John Cristea moved to Rehoboth Beach 19 years ago, but the years have not faded his love of the area.
Cristea enjoys making jewelry, carving walking sticks, raising oysters and prizes the natural world around him at his home in the Rehoboth Beach Yacht and Country Club.
From his back porch, Cristea looks out over Rehoboth Bay where he spots ospreys, herons and an occasional eagle through his binoculars. As he walks into his backyard, a red-winged blackbird swoops down and gives a cry of greeting. Cristea has enjoyed the return of the same bird for two years and considers him a friend.
Down on the dock, Cristea keeps his boat, as well as two baskets of oysters he is raising for the Center for the Inland Bays’ shellfish gardening program. One of the first volunteers in the program, Cristea has been raising oysters from larvae to adulthood for more than four years.
“I like to get involved in lots of things,” said Cristea, as he proudly showed off bunches of large oysters.
In his four years of participation, Cristea has probably raised about 2,000 oysters, many of which now live on the center’s oyster reef off the James Farm in Ocean View.
Besides helping nature, Cristea also enjoys taking pieces of nature and turning them into art. Formerly a jewelrymaker, Cristea now makes pieces for fun in his home. His upstairs dining room has been turned into a gallery of sorts. Necklaces, rocks, pictures and handmade decorations adorn every surface of the room.
He takes shells, glass and other materials he finds on the beaches and fashions them into necklaces. He also collects rock formations and valuable stones.
Born in West Virginia, Cristea was stationed in Washington, D.C., while he served in the military. He later married and moved to Virginia, where he lived for 40 years.
“I vacationed here a lot when I lived in Virginia,” said Cristea. “When I retired, I said to myself, I’d like to live in Rehoboth Beach.”
While in Virginia, Cristea operated a small jewelry shop and made homemade beer. He also sold beer-making kits, which were very popular.
Now, in Rehoboth, his house looks like a museum, featuring a bearskin rug, a buffalo skull decorated with turquoise pieces and shelves bedecked with old munitions, some of which he found in Dewey Beach during the beach replenishment.
Around his stove, he displays the eggs he also collects. His collection includes emu, ostrich and dove eggs that he has collected over the years. Each one is safely kept in nests he found around his property or in his travels.
He is always busy, either tinkering on a restored Army vehicle he keeps in his garage, or carving intricate patterns into walking sticks. And, he knows his pal the red-winged blackbird will be around to keep him company.
Contact Rachel Swick at: rswick@capegazette.com
