Harrington Harbor South

Southern Style pulled into Harrington Harbor South on Monday around noon.  It was a very overcast and hazy day.  Not very pretty but the "Bay" was flat and made for a nice ride across from Tilghman Island into Harrington Harbor.  This marina is part of a resort, but it seems things around here do not really get going until Memorial Day.  As we were approaching the marina, we called on the VHF several times on both channel 16 and 9 with no response.  Finally we started pulling up to the fuel dock when someone showed up.  She did not have a clue where we were supposed to be for the several days we had reserved and she had to call the office to find out.  Once she told us where we were to dock, we brought ourselves in and got tied up.  No big deal, but unusual.  The resort is very nice with a marina, pool, small beach area, tennis courts, and a restaurant. The pool was not yet open for the season (really?).  Oh well.

Tuesday the weather was a bit better and I was able to walk around the marina a bit.  I got some pictures of the birds in the marina.  Swallows seem to be abundent here.  Also red winged black birds and ducks.

Swallow on a Dock Line

Red Winged Black Bird

Mallard

This was the view from the back of Southern Style out through the canal coming into the harbor

Here is Southern Style in the harbor

Captain Keith and I had a very nice dinner at Ketch 22, the restaurant at the resort.  It was nice enough to sit outside for dinner.

View from Ketch 22

The outside bar at Ketch 22

More storms came through during the night.  The wind was pretty strong and we had to make sure all the loose stuff outside on the back deck was secured.  As Captain Keith often says while underway "shit better be stowed".

Oxford, MD to Tilghman Island, MD

We left Cambridge mid-morning and had a short cruise over to Oxford, MD.  Oxford is a very small, quiet town.  We biked around town as the weather was so beautiful.  I must say the homes in the area are just gorgeous.  Kudos to the citizens of Oxford.  They are well kept, and they all have flowers and beautiful landscaping and gardens.  Everything was blooming.  Many homes have picket fences surrounding the property.

Just a great area to stroll or bike.  

The town of Oxford also does a cute thing with picket fences. Local artists paint scenes on small sections of fence and they are used in front of businesses, and some private residents put them on display in their gardens.  At the end of the season (October) they are auctioned off to raise money for local charities.

 

Here are just some of the painted fences we saw

Oxford is also known for its ice cream.  Scottish Highland Creamery has been making ice cream since the mid-1900s.  The founder was from Edinburg, Scotland and as a boy lived above an ice cream parlor.  At 15 he began working for the owner and eventually became the production and facility manager.  He was the only person other than the family to learn the secret ice cream recipes.  He brought those recipes along with him when he came to America and started the Scottish Highland Creamery in Oxford. 

Our sampling from the Creamery

Oxford also has a small ferry which is historic.  The Oxford-Bellevue Ferry is the oldest privately owned ferry service in the US.  Ferry service began in 1683 from Oxford to Bellevue across the Tred Avon River.  The first ferry used sails and oars to cross the river carrying mostly local workers between the farms and orchards of the towns.  It became a steam operated ferry in 1886.  Today it can carry up to 9 cars and passengers.  It runs 7 days a week except Nov. (weekends only) and is closed Dec. through March.

Oxford Ferry

In the marina they were busy getting boats back in the water for the summer.  The tall, red contraption  is used for removing sailboat masts so the boat and mast can more easily be stored for the winter.  This is called stepping the mast.  It is then put back on with the same machine.

Here is a sailboat in the slings getting ready to be put back into the water.  Mast already on.

From Oxford we cruised over to Tilghman Island.  This was a short trip out the Tred Avon River and across Knapps Narrows (just dredged this spring).  We came under the Knapp’s Narrows Bridge and are starying on the face dock at the Knapps Narrows Marina & Inn. 

Knapps Narrows Bridge

Bridge open

This scary looking contraption pictured below is a dredge that was parked alongside us at the marina.  The spiked "utensil" goes down into the mud and silt, stirring it loose.  At the same time a pipe under the dredge sucks the mud and silt up into a dredge pipe and spits it out at a distance from the canal being dredged.  This thing would also be great for beating eggs.

Captain Keith demonstrates where the dredging stopped

We were not in to the marina for more than 45 minutes when whom did we see pulling up in front of us but Kathy and Max on Air Time.  I really think they are stalking us.  We ran into them twice in Florida, again in Coinjock, and now here on Tilghman Island (things that make you go hmmm).

Southern Style with Air Time in front of us

  

Max and Kathy had come over to Tilghman for the weekend.  While they got settled in, Captain Keith and I rode the free marina bikes to the end of the island.  On the way back, we stopped at the old Harrison’s restaurant, now Wylder’s, to have a drink.

Wylder's (formerly Harrison's)

We were not there long before guess who, Max and Kathy show up.

Max and Cathy (they really need to learn to relax more)

The four of us camped out for a bit by the water drinking the elusive Tilghman Tea (a 10 oz. Budweiser, I kid you not). 

Tilghman Tea ( 10oz. of goodness)

I had the real thing (unsweetened)

The gathering then moved to another local watering hole called Character’s right by the bridge.  There special drink was a "Dirty Banana" which was to die for.

View from my bar stool at Character's

Needless to say, BUI (biking under the influence) is challenging while trying to cross the bridge.  

Southern Style from the Knapps Narrows Bridge

Once back at Southern Style, Max and Kathy along with friends Greg, Andy, and Virginia came over to socialize.  We did have some hefty storms roll through around 9PM but everything faired Okay.  The wind sure enough did blow though.

Up the Bay to Cambridge, MD

Cruising up the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday was beautiful.  The sky was blue with barely a cloud and the winds were calm.  We saw many crab boats out working and two of the unique old lights along the “Bay”. 

Crabbers crabbing

One of several Chesapeake Lights

There were also several large ships we passed along the way to Cambridge.  Here is one I caught in front of the Calvert Cliffs near Solomon’s, MD.  The cliffs are well known for their fossils that can be found, especially after a storm that erodes them from the soil of the cliffs.  Very large megalodon teeth (ancient shark teeth) are often found here.

Ship with Calvert Cliffs in backround

 

Closer view of Calvert Cliffs

One of several large ships we passed during our cruise on Wednesday

Could this be the Scot Mackey Line?

We arrived in Cambridge around 1:00 PM.  Cambridge is one of the oldest cities in Maryland.  It was laid out in 1684 and throughout the years has been a sea port, major packing and canning center, and vacation destination.  At the height of its industrial boom around 1900, Cambridge was the largest community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with more than 5,700 residents.  Although a bit quieter now, it still has much to offer a visiting cruiser.

After giving Southern Style a much-needed wash and shammy, Captain Keith and I headed to J.M. Clayton Seafood Co. to purchase some crab.  This is the world’s oldest crab factory and has been run by the same family since 1890.  Right after WW II Clayton’s was operating at full capacity with 125 crab pickers, 95 oyster shuckers, and a support crew of an additional 30.  Today the crab is still picked by hand.  We snagged 2 pounds of their JUMBO Lump crab.  I hope to make crab cakes and crab cocktail.  (OMG).

J.M. Clayton Seafood-follow the arrow to crab

Pengi with our crab tubs

After returning with our crab, we went into the Choptank River Lighthouse.  The Choptank River Light Station was established in 1871, but an ice flow in 1912 destroyed the first structure.  Over the years, the lighthouse was reconfigured 3 times.  Eventually it was replaced with a small automated flashing light at the river’s entrance.  The Choptank River Lighthouse in the Cambridge Marina is a replica of the first Lighthouse, utilizing the original plans made available by the National Archives.  It is a six-sided, screw-pile lighthouse.  It stands on piles that are screwed into the muddy river bottom.

Choptank River Lighthouse

Choptank River Lighthouse at dusk

To end the day, we went to Rock Lobstah for dinner.  Lobster rolls and a shrimp, mussel, and clam steam-pot.  Although the deserts sounded wonderful, we showed a little restraint and passed.  There has been and will be plenty of splurging during this year.

Lobster rolls (with a side of potato salad) and steam pot

Thursday morning Captain Keith left Southern Style early to play golf at the River Marsh Golf Club located nearby at the Hyatt Resort.  I went walking through town.  Cambridge has a very nicely done self-guided walking tour with a pamphlet to help you enjoy the history of the town.  Below are some of the highlights.  Skip ahead if this stuff bores you, I am all into this type of thing.

Josiah Bayly Law Office

Built in 1800, this law office was built on Josiah Bayly’s property but separate from the family home.  It was a requirement back then that the law office was not part of the main home.  Esq. Bayly dealt with several high-profile cases during his practice in the early and mid-1800s.  One such case was the marriage annulment of Betty Patterson from the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, Jerome.

Christ Church and Cemetery

Graveyard of Christ Church

The Episcopal parish in Cambridge dates back to 1692 and the area around the current church was used since then for burials.  Some of those early graves were unmarked and the current building is likely to have several bodies interred under the foundation.  The building you see today was completed in 1883 and has a Tiffany alter window.  Five Governors of Maryland have been members of the church and 4 are buried in its cemetery. 

Dorchester County Courthouse

The building dates back to 1854, replacing a previous building reportedly destroyed by arson.  Harriet Tubman’s niece and her two children made a daring escape to freedom from the auction block here in 1850, reaching freedom in Philadelphia.  This is also where Samuel Green, a free black preacher, was tried and sentenced to 10 years in prison for owning a copy of the anti-slavery booklet Uncle Tom’s Cabin.   The bell on the courthouse front lawn was cast in 1772 and hung in a Mexican monastery.  It was brought to the US in 1846 during the Mexican War.  It served as the fire alarm in Cambridge for years.

Dorchester National Bank Building

This building was originally built as a single-story structure in 1889 for the Dorchester National Bank.  The bank’s first president was former Governor Henry Lloyd.  A second story was added in 1908.  The building is said to be haunted by the ghost of George Woolford, a prominent Cambridge oyster packer of the early 1900s.  He died in October 1929, the same time as the Wall Street Crash.  They say he hanged himself from the rafters in the bank’s attic.  Unexplained noises and movements have been reported in the building to this day. (cue spooky music)

I also found this cool mural on the side of a building in downtown Cambridge

After all my exploring, I headed to Simmon's Center Market for some supplies (most notably Saltines) for our home-made crab cakes with the crab we purchased yesterday.  Also lucked out and they had fresh local strawberries (desert).  I had my trusty boat bike with basket and saddlebags and no flat like Captain Keith.  So transport of my goodies was easy.

Before loading up groceries

Jimmy and Elizabeth Simmons opened Simmon’s Center Market in 1937.  They brought self-service shopping to the Eastern Shore.  The store is still owned and run by family members and is a great spot for produce and meats.  They have also expanded to have a garden center attached to the original building.

Cambridge is also the birthplace of Harriet Tubman.  Born into slavery on a farm near Cambridge in 1822, she escaped to freedom in 1849.  She then returned to the area 13 times to lead friends and family through a network of secret houses, sites, and people she organized, the Underground Railroad.  Harriet later served as a civil war spy and nurse, a suffragist, and humanitarian.  There is a small museum in downtown devoted to Harriet Tubman and her story.  Recently a new and much larger center opened about 20 minutes from town with more exhibits etc.