by Mary Wakefield Buxton –
Urbanna, Va.— Welcome to Urbanna! Many visitors this weekend are coming to town to enjoy the annual Urbanna Oyster Festival. If so, you will sample some of the finest seafood in the world, see many sights in our historic port town (founded 1688) and meet some of the friendliest people found anywhere.
Lucky me. We moved here from Newport News in 1984 and we have spent the last 35 years in Urbanna enjoying many benefits of what I value most about life… small town life.
What is there about Urbanna that I love so much? Well, I guess it’s the close proximity to what Shakespeare called “the green world” . . . nature . . . and a life lived far away from cement, noise, pollution, high population, crime, traffic, stoplights, buses, trains, planes and fast food . . . what some call very much needed conveniences but I call blights of our modern world.
Here’s what I love: The other day I watched a storm come down river from Fredericksburg. First, black clouds filled the western sky like smoke in blazing fire and then a massive gust of wind hit the smooth grey silk turning it to corduroy, then a frenzy of ripples, to a wild froth of mohair and finally white caps.
When the wind fills the air it’s goose-bump thrilling. It whistles and roars and one standing in its wake feels breathless in sudden uplift, as if sucked up into a wild funnel high into the sky. Leaves are swept off trees in the tempest, an explosion of gulls scream from their roost along the shore, and pine trees bend over as if in desperate prayer.
Then comes the sheets of rain that finally drive human and beast for cover and finally rare contentment of hearing rain pelting against roof and pane, and that superb feeling of coziness in the simple awareness that one is warm and dry in the midst of the melee.
Then the storm ends and, voila! The sun bursts forth from the clouds that are swept away like puffs of spent cotton to the dustbin and sudden fire leaps to life and sets the newborn world glistening and aglow.
Then there is nighttime in Urbanna with starry cover against the black sky spread overhead, like rice thrown against asphalt and a great silvery moon that knocks you almost unconscious with joy every time it rises over the dark horizon.
Here’s another secret treasure; every summer at dusk just before the sun sets, Urbanna Creek turns a heavenly pink and shadows of the docks are struck against the rose water. It takes your breath away, honestly, it is as if some artist stood on Urbanna bridge and threw a can of paint in the drink. Oh, how can one live without such sights?
The quiet is the best of all, writers need peace and quiet and time to reflect about the world and life around us, and Urbanna is silent at night, no sounds of machines or traffic or humans and one can hear the calls of nature . . . in daytime varied sounds of birdsong that start as the sun peeks over the trees and later, in evening, frogs and insects sing and buzz with an occasional hoot-hoot of the old owl that lives in the stead of pine trees in the backyard.
If you’re lucky this weekend and you keep your ears peeled you might hear the chimes from Urbanna Baptist Church, which ring at 9 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. every day. That’s the white Victorian church with black shutters and gingerbread trim that proudly stands at the foot of town just as you cross the bridge.
I love the animals I see sneaking into my kitchen patio for a bite of cat food or birdseed . . . the raccoon family. Mom and Pop and the three babies as cute as furry muffs, the eight stray cats that live in the ravine, Gracie, Pop Eye, Smudge, Tweedie, Curly, Pepper, Blackie and Wrinkle, and umpteen squirrels flickering their furry tails, the crusty opossum, and even an albino skunk.
What supreme pleasure it is to walk or bike around Urbanna each day. I know every cat, dog and most of the 500 fortunate people who live here and, yes, everyone waves when they pass me by.
I hope while you are visiting Urbanna you experience some of my favorite sensations. Perhaps you can escape the crowds for a few minutes, get off by yourself and look at the river, sky and creek. Once seen, I promise you, such sights are never forgotten.
In the meantime have fun and welcome to Urbanna! ©2019
Note: Mary Wakefield Buxton will be selling her latest book, “Tripping: A Writer’s Journeys,” along with her other books during the Urbanna Oyster Festival in front of the Southside Sentinel on Virginia Street.
