Cambridge

Moving on to the next old English named town we sailed up the Choptank River.  Michner based most of his novel, Chesapeake, around this river so it was a must stop for us.  This was the center of quite a few innovative boat designs, the Underground Railroad thanks to native Harriet Tubman, and shipping.  It is also home to the annual Chesapeake Skipjack Races which we managed to miss by a day, Rats!  We walked quite a bit and met several really friendly people, especially Fred who say us walking with all our bags to the grocery store and gave us a ride.  He turned out to be a local sailor who cruises in the winter so he recognized fellow sailors on a reprovisioning trudge.  People waved from their front porches and we happy to share their stories along the river, overall, a nice stop.  Next we head farther south in the bay to the disappearing island of Tangiers.  I'll update again when I next have a good wifi connection.

This was such a unique porch rail design.  I can only think the original
owner was a paddlewheel captain.

The fountain at the courthouse.

This boat was at a restoration yard.  No story on it, just looked like
it probably had an interesting tale.

We saw this striking piece as we entered the town.  It  is called Sailwatch and
the building in the background is the county visitor's center.

The sign says historic drawbridge but doesn't say why it's historic.
We found a lot of only half-information in Cambridge.

A row of skipjacks on the town's seawall.

A beautiful example of a trailboard and carved sprit head.

Another colorful trailboard and this one comes with a story.  As we
were standing on the side admiring the boats, a very excited guy rushed up from the
nearby restaurant.  It turns out his great-grandfather had built this boat
and named it for his grandmother.  It had changed hands since he last saw it
and managed a ride for his grandmother aboard back in the 1980s. He had lost
track of the boat and happened to be eating lunch and saw her name.

All working skipjacks must display their license on the rigging.  

Oxford

From St. Michael's we took the long way around Tilghman Island rather than risk another swift moving current cut.  The Knapp's Narrows is infamous for shoals at either end so we avoided the whole area.  Tilghman's is experiencing subsidence or slow erosion.  Most of the land along the Chesapeake is make of very soft, easily erodible material.  Many islands that were charted by John Smith in the 1600s are no longer there.  One of the museum's displays showed the state of the island from centuries past to present day.  There are restoration programs underway to try and restore some of the islands and the habitat they provide.  After a night anchored off Tilghman's we moved on to Oxford, again on recommendations.  This is a very sleepy little town on the Tred Avon River.  The highlight of the stop for us was meeting our first Ocean Crusing Club (OCC) port hosts.  We joined the club a month or so back and looked forward to meeting Margie and Jim.  They were delightful and welcoming.  They shared their stories of sailing in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.  They switched to power and made the Great Loop so they had some great adventures to tell us about.

David saw this well restored old Volvo station wagon.  It was the same
vintage as his dad's Volvo sedan.  Good memories from his childhood.

The Custom's House for Oxford.  Not quite the volume as Chestertown, I guess.

Approaching Oxford and seeing the hotels along the waterfront.

Quiet tree-lined streets seem to be a big draw for visitors.

Sunset over the river.

This is the Robert Morris Inn dating back to the early 1700s.  It was
a favorite spot for author James Michner when he was researching and
writing the novel Chesapeake.

St. Michael's and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

St. Michael's was another must-see destination.  We had several folks tell us about the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum being the most comprehensive museum of all things water related on the Eastern Shore and we were not disappointed.  The museum campus is acres of buildings, boats, educational displays and boats in the water.  We spent two days there and it was well worth it.  There were a lot of old buildings but the only information on them was in an on-line format and wasn't useful for old people who like to read as we explore.  Oh well, dinosaurs don't rule the either anymore!

This was our big challenge to get to St. Michael's, the Kent Narrows Bridge and cut.
It is a narrow gap between Kent Island and the mainland.  As with all such
waterways, the current is fast at max flow and rife with side eddies that want to grab
a hull and send it spinning.  We timed it for slack tide going to a push and it worked out well.
Thank God for accurate tide charts!

We saw this cute little boat out sailing past our anchorage a few times.  Seemed
simple and fun to sail.

The entrance to the CBMM.  It is the deck house from an old tug.

One of the restored and well maintained skipjacks at the museum.

Another type of boat commonly used for crabbing.

The exotic tiller head of the boat shown above.

Another beautiful boat.  It has morphed from a work boat to pleasure boat.

How so many of the working boats are steered, long handles attach to
the rudder and turn it.

One of oldest houses in town, circa 1760.  St. Michael's was
the hub of boat building during Colonial days.

The lighthouse at CBMM.  It is a screw type meaning it has long augers
on each of the legs that screw into to bottom of the bay.  This one had
been moved to the museum and restored.  The boat in front is another
type of waterman's boat.  The only way to legally harvest oysters in Maryland's
waters is under sail so all boats that want to drudge for oysters have a mast and
large deck to bring up the catch.

Some of the types of drudges used to gather oysters.

The outhouse on the lighthouses were literally outhouses.  They hung
over the edge and waste dropped directly into the water below.

This is a red prism to let boats approaching the lighthouse from certain
angles that they needed to change course to avoid a rock or shoal.

The are trailboards from a variety of ships that once plied the Chesapeake.
Trailboards are the fancy boards boats add along either side of their bow
showing their name.

A view looking back at just part of the museum campus.

This figurehead was from a boat that eventually realized that it was
so large and heavy that it made the boat unstable in seas.  They generously
donated it to the Naval Academy in Annapolis.   The midshipmen made it a habit to
rub her breasts for luck before exams. One mother heard about the practice and
was scandalized enough to raise a ruckus with the  commanding officer and have it removed.
Now it has a home at the museum administrative building.  Wonder if the tradition continues
before big fund raising events! 

Another example of a waterman's barge.  This one came with a sad story
of the owner being quite the adventurous young man who died in
a house fire ashore and his family donated the barge in his memory.

Eagles are common on this side of the bay, just not usually so large and golden.

We thought this was a creative use for a no longer needed drawbridge.
This was the entrance to the parking area for the museum.

This building housed a wide variety of old work boats in all stages
of repair.  Each told the story of the owners and/or builders and
explained how the different shapes were best used.  We were amazed to
learn that log canoes, some over 60 feet long, were the preferred vessel
of watermen up to late last century.  This is an example of one made up
from about 6 huge logs.

Fog bells from decommissioned lighthouses stood in a row.

A storage shed of cut lumber for various restoration projects underway at the museum.

Lofting  is the art of taking the naval architect's plans and turning them
into pattern pieces for the lumber required to build the ship.  This overhead
walkway provided a great view of the lofting floor and some of the work space.
The museum craftsmen have been commissioned to build a replica of
the Maryland Dove.  This ship was used by John Smith to make the initial
exploration of the Chesapeake.

More of the workshop and half hulls showing the hull design of the ship
under construction.

Huge planks cut from logs on site and the lofting pieces had been careful
laid out and traced to get the exact right shape for each piece.

One of the craftsmen cutting a piece out.

The very long saw was used to cut planks.

The keelson and the lead keel being shaped to fit together.

Pieces of cut timbers being pieced together and the lofting pieces
being laid on them to make sure of accurate cuts and placement.

Chestertown

We went a long way up the Chester River to historic Chestertown.  The town, besides being pre-Colonial, was once one of the richest towns in the area.  The British made it the customs port of the Chesapeake and all cargo ships had to call here to do business.  The town, like most old towns, has had a variety of lives over the centuries from farming to seafood.  It is now home to Washington College, the first university founded after the colonies gained independence.  It is also the only college that George Washington allowed to use his name and he was an early benefactor.  We were lucky enough to be anchored off their aquatics school and had front row seats to sailing and rowing teams plying their way up and down the river.  We enjoyed touring around town and the visitor's center was so helpful in guiding us in what to see and where.

The bridge leading across the river must have been a lucrative business.
This is the original bridge keepers "cottage".

This stunning church had a most unusual design, especially in it
spire's peak.

And the King of Kings crown atop the spire.

A rare piece of history.  A step up off the sidewalk for ladies
entering a carriage.

Some of the sidewalks were hand laid well over a hundred years ago.

This was a sea captain's house.  Successful shipping between
England and the Colonies was even more lucrative than collecting
bridge tolls it seems.

This long park was between two streets.  There were memorials to
veterans of all wars.

This was a beautiful fountain.  We were impressed that the cast iron
had been so well maintained that there was no sign of corrosion even
after 150 years.

One of the buildings on Washington College's main campus.  We
went in search of parts for the boat and walked through the scenic
campus.

The brick building is the home of the customs collector.  The smaller
ones were his office and other shops.  All located along the waterfront.

The bridge dividing the upper and lower sections of the river.  The
Chester River is quite deep many miles in form the bay making
it a well protected port for shipping.

Blue Moon at anchor.

One of the many rails-to-trails in Maryland.  We walked it for a few
miles then turned off to see what was down a lane.

The college has bought this old armory building to base it's
on-going construction efforts and provide space for the aquatics
campus.

Chicago may have it's shiny Bean but Chestertown has it's shiny Wave.

The old train depot and cars.  We thought it might be a museum but the
building now houses a medical practice.  I'm not sure what they do
with the train cars.

This old but well cared for house had a most unusual bay window arrangement.

The paper is still in business.

This house had so many interesting features from the colors to the details
of its trim work to the cornices over the windows.

Part of the decorative details in its trim.

Typical row of houses in the town's old section

Rowing teams were out practicing every day.

All girls team.

This turned out to be the residence of the College's president.  Many
of the historic houses and shops in town have been purchased and
are now maintained by the college.

This was the entrance to the garden of the house above.  How wonderfully
generous of the occupants to share their glorious grounds with passers-by.
It was one of my favorite places in town.

The gardens covered over an acre and had sun bed, shade beds
annuals, perennials . trees, bushes and quiet nooks to sit and take it all in.

You can see the house's back patio.  If I had had paper, I would have left
a heart felt thank you note.

Morning Glories make the world bright!

Zinnias, and more zinnias.

The garden's guardian.

This Skipjack is part of a school dedicated to preserving
the old skills in the next generation and those to come.

The Sultana is a replica of an old sailing ship.  It is part of the same
school.  You  can book trips for a day or longer.

This was the home of an organization of Black war veterans from the
Civil War.

David admiring one of the many monuments around town.

The college''s main building of its Aquatics Campus was a sight to
behold every night.