Thursday, 06/17/21, was another stellar day, weather-wise, as we walked up the hill from the marina into historic downtown St. Michaels for brunch at The Galley St. Michaels. We enjoyed some colorful libations with delicious breakfasts alfresco, paid our check, and then continued walking on up to tour more of St. Michaels, which is a quaint little town originally established in the late 1700s, and officially incorporated in 1804. It gets its name from a rural Anglican Church that predates the town, being established in the late 1600s. Its earliest industry was shipbuilding, and as many as six different shipbuilders were active in the town’s heyday, where their typical product was a fast schooner that was well-adapted to evade blockades and outrun pirates or foreign naval vessels at sea. St. Michaels is best known as the town that fooled the British during the war of 1812. To this day, the story has it the town of St. Michaels had received previous knowledge of the British’s planned attack in the early, predawn hours of August 10, 1813. The town’s citizens dimmed or extinguished all lights in the town of St. Michaels proper (including all of its shipbuilding facilities), and instead blazed lights farther up the hill in an attempt to draw cannonball fire from the British away from the actual town and up into the woods beyond the town. Once the battle ended and the sun rose, it was revealed that the town’s plan had succeeded and only one house down in town had been “pierced by cannonball fire”.
Where we savored a leisurely brunch outside on Thursday morning, 06/17/21.The Captain relishing his impressive Bloody Mary he was served during our brunch at The Galley.Not to be outdone, I also sat in awe of that morning’s Mimosa! 🙂These cute little toothpicks that garnished our brunch beverages caught my eye.The Parsonage Inn Victorian Bed & Breakfast, circa 1883, is right where the action is in St. Michaels, at 208 Talbot StreetThese buildings have been restored or are being restored back to their original appearances from when they were first constructed in the mid-1800s. They are right on the town’s main drag and are now being used as offices, storefronts, or private residences. Nothing makes me happier than seeing old homes and buildings actually being restored, rather than just razed and replaced with all new construction. 🙂
At the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, we watched a group of young men building a wooden ship out of the same materials and with the same tools as were used back in the early 1800s to build seagoing vessels. The boat they are currently building is named the Maryland Dove. As with many museums, this one was filled to the brim with maritime and early Chesapeake Bay history and lore. We spent several hours perusing everything there was to see.
Where we spent several hours learning the history of the Chesapeake Bay, on Thursday, 06/17/21.This display stands just inside the front doors of the museum and it caught my attention. It is a very large, reverse relief map of the Chesapeake Bay, filled with relevant photographs from the area. (This reminded me of some of the crafts we would undertake in my crafting group back in Franklin, TN.)Building a fast schooner the old fashioned way!Models of the many different schooners that came out of St. Michaels, MD, during the 1800s. (Many boats were eventually converted into racing boats, once they were no longer needed as working boats.)In addition to shipbuilding, the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay was built on blue crabs. (In fact, the blue crab is Maryland’s state symbol.)An original Smith Island power crabbing skiff.More crabbing skiffs.Okay, this is definitely NOT a job I would ever have wanted to hold…As times progressed, shipbuilding and early crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay declined over the years; many of the work boats were converted into racing boats, and were the basis of a strong leisurely pastime on the Bay, with regattas, contests and festivals taking the place of once hard labor.Some of the many racing trophies won on the Chesapeake Bay over the years.1950s beach time on the Chesapeake!An evolution of life-vests… Go figure!Even outboard motors have their history!Look at this beauty! An antique boat show was scheduled for the approaching weekend, so we got a little preview of some of the exhibits. (We need to hire whoever keeps-up the teak on this boat to help us with the teak on Legacy!)After the museum, we toured the Hooper Strait Lighthouse, as erected in 1879.The Hooper Strait Lighthouse is one of four surviving Chesapeake Bay screw-pile lighthouses in the state of Maryland. Lightships were stationed at this site beginning in 1827, including one destroyed by confederate forces during the Civil War. In 1867 a screw-pile structure was erected. It survived only ten years; in January of 1877, ice tore the house loose and sent it floating down the bay. Lighthouse tenders sent after the sunken house were able to salvage the lens, lamp, and fog bell, which were used in the construction of the current lighthouse pictured above in 1879. Through the years, modern improvements were made to the lighthouse, but today it is preserved as an integral part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD.To give an idea of how compact the St. Michaels area is, this is a picture of Legacy tied at the marina, just across the water from the museum and lighthouse.Lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked inside the lighthouse full-time. Meager furnishings were provided for the keeper and his family.Simultaneously drying rain-drenched sweaters, boiling potatoes for dinner, and warming the living quarters. Multi-tasking at its finest.The Fresnel Lens that once lit the Hooper Strait Lighthouse.
We walked the historic streets and enjoyed the cool, dry breezes that graced us while in this area. I marveled over the many beautiful plantings, as well as the indigenous shrubbery and trees in this part of Maryland. As we’ve traveled, we’ve happened upon a handful of towns that stand-out and appeal to us more than others. St. Michaels, MD, is definitely one of those towns.
One of the St. Michaels Navy Point Cottages, called the Dodson House was constructed during the years of 1851 and 1861, and was named for longtime owner, hotelier Richard Stearns Dodson. This house, along with the other Navy Point Cottages, the Higgins and the Eagle houses, were rehabilitated in 2003 and are now utilized as the Maritime Museum’s administrative offices.Christ Church is an Episcopal church that has served the St. Michaels, MD, area since 1672.There were several of these very small Colonial style two-story homes in St. Michaels that I longed to tour the insides of!Orange day lilies and pink hydrangeas are a popular combination in historic St. Michaels flowerbeds.St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, serving St. Michaels, MD, since 1781.The Eagle House was originally constructed in 1890 as the retirement home of retired steamboat captain, Edward Napoleon Dodson, and was named for its entry tower that is capped by an eagle – a replica of the carving that stood there for years. The original eagle is believed to have likely started life ornamenting the top of a steamboat or tugboat pilot house, and around 1907 it was removed from the vessel and placed on this house. It is now owned and utilized by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
That evening, after a full day of sight-seeing, we tried St. Michaels Crab & Steak House for dinner, as the harbor master, Ann, had so highly recommended it to us, saying it was her favorite restaurant in town.
Where we indulged in a delicious dinner at highly-recommended Crab & Steak House on Thursday evening, 06/17/21.The Patriot tour boat in St. Michaels, MD, made multiple trips a day past our boat at the marina. We probably should’ve booked a trip for more historical information, but ran out of time.Legacy’s second evening on the transient wall at St. Michael’s Marina.
