St Michaels to Annapolis

We took the dinghy into St. Michaels yesterday afternoon. 

While the weather was cool and overcast, at least it was not raining!  

View of Seas the Day and Drift Away at anchor in St Michaels

This is a very touristy town with quite a few B&B’s and many, many shops selling what I call “kitch”.  Lots of pretty signs with clever sayings, jewellery, t-shirts etc.  One shop was interesting, in that it sold laser-etched maps of various waterways including the Chesapeake and Great Lakes.

While there are two crab restaurants near the water, including the one I ate at when we delivered C’est La Vie, we elected to have lunch in town at an Italian restaurant.  The food was delicious, including the cream of crab soup.

Portable saw mill for cutting logs

We then visited (another) Maritime Museum.  This one also had a screw jack lighthouse that had been saved. ( 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse)  This museum has a very active boat restoration/boat building program.  You can see from the pictures that they take logs and saw their own boards etc.

Building a 7 log boat

 The current project is to build a 7-log boat similar to the numerous boats built in the Chesapeake.

"Pusher Boat"

Pusher boat on display

One very interesting exhibit was a sailboat meant for oystering.  Rather than converting it to power, they used a small boat with an inboard engine to push it when required.  The throttle and transmission controls were led forward to the main boat.  Quite a sight!

There was an exhibit showing all of the recreational uses of the Chesapeake including an old Owens, one of the first mass produced boats.  They also had many examples of sailboats used for recreation.  A full size “Star” was on display.  I was impressed by the massive amount of sail for such a small boat.

Display of various tools used for Oystering

Numerous other exhibits explained in detail how they harvested oysters, including hand tongs, dragnets and hydraulic scoops for deeper water.  Did you know that they also harvested them using divers for a time?  Another display showed the difference between packing ousters flat in a bushel vs on end.  Only half the quantity was in the bushel when on end.  Apparently a good oysterman could shovel them so they all ended up on end!

The final exhibit was a public opening of a photographic exhibition.  Robert de Gast’s black and white photographs were taken in the late 60’s and 70’s documenting the Chesapeake oystering.

Also included was a standing exhibit of a 700 hp steam engine and its’ massive propeller that came from a tug. 

As we left the museum and did a little grocery shopping, it started to rain.  At least it held off for our visit.  Back to the boat for a quiet evening and another episode of Outlanders.