Buzzy’s Country Store I was talking to my friend Steve Wilkinson who told me about his 94 year old mother-in-law who lives with him and his wife Candy. He told me that Candy had taken her Mom on a road trip for a visit back to Eastern Shore Virginia where Mom has a 5 acre lot with her home place on it in Exmore.
I was not familiar with where Exmore was but Steve told me that it is on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (ESVA) about mid-way up from the Bay Bridge Tunnel and Chincoteague. (I later learned that ESVA is comprised of two Virginia counties (Accomack and Northhampton) and stretches for approximately 70 miles before Rt. 13 takes you back into Maryland. I vaguely recall driving there years ago after making my way thru the Bay Bridge Tunnel, but I don’t remember much else about it other than it was someplace you drove through to get to where you really wanted to go.)
The day after Steve and I had had this conversation, a couple visited Buzzy’s and the fella informed me that he too was named Buzzy. As he purchased a Buzzy hat, I asked him how he got the nickname and he said that his Dad had started calling him that and it had stuck.
When I asked him where he was from, he told me “Eastern Shore Virginia.” I told him about my friend Steve just in the Store the day before and how his mother-in-law was from Exmore. The guy laughed and said “We live just up the road from there.” I laughed too and commented about how that was 2 references in two days to a place that I had previously never heard of.
For those of you who, like me, have never been to Exmore, check out this short video someone made and dubbed in a nice little tune by a girl group The Three Degrees. (Note the big yellow building at the 1:40 mark is a commercial building Benjamin’s Department Store. It was built in 1910 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Bout time I got Buzzy’s listed on that Register don’t you think?)