Southern Living Magazine, aka ‘What Karen in New Jersey thinks is Southern Living’ rehashed one of its travel newsletters from June of 2022 listing 15 ‘affordable’ small towns in the ‘south’ that they ‘love’. Cape Charles made the list, and here is the goofy blurb:
Extremely walkable and bikeable, this laid-back coastal village, this town, actually planned around a Pennsylvania Railroad ferry terminal in the late 1800s, is an easy-to-navigate grid. Cape Charles will quickly win you over with its Shuck-N-Suck oyster festival. But beyond seafood, locals and visitors enjoy year-round access to a free public beach with one of the most scenic piers in America. The town attracts so many creative residents that it feels like an artists’ colony. One of our favorite events is Art Rocks The Inns when local artists transform the porches of historic B&Bs into display spaces for their work.
Affordable for who? More DC transplants? A quick Zillow perusal would have certainly led to a fact-checking reassessment.
The cheapest home in the “Historic District” is a 1000 sq. ft home for….$440,000.00! How is that affordable?
Has anyone shopped or eaten here lately? As much as we try and support, face it, it’s not that affordable.
Gentrification has its price. New arrivals, many of them finance and tech investors, as well as wealthy northern retirees, have rushed in, driving up rents and home prices.
Property investors have also swooped in, and many have turned homes into short-term vacation rentals, creating Airbnb neighborhoods that have put homes out of reach to locals. Many have been forced to leave town and try and secure housing somewhere in the county. Good luck with that.
Somehow, the critical thinkers at Southern Living missed this trend.
This dynamic is exacerbated by the Covid pandemic-induced “work from home” trend. Residents of metropolitan areas, attempting to escape the pricey rents in big cities are migrating to cheaper, often working-class areas like the Eastern Shore.
This has created a serious housing shortage for low and middle-class workers. All the PR and the ‘we really care’ rhetoric will never change the concrete reality on the ground.
When is the shameless promotion going to stop? Has anything done more damage to the working class of the Eastern Shore than all of these bogus HGTV shows and boring magazine articles?
There is this constant blather about the great Cape Charles Renaissance, but this is all smoke and mirrors. This so-called revitalization is responsible for the systematic erosion of the Eastern Shore people’s way of life. Teachers, retail, fast-food workers, sanitation workers, delivery people, and countless others are making more than minimum wage but less than enough to meet the soaring cost of living here.
What was once a quiet yet historic and culturally significant area is quickly being absorbed into the DC-Baltimore-Richmond-Hampton Roads metro vortex.
The easy thing to say is that the Shore has changed, it has grown, and if these people can’t afford to live here, they should just move somewhere else. But, where exactly is that?
For most, leaving the Shore is not an option. Is there any way to reverse this trend?
Southern Living Magazine is not exactly a magazine that the common working class people are going to be reading, I don’t think.
Sorry
But no is your answer .
I lived it in Boulder , Co
Same thing happened it started in the 70 s when Steven Stills and Joe Walsh decided to relocate there then a music studio was built up in the mountains for every top musician to record at . Celestial Seasons got larger and started the international Red Zinger bicycle race . Mork and Mindy was based on living there . The downtown main intersection was made into a walk mall . Frank Shorter opened up a running shoe store . The once local movie theater was converted into a music venue by Berry Fay , Concerts West .California and New York took it over and still own it today .
I couldn’t financially go back there today to live . The only remaining landmark there is Toms Tavern. It use to have table top shuffle board greatest burger anywhere a long western bar .
Does anyone know the % of full time residents that remain in the historic district? My guess would be less than 30%. Vs 70% part time and rental homes. I would think, starting soon, the businesses will all just shut down for the winter months since nobody lives here full time to be able to support those businesses.
The town becomes a little less charming everyday with no sense of community!
The negative Nancy’s just won’t stop! You’re never happy. How quick we forget that until the last few years Cape Charles had more residents on welfare complaining about no jobs, nothing to do but drugs etc etc! Real estate values in the tank (oh no mention of how many poor locals sold out, and now actually have a decent retirement)
You can’t have it both ways. Well, unless you believe in reparations, handouts, free housing-welfare and the overall let me sit on my front porch, make babies old Cape Charles.
To live or vacation in Cape Charles has one common requirement, you may just have to work:)
Note: Thanks Karen.
Absolutely agree Kim! Been watching this the last 15 years. When we first came, I would say almost 50 percent of the homes were in shambles, or vacant. Driving around town now it’s likely less than 5 percent. People have come in and beautified the properties and for the most part kept the charm (Especially with the Historic Board setting standards) So while complaining of rentals or ‘come heres’ will always be a trend, the town is thriving because of vacationers. I would be curious to see how many business licenses are active now versus 3, 5, 10 years ago… I can tell you I have never seen so many operational business until the past 2 years… See how quickly a depression would happen if all of the rentals shut down, what would support the town then? (oh, and lets not forget, locals do your research! we pay more taxes on vacation rental properties, then VB, Chincoteague, and OC with less amenities.|)
Cape Charles was around a very long time before you people got there…
O no… the “You People” answer to all questions
Got a Problem?
Wow, Kim, a bit hostile are we this morning with regard to those Joe Biden and AOC believe should be paid a salary for not working, in the name of equity, of course.
It’s against equity for those people to be excluded from Cape Charles society, and in fact, isn’t there an equity movement on-going in Cape Charles right now to bring them into the Historic District, because in the name of equity, it is the right thing to do?
Kim’s not a Karen. She hit the nail accurately. The “old Cape Charles” was a boom and bust dump. I’m glad for the activity of the private sector. Of course, a lot of welfarized locals will always complain.
I think you need to broaden your Zillow search beyond the confines of Cape Charles. Most properties within a couple blocks of the water in Virginia Beach are listed in excess of a million dollars. Extend your search up and down the east coast, and you will find similar results in most states. Even Hampton Beach, NH, where summer water temperatures struggle to reach a toasty 60 degrees and you have a nice view of a nuclear power plant, older condos near the beach fetch a price greater than $400,000. Having witnessed several real estate bubbles before, I tend to believe we are in one now, although the inflation pressures on the overall economy may lessen its effect.
I can sympathize with the longtime locals who face increasing housing prices, and hopefully an affordable housing initiative can come to fruition.
However, economic prosperity breeds economic opportunities for all. Take a survey of the shops and restaurants in Cape Charles. They can’t find help. Some of these jobs include substantial gratuities and often four figure weekly take home pay. The sky isn’t falling. While there are expected growing pains, Cape Charles is better off than it was even ten years ago.
Note: Like the title of the story says, this is only about Cape Charles. Is it really affordable? Oy-vey!!
Go back and look at last Thursday’s Town Council meeting. The owner of the Shanty and Deadrise said that he is having to provide housing in Cheriton and transportation to workers from Machipongo, just to staff his restaurants at 75%. If there is no place for workers to live, businesses suffer. In 2015, when we bought our home in the historic district, there were young couples with babies, state troopers, and Hispanic workers who worked in Bay Creek in the duplexes in our block. Because it was affordable. Those same duplexes sit empty now, September through May, because they are short term rentals now.
The age old story is the wealthy are almighty. They came in, bought our board & took over. However, remember all this building they do is on a horrible foundation ie;Strawberry Street. Streets & sidewalks getting worse. Sit back & observe. God watches.
The cheapest home in the “Historic District” is a 1000 sq. ft home for….$440,000.00! How is that affordable?
YEP…In Virginia Beach a home that close to the water $440,000 won’t buy SHIT
Note: Yes but in VB the people are nicer, the area is cooler, it is OCEANFRONT, has waves…you can surf it. So, there’s that….
Nicer? Va beach? Waves you can surf? I lived there for years, that was not my experience.
There are plenty of affortable and great places to live on the shore, it’s just not Cape Charles. Cheriton is just one fine example.
Note: Dude, read the title, it says ‘Cape Charles’, not Cheriton. The Southern Living article said ‘Cape Charles’, not any old place on the Shore. I grew up at THE BEACH, it was great in the 70s, and still is. It’s not for everybody though.
yep, played Ocean Eddies back in the day. Good point, it was a lot of fun back then.
the only constant in life is change…..
.stagnation or vigor…the movement is perpetual
Until the entropy of the universe finally runs out and the whole machine comes to a screeching halt!
It’s not affordable, nor is the surrounding area.
Southern Living magazine is a joke and so is the town of Cape Charles.
The beach is overcrowded, golf carts everywhere, the police dept refuses to enforce the laws (fairly). And the town council and manager spend money like there is no tomorrow.
If you believe Southern Living magazine, then you believe in a fantasy land known as Cape Charles.
To Kim, “the negative Nancys just won’t stop”. Well, it’s because they have common sense and have awaken to what’s happening to the town.
To Mommaof4, are your children going to move away from CC and work elsewhere or are they going to live with you forever?
I too am curious about business licenses, but for other reasons. How many have gone bankrupt or quit in the last 3 to 5 years? And ask, will the new businesses learn the lesson from the past businesses?
Think about it.
If there is no affordable housing where are the employees going to come from to run the new businesses?
And if you paid more in taxes than VB, Chincoteague and OC, then you are a fool!
The localities you mentioned. All have Natural beaches and more to offer. The Cape Charles Beach is man-made
Think about it.
What will happen to the town if there is no beach? No tourist will come!
Pretty simple isn’t it, Karen? They will go to VB Chincoteague and OC.
Well, it will soon be time to tear down the sand dunes to make room for the tourist. God help CC if a storm comes. Just because the town council and manager foolishly spend money, instead of putting up erosion control fencing to protect the beach and home owners property this year and previous years.
Think about it.
You can only fit so many jelly beans in the jelly bean jar.
Things have definitely changed in Cape Charles. Some good, I guess. But I don’t believe the future for CC is very bright. It is very limited on what it can do.
No affordable housing, no one to work in the restaurants, long lines, crowded beach, golf carts everywhere, night long parties, congested streets, reverse parking. Yup, things have changed.
I predict, the bubble will pop soon. Businesses will close, people will leave and taxes will go up. And Southern Living magazine will be looking for another town to write about another fantasy that no longer exists. The quaint towns on the shore are gone and so are the people that made it that way. God bless those locals.
Well written! And very true!
When you change the way you look at things.. the things you look at change.
And that is straight out of quantum theory, which theory states that the thoughts of the experimenter affect the outcome of the experiment, so that NOTHING can ever be known with certainty.
So, of course, what Cape Charles is, is in the eye of the beholder.
To us up here in the frozen north, not knowing anything of the actuality of Cape Charles, we think of it a splendid tropical paradise where everybody is nice all the time, and the sun always shines, and as an aside, if you tallied up all the opinions of what Cape Charles is in here over the years, you might have several hundred different versions, if not several thousand, which really goes to prove your point for you!