Michener's Home

St. Michael's is a sister town to Cambridge and Oxford on the Eastern Shore. It is no less charming with its small side streets and an abundance of stores. The big attraction for us is the Chesapeake Bay Marine Museum, located on a point of land jutting out into the harbor. As we go north from Cambridge to Oxford to St. Michael's, each town seems a little more quaint and precious and wealthy. If the proximity to the urban life has any influence, then St. Michael's is the closest of the three to such sway.

A clear indication of such economics was what greeted us once we settled in to our dock space.

Brio from a Drone's POV

A small bug-like drone hovered off our bow. It sure looked suspicious. An hour or two later a young lad knocked on Brio and gave us this picture along with an advertisement for the store that originated the photo.

This is a view of the harbor with two unidentified cannon. The town was attacked by the British during the War of 1812.

The Museum covers 18 acres. It is an impressive collection of life on the Chesapeake starting in the 17th century. See www.cbmm.org. Life was "thin" as the inhabitants depended upon oysters, crabs, fish and anything else that could be caught. One could "try" to crab or harvest oysters with old devices on the dock.

There are displays of the many types of shallow boats that allowed access to crabbing and the oyster beds. Duck hunting in the late 1800s became a favorite sport for those who came from wealthier parts of the country such as New York and Philadelphia.

What was an interesting aspect that we had not seen highlighted elsewhere was the existence of the Underground Railroad through the Chesapeake. It is no accident that Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman hailed from these parts. But for a slave trying to escape the south, and slavery was certainly widespread in Maryland and points south in the early 1800s, the route that held the greatest promise of success was by water through the Chesapeake to Philadelphia and points north or along the coast to southeastern New England.

Our visit was well-timed to occur during the strong influence of the Harvest Moon, whose perigee is scheduled for October 6th. The effect was readily observed at high tide wherever we went.

Even at our dock at St. Michael's Marina, one had to walk carefully over flooded dock planks to get on shore.