CAPE CHARLES When many people think of the Eastern Shore, Misty of Chincoteague comes to mind.

Maybe NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Perhaps the acres and acres of farmland. Aside from ponies, rockets and tomatoes, though, a lot of people know very little about the Shore.

That's because many of those who visit the Shore -- and many do; an estimated 5 million people cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel every year -- are just passing through. The Shore's main artery, U.S. 13, is a popular north-south alternative for travelers who wish to avoid Interstate 95.

Donna Bozza, director of Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission, has simple advice for travelers.

"To see the Eastern Shore," she said, "you have to get off [Route] 13."

Cape Charles, on the southern end of the Shore, is Exhibit A as far as the impact of drive-by tourism. A bustling town for passengers trains and ferries in the first half of the 20th century, Cape Charles went into decline when the ferry dock moved down the shore and Penn Central Railroad's business went south. By the time the bridge-tunnel was completed in 1964 and started funneling motorists onto and from U.S. 13, Cape Charles, a few miles off the highway, was almost a ghost town.

"We talked to people who said, 'I've been driving on this road for 30 years,'" Bozza said, "but they didn't know Cape Charles was even here."

Cape Charles has been rallying for the past 20 years.

Christopher Bannon came to Cape Charles in 1987, bought one of the grand old houses that had become undervalued and opened Sea Gate, the first of a series of bed-and-breakfasts that occupy the town. He'd worked for years in Connecticut but had grown up across the bay in Norfolk. To a kid, the Shore represented an exotic destination. When his school took a field trip to the Shore by ferry, "We thought we were going to Europe."

They were home by dinner.

When he returned in 1987, the town was "tired."

"But tourism is the kiss that has awakened it," said Bannon, 71, who also is a member of the Town Council.

Besides the B&Bs, the town's business district is percolating with life. Bay Creek, a sprawling new gated community with two golf courses and a fancy marina, has been built on the outskirts of town. A tourist train, the Bay Creek Railway, featuring restored vintage passenger and dining cars, is expected to start up before next summer.

The beach at Cape Charles offers sunsets over water. Since August, the daily experience has been accompanied by piped-in music such as Beethoven and Kate Smith.

Cape Charles is "different," Bannon said. "It's a place to come, take your girdle off and just be."

-- Bill Lohmann