Day trip to Oxford, Easton and St. Michaels Maryland

11/10/06

1. 8:15 AM - Drove to Oxford Maryland (http://portofoxford.com/) - This place was as close to the perfect town as we have ever imagined. It reminded us in some ways of Williamsburg with quaint streets and houses from the 1700's and 1800's. It is out on a peninsula (see Google Earth) in the Tred Avon river on the Eastern Shore. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there. We took the Oxford parkway at Easton instead of staying of Route 50 which was an exceptionally pretty drive. We parked by the Oxford - Bellevue Ferry and walked all over town. Wonderful waterfront parks, incredibly quiet streets and beautiful scenery. We stopped in at Cutts and Case Shipyard and asked if we could walk around and look at the antique yachts in the big display area in front of the building. It is hard to express how beautiful this town is. I certainly didn't hurt that it was about 70 today and at that part of Maryland still had leaves on the trees, just barely past peak.
2. 12:00 Noon - Lunch at the Robert Morris Inn. We had exceptional crab cakes. This is the place where James Mitchner wrote the outline for his book Chesapeake so his name and book are everywhere. If you've read the book many of the fictional places and characters are based on Oxford and the surrounding areas.
3. 1:30 PM - Walked over to the grounds of Sandaway which is the waterfront property of the Robert Morris Inn. From what we saw, this would be a fantastic place for an overnight. We walked around town more and along the seawall, the beach, sat on various benches, walked some more. We didn't want to leave. Diane decided that Sovereign Grace needs to start a church here so we can move there. She suggested "Sovereign Grace United Methodist Church". (There are about 4 churches in the tiny town and I think all are Methodist). We considered riding the ferry over to Bellevue side but didn't have time.
4. 2:30 PM - Drove over to the Oxford Cemetery to locate the grave of Tench Tilghman, George Washington's aide-de-camp. The cemetery had the most amazing view which seemed ironic since no one there was enjoying it except us.
5. 2:45 PM - Drove to Easton. On the way were checking out the $10-$15 Million dollar mansions all around that area. We then visited the Third Haven Quaker Meeting house The meeting house has been in use since the 1684 and is relatively unchanged. We met a lady working on the grounds who was very eager for us to visit a service sometime. She told us all about the place and then we went into the meeting house and it was fascinating. It isn't like the sterilize historical re-creations we were used to. It smelled 322 years old. We sat in there and prayed (silently - Quaker style) for our kids. We had the house and most of the grounds to ourselves. The grounds are beautiful. The meeting house is fascinating. Definitely worth the trip.
6. 3:30 PM - Drove to St. Michaels. Shops, shops and more shops. I didn't care much for it, but Diane endured the Cutts and Case yacht restoration yard in Oxford, I can endure knick-Knack shops. We also headed over to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum gift shop. That shop I loved. It was too late to do the museum, but we have done that in the past and enjoyed it.
7. 5:00 PM Drove to Hemingway's Restaurant in Stevensville (right at the base of the Bay Bridge on the Eastern shore) and had dinner in the porch overlooking the Bay Bridge and bay as the sun set. We had cream of crab soup and salads (still full from lunch) that were excellent. There is a delightful dock that you can walk out on which is very romantic at night. The grand finale was watching a monster sized cruise ship heading down the bay under the bridge with every imaginable light on (not one of those Watermark dinner cruises, but the multi-thousand passenger beasts).

All Material On This Website Copyright 2021 by Andrew Jones