Great Getaway of the Month

Upper Eastern Shore, Maryland
 
By Nancy and Richard Woodworth

There was a time when steamships used to deliver boatloads of summertime escapees from Baltimore and Washington to the Eastern Shore across the Chesapeake Bay . They’d spend the day on the beach at Betterton or at the amusement park at Tolchester before returning home to the steamy Western Shore .

The steamship era and their passengers have come and gone, as have the resort hotels and amusement centers that catered to them. The opening of the Bay Bridge from Annapolis to the Eastern Shore made Ocean City and Rehoboth, Chincoteague and St. Michaels more accessible to the hordes. It left Maryland ’s Upper Eastern Shore – that section along the Chesapeake Bay’s east shore from the Bay Bridge north toward Elkton – very much off the beaten path. That, today, is its special charm.

The waterfront sections of Kent and Cecil counties remain much as they were in the 18th and 19th centuries. One can scarcely imagine so large a remote and undeveloped area so close to a sprawling megalopolis – a scant 25 miles from Baltimore , as the gull flies.

This is a gently rolling land of farms, of soybean crops and of cornfields as high as the proverbial elephant’s eye. They’re interspersed along the bay between inlets and rivers with names like Bohemia and Sassafras. It is also a watery area of marinas and boaters, working watermen and recreational fishermen.

Historic Chestertown is the area’s best-known town. But more water-oriented are two small towns at either end of the territory this report covers. Each is quite different from the other.

On the southern end facing the Chesapeake is Rock Hall, an early port and fishing town. Today it claims as many boat slips for visiting yachtsmen as it does residents. State-of-the-art marinas co-exist with watermen carrying on a fishing tradition of many years. They give Rock Hall a distinctive, old/new mix that’s unique on such a scale along the bay.

On the northern end is Chesapeake City , a colorful town of 700 souls along the banks of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. More than 16,000 vessels of all descriptions pass the town’s shores annually, making the canal the third busiest in the world.

Between the canal and the tranquil, nettle-free waters of the upper bay, this area is a mecca for water activities. For those otherwise inclined, there are wildlife refuges, hunting grounds, bicycle routes and antiques shops. And there are always surprises, like the nun from the Sisters of St. Basil convent who was sitting out by the road in full regalia selling jars of preserved fruit as we drove down the road into north Chesapeake City . 

The area’s off-the-beaten-path location is likely to keep it quiet and unspoiled for years to come.

Seeing and Doing

Rock Hall dates to 1707 as an early port town on the turnpike from New York and Philadelphia to Annapolis and Washington (Presidents Washington, Madison and Jefferson crossed the bay here). Today it’s at once a simple waterman’s community of working fishermen and a busy yachting center favored by sailors from Philadelphia and Wilmington , for whom it’s more readily accessible than for those from Baltimore or Washington on the other side of the bay. A bronze waterman’s statue at harbor’s edge welcomes visitors who see it, but the dozen marinas are much more evident. There’s also a new observation pier over the marsh at Blue Heron Park, near the end of Route 20. The Rock Hall Trolley shuttles visitors around town and into Chestertown in season. The town and its 1,500 residents are dispersed across a wide, mile-long promontory between Rock Hall Harbor off the bay and the Haven, a sheltered inlet from Swan Creek. Other than yachts and shops, there are few signs of sophistication or affluence.

Chesapeake City is a tight little canal town on two sides of the wide Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, a time warp beneath a soaring highway bridge. The main, south side is a toy land of colorful, pint-size Victorian structures squeezed together like dollhouses. This unique, truly quaint community is made for walking. Historic plaques mark many houses, some of which have been converted into shops and B&Bs. Plying the canal are cargo vessels and container ships of all sizes, tankers, barges with their tugboats and countless recreational craft. Visitors may observe the “changing of the pilots” ritual here as Delaware Bay pilots transfer their charges to Chesapeake Bay pilots, and vice versa, while the vessels continue without stopping. Beside the waterfront is Pell Gardens , a park and amphitheater with a bandshell (summer concerts on Sunday evenings from 6 to 8). A waterfront promenade from the Bayard House restaurant winds around Pell Gardens and the anchorage basin to the Canal Museum .

Between the two focal points of Rock Hall and Chesapeake City is a sleepy, Tidewater-like expanse of rolling farmlands, thoroughbred horse farms, river basins and the odd hamlet in which antiques shops seem to be the chief draw. This is good bicycling country, with relatively low-trafficked roads and wide shoulders. More urbane diversions are close at hand in suave Chestertown, the historic Kent County seat just inland along the Chester River .

Sights to See

Waterman's Museum, 20880 Rock Hall Ave. , Rock Hall.

This small museum, nicely renovated from an abandoned house, was opened in 1993 by the owner of Haven Harbour Marina to preserve the history and lore of the watermen of Rock Hall. Exhibits on oystering, eeling and crabbing, plus fishing gear, local photographs and carvings, are nicely mounted in glass-front crates in three display rooms. “If it’s been used on the water, we've probably got it,” advised curator Richard Burton, former marina manager who came out of retirement to oversee the well financed local venture. One of the more interesting exhibits involves a replica of a waterman's shanty, a cramped room on the scow of a boat, in which a realistic-looking waterman (actually a female mannequin) is asleep in the bunk, with pup beside. Another details the decline of the local oyster industry. A pier was planned to accommodate several workboats, including a skipjack, for visitors to board.

(410) 778-6697. Open daily, 10 to 5 . Free.

C&D Canal Museum , 2nd Street and Bethel Road , Chesapeake City.

A glimpse of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal’s early days is gleaned from this small museum in the original pump house, which holds the early waterwheel and steam engines that pumped water to the canal locks. You’ll marvel at the three-story high cypress waterwheel, which raised water from the Back Creek anchorage basin and dumped 20,000 gallons a minute into the locks. The steam engines are the oldest of their type still on their original foundations in America . A fifteen-minute video tells the story of the canal, first envisioned in 1661 by a Dutch mapmaker who proposed a shortcut across the narrow strip of land separating the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay . The thirteen-mile-long canal, which finally opened in 1829, cut by nearly 300 miles the roundabout trip between the busy shipping ports of Philadelphia and Baltimore . Forty percent of all ship traffic calling on Baltimore now uses the waterway, the nation’s busiest. Not your typical canal, this looks more like a river. It’s 400 feet wide and 35 feet deep. The Army Corps of Engineers oversees all canal operations from a two-story white clapboard house on a point overlooking the canal on the east side of the anchorage basin in south Chesapeake City. In the ivy-covered stone pump house, a National Historic Landmark, are interactive videos, maps, documents, paintings and artifacts that portray the story of America ’s only major commercial waterway still in use from the early 19th century. A television monitor shows live locations of ships as they travel through the canal.

(401) 885-5621. Open Monday-Saturday 8 to 4. Free.

Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, 1730 Eastern Neck Road , Rock Hall.

This remote, 2,285-acre island refuge at the confluence of the Chester River and the Chesapeake Bay covers all of Eastern Neck, an island promontory at the southern tip of the area. One of the first settled areas in the New World , it’s surprisingly deserted today. The brackish tidal marshes, croplands and forests provide feeding and resting places for migratory and wintering waterfowl. It’s also a refuge for the endangered Delmarva fox squirrel and the threatened southern bald eagle. The fall and spring are the best times to view the 32 species of migratory birds. Nearly six miles of roads and trails are open to visitors most of the year. Walk along a boardwalk across the marshes out to the observation platform alongside Calfpasture Cove. Egrets, herons and osprey are supposed to be in their element here, but the only wildlife we encountered one summer morning were a couple of humans atop the platform. More interesting at our particular visit were all the boaters crabbing in the Eastern Neck Narrows at the entrance to the refuge.

(410) 639-7056. Open daily, dawn to dusk. Free.

Chesapeake Farms Wildlife Habitat, 7319 Remington Drive (off Route 20), Chestertown.

A driving tour leads through the 3,300-acre wildlife management demonstration area formerly known as Remington Farms, operated by the du Pont company in conjunction with Remington, the arms manufacturer. An informative brochure points out wildlife management practices being applied here. The self-guided tour takes one past ponds, swamps, woods and fields and involves fifteen marked – and some unmarked – stops for wildlife and plants. The first stop is the main rest area, where up to 10,000 ducks, geese and other waterfowl may be observed at a busy time. The leisurely driving tour is the closest thing we've found so far north to the famed J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Preserve on Florida 's Sanibel Island , although the finds are neither so prolific nor so exotic. The quantity and variety of waterfowl you'll see depends on the season and the time of day. The habitat tour can take an hour or more, depending on stops.

(410) 778-8400. Open daily, dawn to dusk, from February to Oct. 10, when it's closed to the public for hunting season. Free.

On the Water

BOATING. Although this is an exceptionally busy yachting area, no public cruises are advertised. Charter boats for fishing and sightseeing are based in various marinas in Rock Hall and environs, and visitors are advised to contact the captains directly. Swan Haven Rentals at Swan Haven B&B in Rock Hall rents small boats for sailing, fishing and crabbing. None of the marinas seems to rent small boats, but charter service is offered at Haven Harbour and the Sailing Emporium in Rock Hall.

You can sail aboard The Kathryn, a 43-foot ketch captained by Bruce and Kathy Meeks, both AT&T retirees. Two-hour trips leave Rock Hall Harbor by reservation, (410) 639-9902, Friday-Sunday at 1:30 ; $30 per person. Evening sunset cruises also are scheduled. .

Chester River Kayak Adventures, 5758 Main St., Rock Hall, (410) 639-2001, offers seven guided tours and kayak rentals. Half-day, full-day and sunset paddles are scheduled. 

CRABBING. Crabbing is a serious activity hereabouts, and one that novices (known locally as “chicken neckers”) find relaxing and sometimes addictive. All you’ll need is a spool of cotton line, lead weights, bait, a dip net and a pail or cooler to hold your catch. Although almost any inlet or cove will do, the favorite area for netting the blue crab seems to be in the waters and tidal mud flats around Eastern Neck Island , where you can rent a boat and equipment or drop your line from the roadway bridge. First-timers who team up with Rock Hall watermen like Bob Gibson, who offers morning crabbing charters in July and August, may catch up to six dozen (the daily limit for sport crabbers) in five or six hours. He also leads charter fishing expeditions on his new Daddy’s Girl II, (410) 778-9424. Capt. T. Wayne Fletcher also leads crabbing and charter fishing expeditions for up to 30 people on the new 42-foot boat Miss Carolyn II, (410) 810-2941. 

SWIMMING. The upper reaches of the bay are about the only areas where people swim, since sea nettles make life unpleasant for human interlopers in the lower bay in July and August. The cooler waters here are generally nettle-free except in the hottest summers. We spotted youngsters swimming at the Rock Hall town beach off Beach Road in early June, while their elders picnicked inside a couple of gazebos. The best public beach is at Betterton, a once thriving resort town that has seen better days. A few trees shade the sandy beach. High on a bluff above the beach is a picnic pavilion with a fine bay view.

Material excerpted from Waterside Escapes in the Northeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003.

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