MD: Oxford

Day 355
July 13, 2016
NM Today: 11
NM To Date: 5813 (6689 statute miles)

We visited Cambridge yesterday, so it seemed only natural to visit Oxford today. The two towns are only separated by eleven nautical miles but are as different as two towns can be. We arrived in Oxford late morning having had some weather issues on our travels from one port to the other.

Poor Visibility on the Fly Bridge today

Just as we arrived at the marina in Oxford, heavy rain fell from the skies. I put on my raincoat and went out to handle the lines. Clark told me to go back inside to wait out the rain, but then we both saw the dock hand standing in the pouring rain at the dock ready to grab my lines. I threw my raincoat back on and went back out to finish the job I had started. Unfortunately it chose that moment to add thunder and lightening to the mix.

The dock that they called a "T" dock is more like a wide "V" dock with the point of the V pointing into the side of our boat. We placed fenders as best we could to protect Sea Moss from harm, but neither of us have dealt with an outward-facing V for a dock before.

Eventually, when the weather cleared, we checked in at the marina office, grabbed our bikes and headed to the old Inn in town for lunch.

At entrance to the marina 

Street from Marina into Town of Oxford, MD

Robert Morris Inn c. 1710

One of Several Beautiful Works of Art at Inn

Salter's Tavern at Robert Morris Inn

Inside Salter's Tavern

 After lunch we continued our walk into town and found the town museum and market.

Downtown Oxford, MD

We popped into the museum that occupied space equivalent to the size of a small store where we learned a bit about Oxford history.

Fresnel Lens from Lighthouse
with view of Museum in Background

The museum gave a brief summary of Oxford's beginnings. Considered the oldest town on the Eastern Shore, the first people here were the Choptank Indians. The first known plantations date back to 1659. In 1683 Oxford was declared a port for Maryland, and in 1694 declared one of only two official ports for the state. Oxford did a booming trade business with Great Britain. Trade came to an end with the Revolutionary War whereby the town went into a rapid state of decline.

Besides Oxford history, the museum had the front pages from some newspapers over time including a report on 9/11, the fall of the Berlin wall, and Castro taking over control in Cuba. In addition to the history exhibits, one corner of the museum contained works of art done by a local artist, Ted Hanks, who specialized in carving ducks and geese. One display showed 10 miniature geese called a "Gaggle of Geese" - each in a different pose.

Hand-carved geese in wood by Hanks
approx size 14" x 24"

Like Cambridge, Oxford had a mural painted on the side of a building in town. This one focused on professional fishermen.

Mural in Oxford, MD

After our tour of the town, we headed back to the boat with a brief stop at the ship's store at Brewer Boatyard. While there, the skies showed signs of becoming nasty again. A quick look at my Rainy Days app indicated it might be prudent to get back to the boat sooner as opposed to later.

When we got back to the boat, we found we had a bigger worry than the weather.  Clark noticed when he got on the boat that it appeared to be listing and went to investigate the cause. With the odd-shaped "V" dock, the edge of the boat had hung up on the dock. Clark tried to push the boat away from the dock but it would not budge. He had me stand on the port side hoping that my weight would take the pressure off the starboard side. That worked and Clark was able to lift and push the boat away from the dock.

With low tide, the fenders had dropped below the fixed dock and allowed the boat to get too close to, and on top of, the fixed dock. After that unpleasant surprise, we set up fender boards to keep the boat away from the dock. Thankfully, we came back to the boat when we did, and no serious harm was done. The owner of a Mainship 400, Chesapeake Pearl, docked next to us helped us with the fender board setup and then we stood and talked until it started to rain and drove us inside our respective boats.

Since we had a little time to spare, Clark opened up the VHF radio to work on the volume control problem. He was able to borrow a normal-sized soldering iron from the owner of Chesapeake Pearl. He re-flowed the solder in hopes it will fix the lose connection.

Around 8:00 Clark and I went for a walk - first to visit the restrooms and then to look for sunset pictures. Also, Clark had read about a boatyard with wooden boats on display. We went to see if we could find the building with a plan to come back tomorrow morning when it should be open for business.

We found the sunset first.

Sunset in Oxford, MD

 Then we turned down a side street and found the wooden boat place.

Cutts & Case Shipyard with Wooden Boats

Walking on the street by the shipyard, we saw a group of people down by the water and went to investigate. What we found when we got there ... ice cream at Schooner's. The theme for today was "Ice Cream for Breakfast" with flavors like Fruit Loops, Blueberry Muffin, Cinnamon Raisin, etc.  The flavors all seemed very exotic and actually not very appealing. Clark settled for a lemon sorbet, and I took a vanilla with Heath bar crunch topping. Sinful indeed!

Schooner's 

 At Schooner's we found some "picket fence" art. I had noticed these all over town. Some designs were better than others. The one at Schooner's was one of the nicer ones I saw.

Schooners - Picket Fence Art
at Schooner's 

 On the way back to the boat we enjoyed another view of the colorful sky.