Peninsulas in Repose

Prolific Eastern Shore writer Curtis J. Badger has a knack for finding compelling stories in places you might never expect. In Peninsulas in Repose, he takes a fascinating look at the necks of the Eastern Shore, those wooded peninsulas on seaside and bayside waterways. Badger finds a treasure trove of stories: Blockade runners in Hacks Neck, battles with the British in Joynes Neck, sex and violence in Gargathy, a mysterious monster in Craddock Neck, and heroic men and women who succeeded on a national stage.



"Curtis Badger's Peninsulas in Repose: The Necks of Virginia's Eastern Shore is an ingenious study of a predominant, if often taken-for-granted, feature of the Eastern Shore landscape. Badger combines geography, history, folklore, and natural history in a narrative at once informative and engaging. Readers will gain a deeper appreciation of the peninsulas within the peninsula."

- Brooks Miles Barnes

Noted Virginia historian, author, and retired librarian



"This is a fresh, fascinating approach to understanding Eastern Shore history and the relationship of the people to the unique qualities of the land. After reading it, I wanted to go drive the roads to find all those necks. I particularly enjoyed the conversations of Anne Sterling and her friends, and Rod and Martha Hennessey. Those conversations enhance an already charming narrative."

- Jenean Hall

Author of An "Uncertaine Rumor" of Land -

New Thoughts on the English Founding of Virginia's Eastern Shore





"Another Curtis J. Badger book flashes its way to greatness, and lulls me to dreams of hummocks, necks, tumps, creeks, and engrossing history, the whispered tales of islands, trains, old Cape Charles, and of Silver Beach, where I grew up and learned to work the water for clams and crabs, and haunted Nassawadox and Occohannock Creeks. Badger emphasizes the necks this voyage out, but the whole soul of the Eastern Shore is hooked by his faultless prose."

- Robert P. Arthur

Poet, playwright, author of A Hymn to the Chesapeake

and Silver Beach Road, and a son of Occohannock Neck