Sailing Mystic Hearts

Urbanna was our first town destination of the cruise, and boy, was it a good one! Historically fascinating for such a small town, Native Americans settled the area around 1,000 BC. Much later in 1680, it was established as a colonial port town. Like on other rivers in Virginia, early colonists built plantations that allowed them easier access to transport crops via the waterways. During a quick walk through town, one will come across many old homes, including the Lansdowne, which is hard to miss on the main road in town. Built around 1740, it once housed a diplomat who helped negotiate a treaty that allied America and France during the American Revolutionary War. In more recent years, Urbanna has become well known for its annual oyster festival held every November.

Upon arrival in the main town anchorage, we dropped the anchor behind fellow cruisers Aron and Janet from SV LiSTEN, new friends that we enjoyed a delicious dinner with on the outside patio at Portside Grill on Urbanna Creek. As many sailors as there are out on the water, the sailing community seems small. We enjoy meeting fellow cruisers who choose to live similarly to us – simple lives with less “stuff” and more experiences. They plan to head south for the winter and it’s possible we’ll run into them again on upcoming travels.

The dinghy dock for the town was in between the harbormaster’s office and new docks being erected directly across from the anchorage. We usually scope out the facilities when we arrive in towns, but there was no fee for the dinghy dock and we suspected that the restroom facilities were for paying patrons at the marina. There were approximately six full sized trash cans on the backside of the harbormaster’s office, which we were thankful to find since we had accumulated a bit of trash since leaving Norfolk.

While in Urbanna, we explored most of the town on foot and found it pretty walkable. The August heat was unrelenting and we were so glad we remembered to bring a thermos with water on our walk. If we had more time while in town, we would have checked out the visitor center, but it wasn’t open every day. (Check hours before visiting any shop or restaurant here!)

On our quest to find the best breakfast sandwich, we had multiple sailor friends recommend “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” We can’t say enough good things about this spot – it truly is a gem! Their “farm to table” approach is evident. The biscuits are all homemade, and their sausage, bacon, and eggs are all sourced locally. We love supporting small businesses and especially love knowing that what we were consuming was minimally processed. Oh, and their iced lattes were fantastic too! We were so impressed with this restaurant that we ate here two days in a row.

While in town we picked up a few groceries at Urbanna Market. For such a small grocery store, it was surprisingly well stocked with a variety of goods. However, we found that some of the items were well past their expiration date and needed to be removed from the shelves. We were glad we caught this before purchasing them (salsa and ricotta were over a month expired, yikes!) or potentially getting sick.

In all, we spent three wonderful nights in Urbanna and look forward to coming here again. After leaving Godfrey Bay, it was only 22.2 nautical miles to Urbanna and the views on the way down the Rappahannock River we won’t soon forget.