MD: St. Michaels - history tour

Day 357
No Boat Travel

The Harbour Inn Marina charges a resort fee in addition to the standard "per-foot-of-boat" fee charged at most marinas. A "complimentary" breakfast is included in that resort fee. Normally we eat breakfast on board, but given we were forced to pay in advance for our complimentary breakfast, we dined in style this morning - most expensive omelet I have ever eaten "for free".

View from Harbour Inn Breakfast Room

After our excellent breakfast we grabbed our bicycles for a tour of the town. Thankfully the high temperature today was a measly 90 degrees, and the air felt less humid making a world of difference. We decided to head to St. Mary's Square to start our culture tour.

On historic St. Mary's Square, at the heart of St. Michaels, sit two cannons and the St. Michaels Museum. Nearby is "the Cannon Ball House" where a cannon ball fired from a British Ship during the war of 1812 came through the roof of the house and rolled down the stairs as the woman living there raced down the very same stairs with her child to seek cover.

The plaque associated with the cannon at St. Mary's Square states that it was used to defend the town against the attack of a British ship in August of 1813.

St. Mary's Square est. 1770
St. Michaels, MD

From the town map we learned the location of the town information center at the end of Talbot Street and decided to head there next.

Visitor Map of St. Michaels
located at St. Mary's Square

 The St. Michaels Museum was closed but would open at 1:00. We decided to come back later and continued on our way to the information booth and the Chesapeake Maritime Museum.

Bell at St. Michaels Museum

Every house in St. Michaels exudes history. After seeing so many historic homes in all the towns we have visited, I am beginning to recognize some of the signs of a 1700s build versus one built in the 1800s. Many of the homes in St. Michaels have a similar 1800s style, but there are a few standouts. Clark took several pictures of houses in town.

Typical St. Michaels Home c. 1870

"The Parsonage Inn" c. 1870
only brick Queen Anne Style house in St. Michaels

At Navy Point, the site of the Chesapeake Maritime Museum, we saw three historic homes situated side by side.  When built, all three houses faced the waterfront - a hub of activity between 1876 to 1891. The Dodson House, built c. 1856 and intended to be used as a hotel, had maintenance work going on when we were there, so Clark did not bother with a photograph. The "Eagle House" stood right next door.

Navy Point Historical House - "The Eagle House"

"The Shannahan House" built c. 1873
Designed by a Baltimore Architect, the roof style is unique
in St Michaels

We grabbed a stack of fliers at the information booth and then headed to the Maritime Museum. While debating whether or not we wanted to spend our day touring the museum, we looked around the area and found the "Sweethearts Bridge / Lover's Bridge" which connects Navy Point to Cherry Street. This bridge is the only remaining one of three bridges that once connected the town to areas around the harbor.

Lover's Bridge

Lighthouse at Chesapeake Maritime Museum

We decided not to spend the day in yet another maritime museum. Instead we opted to follow the self-guided walking tour of St. Michaels via bicycles. As part of our tour, we passed "Hell's Crossing". The intersection of Locust and Carpenter Streets became known as Hell's Crossing because it stands between the docks and the town. Sailors returning to their vessels frequently got into fights at this intersection after a night on the town.

The small frame house below sits at one corner of Hell's Crossing. Buildings of this size populated this area of town and were inhabited by sailors and dock workers. A house of this type cost $200 in the early 1800s.

Small Frame Cottage c. 1810

 Our tour took us past Church Cove Park, known as Muskrat Park to the locals. Here we saw two cannons that are replicas of ones used to defend the town against the British during the War of 1812. The original cannons are located at Fort McHenry in Baltimore having been seized by Union troops during the Civil War. The replicas are fired on special occasions by members of the "St. Michaels Blues" volunteer group named for the town militia during the War of 1812.

St. Michaels defense during the War of 1812

 One side of Church Cove Park is bordered by Mulberry Street which made me think of the book by Dr. Seuss.

"And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street"

Many of the highlights on the walking tour included sites we had visited before acquiring the map, so we rapidly completed the tour by visiting one last house on the other side of town. In doing so, we spied a covered bridge off in the distance and decided to go investigate. What we found was a paved nature trail, so we went for a ride.

Intriguing Covered Bridge in the Distance

Looking down the Nature Trail
to the Covered Bridge

View from the Nature Trail

Looking through the Covered Bridge

 On the other side of the bridge I saw something that I have not seen in quite some time - horses! I found the view of the two horses surrounded by three birds quite unusual and amusing.

Horses on Horse Farm in St. Michaels, MD
with three white birds keeping them company

After completing the tour of the nature trail, we saw that it was now approaching 1:00 and the St. Michaels Museum would open shortly. Having had a bigger-than-normal breakfast, we decided to visit the museum and then head back to the boat for lunch. After all, how long could it take to see the small museum? An hour after arriving at the museum, we finally completed our tour and were on our way to find food.

The woman who greeted us when we arrived walked us from display to display giving us tons of information on the history of the town and their role in the War of 1812. She explained the background of the works of several artists on display at the museum and walked us through point by point the history of Frederick Douglass, a famous freed black slave, who once lived in St. Michaels.

Amazing Art by Ruth Starr Rose

Exhibition on History of Frederick Douglass

House full of Antiques -
 donated by town locals

With our heads full-to-busting with the history of St. Michaels, we headed back to the boat to get lunch. A potential plan for the afternoon included a dip in the pool with a bike ride back into town later to visit an ice cream parlor we spied during our travels. We did none of that. We took rather long naps and woke up just in time to make dinner. As we ate dinner, we watched a free movie on DVD that Clark acquired from another boater, who referred to it as a "pass-along" DVD. Now that we have seen it, we are supposed to pass it along to another traveler.

After dinner Clark stepped out to check for the last pictures of the day and captured today's sunset photo.

Sunset over St. Michaels, Maryland