Cape Charles, VA: Golf Cart Utopia

I just had the fortune of traveling to a fantastic little town on the Eastern Shore of Virginia located at the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula.  The peninsula is bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay on the other.  The extremely small village of Cape Charles is nestled on the Chesapeake Bay complete with an appealing beach that never seems to be crowded.  There is a tiny main street area that spans about eight blocks containing few restaurants and shops, but the distinguishing factor to the neighborhood was the people in golf carts roaming the entire downtown.

Smiles were to be found in abundant supply amongst all those both aboard and observing the quietly humming electric vehicles, casually slow and deliberate as they traverse the miniature town.  The Victorian style homes, large and close together in a grid layout but well separated with lush landscaping, spanned an  area of no more than eight blocks deep and twelve blocks long.  This close quarters layout lent itself very well to slow speed travel because of pedestrians and improved parking possibilities.

Enough with the practicality for the moment, and onto the real point: everyone was instantly happy when traveling in a golf cart.  It is simply great fun to cruise around this small, slow-paced little town with trails that extend into the forest and connect to a golf course community, Bay Creek.  We began to wonder if the novelty wears off, and of course we assumed that had to be the case.  As time past and the miles in the golf cart accumulated and the sight of others in golf carts became more commonplace, the experience somehow did not lose its appeal.

Cape Charles was certainly not a place with a bustling (insert night life, upscale hotels, restaurants, or pretty much anything else), but it was awesome.  There are a few places to get some food and a pretty good bar that apparently has a band sometimes.  I don’t actually recommend going when there is a band, the band was good but the space was too small to accommodate the live entertainment.  Several places exist that rent golf carts and other small transportation devices to fulfill all of your pleasurable town-cruising needs.

Imagine a world where you were lived in a place that you could drive a golf cart to work and to all the necessities.  The equipment is so cheap and affordable to purchase and maintain, not counting the insurance decrease because of injury and death reduction.  Golf carts are zero emissions.  You use electricity from a wall outlet to charge them, but believe it or not it doesn’t seem to take too much to get them up and running for a good trip.  All I can say is, I am totally in favor of golf carts.