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RIVERSIDE REVIVAL Port Kinsale gets a boost
New manager and a boat-turned-bar are changing the offerings at Point Kinsale
Date published: 6/13/2006
TWO NEW arrivals are changing the experience for those who come by boat or car to Point Kinsale Marina and Resort on the shore of the Yeocomico River.
The first is Charles Santangelo, a native New Yorker who's the new general manager of the complex that offers a restaurant, marina and more just a stone's throw from the Westmoreland County town of Kinsale.
Having worked, owned or managed businesses ranging from New York's Studio 54 to a successful "Floribbean" restaurant in Florida, not to mention a string of hot dog carts in St. Louis, Santangelo is determined to create a fine-dining seafood restaurant for customers who arrive by land and sea.
The other new arrival isn't a who but a what--a boat named The Lucky Lady, which for years sat in a slip at the nearby Sandy Point Marina.
Since late spring, the 29-foot Henry Luhrs cruiser has been set in perpetual dry dock, becoming a fixture on the deck outside The Mooring Restaurant at the marina.
Stripped of its engine and most of its other metal parts, the 1956 boat has had its mahogany hull, deck and transom refinished by the Point Kinsale staff until it gleams in the sun.
Outfitted with a cooler where its engine used to be, the boat that once belonged to a mayor of Winchester now stands on secure pilings and has become the Northern Neck's most unusual outdoor bar.
"We were looking for something to give the outdoor deck an interesting nautical look and feel," said Santangelo. "We think it provides a neat feeling of warmth and waterside style."
Regular readers will remember columns about other incarnations of Point Kinsale, starting with its renovation by a Stafford County resident in the '90s.
Santangelo's sister Georgia Derrico and brother-in-law Rod Porter have included him in the facility as a managing partner. Over the years, Santangelo has worked as a chef, club manager and even did a stint with a traveling circus.
"You name it and at one time or another, I've probably done it," said Santangelo, who trained at a culinary school in the Big Apple and ran a restaurant there that was one of the first to serve wraps to carb-concerned patrons.
As the general manager at Point Kinsale, Santangelo has overseen everything from the addition of The Lucky Lady--bought for $700 and put shipshape by the marina's boat shop--to a decision to reduce the number of campers in the facility's small campground.
"We were at 60 and now we're down to about 15," he said. "We were sorry to see some of those longtime folks go, but we made a business decision to focus on the marina and restaurant, serving the people who come to us because of them."
Date published: 6/13/2006
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