St. Michael's - Day Ashore

Trip Day:	74	Latitude:	38°46.56 ' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	0	Longitude:	076°13.95 ' W	Locks Total:	8
Total Miles:	1,450	Location:	St. Michael’s / San Domingo Creek

St. Michael’s was founded in 1677 on the Miles River on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake.  In 1813 when Brigadier General Perry Venson got word that the British Navy was on the way, he ordered the locals to hang lanterns in the treetops above the town.  With all town lights extinguished, the first military blackout, the ships overshot the town with only one house being struck.  This house is now call the “cannonball house” by the locals.                                                                         

Frederick Douglass born on Tuckahoe Creek, famous abolitionist and US Marshall for the  District of Columbia,  lived as a slave in St. Michaels area 1833-1836. 

 

Today St. Michael’s is a summer resort destination, but the shopping district along Talbot Street and the many residential areas are mainly homes from the mid 1800s with a few from earlier periods.  The Key Lime Café is pictured at the right, the Old Brick Inn, circa 1816, is below.

We toured tree-lined streets with brick sidewalks with house after house from the mid 1800s and earlier.  These quiet neighborhoods was so beautiful and peaceful, of course this is not high season when the rentals are full and the tourist have taken over the town.

I wanted to make of offer on this one!

The Tarr House - 1667

Henry Clay Dodson House - 1883

St. Michael’s Parish was founded in 1672 and the current church was built in 1878 and still in use today.

The church grounds was beautiful and house a peaceful cemetery. 

The tombstone for Miriam Bloodsworth reads that she died February 25, 1832, Aged 76 years, 1 month and 17 days. 

The Chesapeake Maritime Museum is an 18-acre complex of 9 buildings housing a collection of Bay boats and a look into the region’s maritime life.  Oysters were gold between 1870-1890 and most people worked in the industry in this area; dredging, shucking, processing, canning and shipping oysters.  Local shipbuilders could hardly keep up with the demand for Skipjacks which were ideal for dredging the shallow waters of the Chesapeake.  In this 20 year period the oyster beds were virtually stripped clean—now the watermen are crabbers. 

Current Skipjack restoration project with the original deckhouse - you know Ron enjoyed this exhibit, looking at every plane, adz, rasp and saw.

This “shallop” is a replica of the type boat Captain John Smith sailed in 1608 when he explored and charted the entire Chesapeake Bay. 

1879 Hoopers Strait Lighthouse moved here in 1960.

Quote of the day on Gina's Cafe chalboard.

We are trying our best to get our share of play time!

We had a great day at St. Michael's.  Ron would have been a perfect fit for the town when the Baltimore Clippers were built here and the locals raced the Log Canoes.