Wicomico Council seeks answers about Pirate's Wharf

Plans to develop a county park at Pirate’s Wharf on Whitehaven Road could involve the demolition of a farmhouse on the 340-acre property, and Wicomico County Council members said they would like to be informed ahead of time before County Executive Bob Culver proceeds.

“We’re the ones that get the phone calls and the emails,” Council President John Cannon told Culver at a recent work session. “If you do plan to tear it down, we’d like to know why.”

A recent inspection of the house by the county’s code compliance officer found it to be termite-ridden with crumbling floor joists. Culver said it would cost an estimated $100,000 to bring it up to code. If the county plans to use it as a facility open to the public, then costs will rise because it will need a fire suppression system.

Culver said a termite inspection of the house was scheduled for this week. If the report shows the house to be unsalvageable, then he is “not bringing that to a committee.”

“I want to get rid of it before it becomes a hazard,” he said.

Research on the structure has indicated it was built in two stages in 1947 and 1955 on the foundation of an earlier house. The county plans to conduct an archeological survey of the property, mainly along the shoreline, said Wayne Strausburg, the county’s director of administration. It will also delineate an old cemetery on the site.

County officials are still trying to determine the best way to use the property, but the focus is expected to be on low-impact eco-tourism, Strausburg said.

“Pirate’s Wharf is a great place to launch that initiative,” he said.

The county has owned the Pirate’s Wharf property since 1997 when it was purchased with state Program Open Space funds. Since then, the county has leased out the fields to a farmer, the old farmhouse to a family and the forest on the other side of the road to hunters.

The house and farm fields, known as The Homestead, sit on one side of Whitehaven Road, while the woods are on the other side.

Culver said no work will take place on the land for a couple of years because the fields are still under lease to a local farmer. In the meantime, he will develop a plan for the park.

Part of the county’s original plan for the property includes select cutting of timber over a 30-year period in the forest under a plan developed in 2014 by a state forester.

Several conservation groups, including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Wicomico Environmental Trust, Preservation Trust of Wicomico County and several running, biking and birding groups have voiced their opposition to any logging in the forest.

At last week’s work session, several people urged for the preservation of the forest, which one man called “a magical place.”

“It embodies everything that makes Wicomico County what it s,” said Brian Knode, a member of the Friends of the Forest group.

Cannon said he hopes Culver will announce his plans for the property – and even schedule a public hearing -- before any work is carried out, including the razing of the house.

“The public really wants to know what will happen before that,” he said.