|
Cambridge: Dorchester County Seat
|
By Pete Nelson
|
|
Maryland.com
|
A Little Trivia...
Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential yacht, Potomac, was refurbished in Cambridge after WWII for use by the State of Maryland. Its dummy engine exhaust stack, mounted on the yacht to conceal an elevator for the wheelchair-bound president, was removed and installed at Long Wharf in 1954 as a memorial to FDR.
Accommodations in and around Cambridge:
Inns of the Eastern Shore, Cambridge, 410-228-0575, or glasgow@shorenet.net.
Brannock Maritime Museum(410-228-6938), The Carriage House, The Commodore's Cottage, 210 Talbot Avenue, 410-228-1245 or 800-228-6938.
Brooks Barrel Company, 800-398-BROOKS. Tours by appointment.
Dorchester Arts Center, 120 High Street, 410-228-7782.
Sailwinds Park, 200 Byrn Street, 410-228-SAIL.
Snapper's Waterfront Cafe, 112 Commerce Street, 410-228-0112.
Spocott Windmill Day, Saturday 09 October -- Operation of the historic post windmill, held only twice annually. 410-228-1000 or 800-522-TOUR.
|
 | | Whip Abbe | | Christ Church Cambridge |
Quirky off-the-well-beaten-path attractions -- the well beaten path being the long north-south segment of US Route 50 on Maryland's Eastern Shore -- are part of the appeal of unsung Cambridge, the Dorchester County seat on the southern bank of the Choptank River. As examples:
· Brooks Barrel Company is one of the last remaining "slack cooperages" operating in the U.S. and the only one in Maryland. With some equipment dating back to the turn of the century, the procedures for manufacturing barrels, kegs and planters haven't changed much over the years.
· When renowned sharpshooter Annie Oakley retired in 1912, she and her husband, Frank Butler, moved to Maryland and built a house with a modified roofline so that Annie could step directly out of the upstairs windows and shoot waterfowl over Hambrooks Bay. It remains a private home but no gunfire has been heard there for decades.
Cambridge is a little sleepier than the towns along the eastern Chesapeake Bay with which it's so readily compared -- Chestertown, Easton, St. Michaels -- but that somnolent aura is part of its southern charm. With Sailwinds Park enlivening the area over the last few years with its periodic happenings -- concerts, fairs, festivals -- and the vibrant promise of an international name hotel to be located adjacent, Cambridge is poised to attract regional, indeed national, attention to the southern reaches of the Bay.
Cruising southbound on the graceful arch of the Senator Fredrick Malkus Bridge over the Choptank River, the buildings and boats of Cambridge appear snuggled together along the riverside to the right. A quick stop at the welcoming new Visitor Center at the foot of the bridge provides a thorough overview of all that Dorchester County has to offer, Cambridge and more.
The bridge over Cambridge Creek, past waterside townhomes with their private piers, leads directly into the historic district and to Long Wharf on Cambridge Harbor with its stone fountain and memorial to FDR. The recommended walk back along High Street, past well maintained 18th and 19th century homes and their carefully tended grounds, is literally a step back from the cell phones and aluminum siding of the fast-lane presen
 | | Whip Abbe | | Cambridge Harbor |
From Long Wharf, we roll slowly along Hambrooks Boulevard, the broad waters of the Choptank to our right. A regal blue heron appears beside a tiny stream running between two elegant turn-of-the-century homes on our left. A recommendation to seek out Earl E. Brannock and spend a little time with him in his Maritime Museum is well taken. For anyone with even a modicum of interest in Maryland's maritime history this compact, private repository of memorabilia -- models and artifacts, photos and paintings, papers and books -- is intriguing. Earl himself is a state treasure, replete not only with facts and figures, but with anecdotes and trivia that only a true devotee could compile.
The adjacent "Commodore's Cottage" and the nearby "Carriage House" -- together with the museum on a beautifully landscaped parcel of land that includes his own home -- offer first class B&B accommodations.
Eager for an alternative to US 50, we wend our way out of town to Washington Street -- Route 343 -- and sprint eastward toward the several points of land that mark the mouth of the Choptank River -- and the Little Choptank River. A few minutes out of town, the Spocott Windmill, the only existing post windmill in Maryland, abruptly appears against the horizon. Located on the site of an early self-contained community, it is a replica of the kind used for grinding corn and is part of an outdoor museum setting which includes a tenant farmhouse, a one-room schoolhouse, and a country store, all with furniture and implements appropriate to the era.
When the weather is clear and not too cool, lunch al fresco near the water must be part of the Eastern Shore experience. "Snapper's Waterfront Cafe", back in town, has a table an oyster shell's toss from a venerable skipjack moored beside a sleek Donzi, the stark contrast symbolic of the area. No crab cake eatery nor oyster bar this, "Snapper's" has an extensive menu of southwestern and Mexican fare, offering diet-be-damned portions and genuinely convivial service. Time at the Dorchester Arts Center, located in an 1892 Victorian Hotel a short walk from the restaurant, is well spent, its galleries of paintings, pottery and local craft worthy of far more attention than they normally garner.
Northbound on Route 50 at dusk, we wondered why more of the millions of beach-bound folk did not come back when the weather was cooler for a few hours combing the quirks of Dorchester County's Cambridge.
Elsewhere around Dorchester County ...
Bike, hike or drive Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (south of Cambridge) in the fall when egrets and herons accumulate before colder weather pushes them farther south, when songbird migration peaks and when ducks, geese and tundra swans arrive for the winter.
Drive down to Taylor's Island and poke around the Island General Store. (From Cambridge, Rts. 341 and 16, West)
Continue further south to Hoopersville, past the watermen's villages with their workboats tied to the docks, piles of crab pots and seafood packing houses. (From Cambridge, Rts. 16, West, and 335, South)
East New Market (From Cambridge, Rt. 16, East) is a mid-17th century village with almost all the houses of the original residents extant earning the entire village a place on the National Register of Historic Places.
(The original version of this article was published in WHAT'S UP? Magazine. It is presented here with their permission. All photos by Whip Abbe.© Used by permission.)
---------------------
Other Stories by Pete Nelson
Solomons for Summertime
More...
|
|
|
Syndicated Feed