Ivory Gull
Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel/ Eastern Shore of Virginia Welcome Center
Sculpture Size: Body Length - 6’-3”
Wing Spread – 14’-7”
Weight – 300 lbs.
Sculptor: Tom Mayes – 1989
Ivory Gull
(paguphila eburnea)
Among the rarest of sea birds, is the Ivory Gull. It is the only gull with pure white plumage. It has black legs and dark brown eyes, surrounded by a scarlet ring. The bill is made up of a combination of seven different colors. A high arctic circumpolar species, the Ivory Gull has breeding colonies on Seymoor Island high in the Canadian Arctic.
This sculpture was originally commissioned by Mr. Daniel Hoffler in the late 1980’s. The piece took Mayes 2 ½ years to complete (1989) and was originally placed along the edge of an entry pond at Mr. Hoffler’s Eastern Shore home, Point Farm, just outside of Eastville, VA. The sculpture is aerodynamically designed to rotate with the winds. It was originally surmounted upon a 9,000 lb. mountain boulder.
In 2004, Mr. Hoffler and his wife donated this piece to the CBBT so that it could be enjoyed by thousands of motorists daily.
Today, this sculpture is located at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel on the east side of US Route 13 just north of Wise Point and just south of the North Toll Plaza Rest Area and Eastern Shore Welcome Center.
Mr. Thomas B. Mayes, Sr. passed away in 2014.