There is a visitor and information center. Take the first right, Route 600, after going across the Bay and Fisherman's Island. The refuge was formerly the Cape Charles Air Force Radar Station. It also hosts black-necked stilts, black ducks, tricolored herons and others. In recent years a colony of brown pelicans has been established here.
Access is by special permit only.
It is located at the north end of the Bridge-Tunnel. It offers a variety of habitat types and successional stages on the seaside of the county. A small parking lot is the only facility. Overgrown fields, shrub areas, young and mature pine forests, and salt marsh all host a unique assemblage of wildlife. Look for pheasants, wild turkeys, sedge wrens, warblers, sparrows, osprey, hawks and owls.