Annapolis-part 1

From Deltaville, no pictures but we did meet a nice guy named Jim with a beautiful Caliber 35, we made a long day of it to get to Annapolis.  We wanted to beat the weather system coming in and pick up our new dinghy at West Marine.  The original plan had been to meet David's sisters for several days then have our friends Diane and Eric join us later in the week for the boat show.  Conditions conspired to make most of that now happen.  The anchorages, marinas and mooring balls convenient to anything were all full with no relief in sight.  We naively thought that arriving more than a week ahead of time we'd find a spot. HAH!  After a rough night at anchorage, we were fortunate enough to find a young man willing to take us to West to pick up the boat and bring us back to a ramp where we could launch it and get us and the old dinghy back to the boat.  So with that done and his sister's canceling since we couldn't find a spot where any of us could be comfortable we returned to Solomon's.  Nothing like being flexible.  This time we are at a Navy Recreation area that is convenient to everything with a washer/dryer close by.  So while we wait for Diane and Eric, we've been getting things set up for getting the new dinghy in the davits and doing some much overdo cleaning and maintenance.   There should be more to Annapolis in a future post. 

This is one of the last remaining screwpile lighthouses still in active service.
It was on the Western Shore south of Annapolis.

The Maryland state capitol dome.

We were anchored just off the Naval Academy.  It is in the background.
All these boats were hanging out hoping for either a space in an anchorage
to open up or a mooring ball.  We decided to bail rather than wait!

Reedville

From Solomons- take one- we were still headed to Tangiers but stopped in Reedville on the way to break up the trip then stick to the western shore and visit Deltaville then go over to Tangiers.  Sadly, it didn't work out.  A strong cold front from the north was due to kick in and make us miss our rendezvous with guests in Annapolis so we skipped Tangiers.  Someday......

Not a really old town but full of history.

Reedville however was another surprisingly good stop.  We knew from the cruising guide that at one point there were more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country.  This made us want to see what made so many so rich.   Turns out it was Menhaden, a small, very oily fish that procreates in vast enough numbers to allow a harvest in the millions of pounds annually and still have more for subsequent years.  We were really surprised at all the commonly used products that use some part of the fish from fertilizers to food.  All new to us and the local museum was extremely well put together thanks to two retired Smithsonian curators who now live in the area.  So from mansion viewing to museum, a great stop.

If you click to enlarge, you can see the corner towers are at angles instead
of the usual rounded way.  This was the first house in Millionaire Row.

The Reed Mansion.  Mr Reed recognized the money to be made in
Menhaden Oil and the abundance of it in the Chesapeake and moved
his family from Maine to this neck of the woods.  He paid about $1000 dollars for
all the land on what is now Reedville.  His was a more modest mansion than others.

Not sure what the original colors were on this house but looks like
a piece of architectural confection now.  I love the wrap around porches.

This was my favorite.  It had all sorts of nooks and crannies and odd
shaped rooms that would be fun to explore.  It is for sale and Christmas is
coming in case anyone wanted to buy it for me :)

Not a mansion but very cool lawn art.  What better way to utilize
an old kayak?

At one point, Reedville boasted over 18 Menhaden processing plants.
The oil was seen as a replacement for fast disappearing whale oil. This
was the remains of one of those factories.

This was all that was left of another factory.

This is all that remains of the original plant. It was considered
essential to the town history so it has been restored through combined
efforts of towns people and the remaining processing plant.  It is
lit at night and makes a dramatic entrance to the creek.

Boats at the Reedville Fishing Museum are kept in good shape.

Modern fishing boats.  The smaller boats slip off the back and set
the purse seine nets while a smaller boat scares the fish into the net.
Once the net is full it is hauled up to the mother ship.  We saw this system
in action on our way up to New England.  The museum gave us a much better
understanding of exactly how the entire process works.

The modern plant can process millions of tons of fish a year.

Calvert Maritime Museum

Solomons is in Calvert County Maryland hence the name of the museum and the cliffs.  We wandered around the more southern end of the bay but came back to tour the museum as planned.  It was well worth the trip!  The museum has a comprehensive paleontology section and aquarium along with the usual assortment of Chesapeake fishing vessels.  They also have a model carving and boat building works.

This interesting looking boat had a story.  It was built as a fishing boat then
restored and reshaped into an ark and turned into a floating missionary vessel.
It's next life was as a wedding chapel and now a museum  display.

As most maritime museums, Calvert had a large collection of Chesapeake Bay
fishing boats.  The one in the foreground was a log fishing boat.

What made this fishing boat rare was the joinery used.  Instead of the usual
metal pins, the logs were joined with mortise and tenon  bits of wood. 

It always amazes me to think of the tremendous effort required to shape
a dugout canoe buy they were once quite common on any river in the hemisphere.

These 20 foot canvas canoes were from a local summer camp.
The picture showed a group of eager learners with 2 experienced
campers as teachers.

This was something we hadn't seen in a museum before.  It was yet
another way to quickly extract the oysters from the seabed and get them
aboard.  Sadly, the watermen's capacity to remove them far outpaced
the oyster's ability to reproduce leading to a massive decline in the industry.

This screwpile lighthouse is similar to the one at St. Michael's but
this one had been outfitted with household  pieces from the time it was
in use and the entire living area was open for touring.

This is an extremely rare Megalodon Shark.  Since sharks have cartiledge
instead of bones, it is rare to find many fossils from ancient sharks.  This
replica is based on the size of the teeth and some smaller bits of cartilage found.
There is only 1 other model in the world.  The entire paleontology section of
the museum was astounding in it's scope and explanations of how fossils are formed.
There were many on display but this was definitely the most dramatic.

David wanted in on the shark action.

Solomon's Island

From Cambridge we planned to head south towards Tangiers.  To wait out a strong wind against us we anchored behind Solomon's Island and walked about.  There is now only a very small waterway between the bits of land that make up the peninsula forming the north shore of the Patuxent River but because the island was once a famous shipbuilding and oyster processing area it is still referred to as an island.  Actually Solomons is now a general description of the larger area.  Fame, no matter how distant, sells!  It is a quaint area mostly attracting tourists but it is an easy place to walk around.  We were only there for a day on our first visit but we plan to visit again on our way back north and see the Calvert Maritime Museum.

These striking cliff formations are on the western side of the Chesapeake
just before the Patuxent River.  They are part of the Calvert Cliff formation where
so many important fossil discoveries have been made.  There are some rare
specimens on display in the museum. 

It is late September when we visit the first time but the change of seasons
is clear in the leaves.

Now that is some man cave!

The city park is small but attractive and provides access to the lagoon
behind the island.

On the river side of the road is a large park and pavilion.