To residents of the East Coast Maryland's Eastern Shore has an almost mystical quality--a Shangri-La. After visiting the two capitals of the eastern shore--Oxford and St. Michael's White Pepper can not understand what the buzz is about. Both are perfectly lovely--laid back and picturesque. Maybe that is the point! To the easterner perhaps a weekend in an old, sleepy town is just the answer for 60 hour work weeks including traffic. For those types I know hundreds of great old Texas villages that would work just fine.
On an historical note, these towns are ancient--among the oldest in American history. What is remarkable is that no one knows who started these towns. Apparently, living was so easy here that Europeans just showed up. The earliest written records are from functioning churches in the early 1600's. This is in contrast to the well known struggles of Jamestown, Charlestown, and the Puritans.
Oxford is on the Tred Avon River, a tributary of the Choptank River. It seems to have a bit more sailing because it has an active yacht club. There are fine boat yards there. Jan and I were amazed at the Cutts and Case yard. The most amazing restorations of old wooden yachts were ongoing. Much of the work was readily accessible to the public. Regrettably the camera was on the blink. Some of the old wood work was breathtaking. By coincidence the Annapolis to Oxford race was the weekend we were there. 150 large yachts showed up for what is apparently a very average race on Chesapeake Bay. We crashed the party on Saturday night. No one seemed to mind. The Naval Academy sailing club was there in force and it was wonderful to see so many young adults so excited about sailing. Sunday morning White Pepper pretended to take a start. Actually we powered away from the start just fine--5 knots straight upwind. After shadowing the fleet for 20 miles we tired of the slow running and ran into Annapolis harbor to pick up a mooring ball 50 yards in front of the Naval Academy.
A week later in the company of our daughter, Layla Rush, we set out for the crown jewel of the Eastern Shore--St. Michael's. This town is on the Miles River which is in turn a tributary of the Eastern Bay. We were off season and able to anchor inside the small harbor of St. Michael's. It is very picturesque and lovely. This town was the model for James's Michner's Potamuk in his novel Chesapeake. There is a marvelous maritime museum at St. Micheal's. Many say it is the best in the Chesapeake, but for my money the Solomons museum is an equal. One nice feature of our visit to the museum was an exhibit by the National Assoc. of Maritime Artists. I was not too impressed until I saw one of Kent Ulberg's statues on display. My impression of the rest of St. Michael's was downhill from the museum. The place is VERY expensive as befits the most exclusive of resorts. My most vivid recollection is of Foxy's. Foxy's is a mangy dockside marina bar that would not even attract notice in Port Aransas, Texas. But the premium Margarita's were $12. There was a featured drink called "cheap and dirty." It was "cheap vodka and olive juice" for $9 a glass! After one round and $35. (with tip) Jan, Layla, and I left hyperventilating.
The best part of the trip was a rousing, brisk sail back to Annapolis in cool ENE breeze and brilliant sunshine.
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