“Any place where a black Lab has the right of way is a place I want to live,” says Moses, a retired naval officer who moved here 15 years ago. It’s “a real, no-kidding community.”
Moses is rounding up grant funding to convert one of the island’s many weathered buildings (this one circa 1890/1900) into a new Watermen’s Museum—a grassroots effort to preserve the oral histories and artifacts of this community, and perhaps capture some of its magic.
RESIDENTS HERE recognize that many of the traditions that have sustained the local way of life are fading. Harvesting food from the bay is not only exhausting, dangerous work, but it’s also becoming unprofitable in light of declining shellfish populations and increasingly restrictive state regulations.
Still, other traditions remain alive and well. Before Tilghman Island Day ends, I make sure to catch the rowing races in Dogwood Harbor, where heats of three take off from the bulkhead, rowing frantically—or methodically, depending on their level of experience—toward a finish line about 30 yards away.
As the crowd cheers for its favorites, one rower struggles comically to get his dinghy going in the right direction, while two competitors up ahead get into a shoving match with their paddles. This tussle gives the slow rower just enough time to straighten himself out and breeze past them to win the race. And so another story is born.
Capping off the day, I head to the firehouse, where community members are dishing up dinner. An Eastern Shore band plays a raucous brand of country music, while kids race across the grass and adults line up to buy beer, clam strips, soft-shell crabs and fried oysters from food trucks and tables.
Stepping up to a friendly guy in an apron, I buy oyster stew—a milky, buttery broth packed with about a dozen plump bivalves—served in a Styrofoam cup.
Slurping this elixir, I imagine what it was like when the bay was teaming with oysters and no one thought twice about having a full cup for dinner. And then I realize the people who made this stew are still living that dream.
Virginia Myers, a freelance writer based in Takoma Park, Md., is a regular contributor to Driving Range.
GETTING THERE
From Bethesda, the drive to Tilghman Island is an hour and 50 minutes. Take I-495 to the U.S. 50 exit east toward Annapolis. Drive across the Bay Bridge and stay on U.S. 50 until you reach MD-322/Easton Parkway, and go right. Drive about two miles to St. Michaels Road/MD-33, and follow this for 22 miles.
Where to Stay
Harrison House Country Inn (21551 Chesapeake House Drive; 410-886-2121; www.chesapeakehouse.com) is in the center of town. The waterfront property has its own docks and offers one of the largest restaurants on the island, plus fishing and hunting packages with local guides. Operated by the same family that founded it as a boardinghouse in 1875, Harrison House embraces island history and enjoys a legacy of return guests. The pool, playground, fire pit, volleyball court and bikes are available, free of charge, to guests of the inn, which has 50 rooms and four on-property rental houses. Rates: $129.99-$179.99 per night; $179.99-$269.99 per night for suites; $1,299.99-$2,999.99 per week for houses (which can also be rented on a per-night or per-weekend basis). Wi-Fi is available in all rooms and some of the rental houses.
Knapp’s Narrows Marina & Inn (6176 Tilghman Island Road; 800-322-5181, 410-886-2720; www.knappsnarrowsmarina.com) is perched along Knapp’s Narrows, the boat-lined channel that runs between the mainland and Tilghman Island. Guests often include boaters docked at the marina, and there are sunset sails and fishing charters available for those who come by land. The pet-friendly inn features 20 rooms, each with a balcony or patio with waterfront view; plus a pool, restaurant, tiki bar, Wi-Fi and free use of bikes. Kayaks and paddleboards are available for rent. Rates: $90-$170. Includes continental breakfast.
Black Walnut Point Inn (4417 Black Walnut Point Road; 410-886-2452; www.blackwalnutpointinn.com), at the tip of the island’s secluded peninsula, features a 58-acre bird sanctuary on one side and water views on the other three. The 1840s house includes fireplaces, a sunroom, a screened-in back porch and an expansive lawn that serves as a stopping point for butterflies migrating south each fall. Owners Bob Zuber, a former music teacher and bar owner (guests are encouraged to play the baby grand), and Tracy Staples, once a world-traveling IT engineer and now a fourth-generation minister, have close friends among the locals and can steer guests toward some of the island’s best features. Offering four rooms and three cabins with Wi-Fi, the inn also has a pool, a hot tub, and bikes and kayaks for rent. Rates: $120-$250 (rooms); $280-$350 (cabins). Includes full breakfast.
Where to EAT
Two If By Sea Restaurant, 5776 Tilghman Island Road; 410-886-2447; twoifbysearestaurant.com. Hours vary by season. The cozy café-style restaurant earned a “Best Weekday Breakfast” award from What’s Up Eastern Shore with selections like “crabby” eggs Benedict, a down-home corned beef hash, and blueberry- or cherry-stuffed French toast. Look for soft-shell crabs and rockfish among the specials and sandwiches at lunch. Dinner may include Chesapeake chicken (stuffed with crab) or swai, a cousin to catfish, paired with produce from the garden out back. For dessert, try the Smith Island Cake, a nine-layer Eastern Shore tradition. Breakfast, $4.95 to $9.95; lunch, $5.95 to $8.95; dinner, $12.95-$18.95. BYOB.
Harrison’s Chesapeake House, 21551 Chesapeake House Drive; 410-886-2121; www.chesapeakehouse.com. Daily, 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The companion restaurant to the Harrison House Country Inn, this sprawling eatery dominates the waterfront with a 100-seat outdoor patio, a separate bar on the dock and a full 180-seat restaurant indoors. The menu offers a mix of fresh, local seafood (think rockfish and crabs), plus local specialties such as oyster fritters or the pot o’ cheese and apple-butter appetizer. You’ll also find standbys such as chicken wings and fried calamari. Live music on weekends. Dinner entrées, $14.99 to $27.99.
Characters Bridge Restaurant, 6136 Tilghman Island Road; 410-886-1060 (for online info, see Characters Bridge on Facebook). Hours vary by season. The view is outstanding at this 200-seat (half indoors, half outdoors) restaurant on Knapp’s Narrows, where you can watch the boats go under the drawbridge or see the sun set over the water. Seafood is the specialty. The rockfish bites are especially popular, and you can get a crab feast of hard-shells in season. Dinner entrées, $18 to $30.
Things to Do
Tilghman Island Day. Held on the third Saturday of October, this annual event begins at 10:30 a.m. and ends in the late afternoon. Festivities include oyster-shucking and crab-picking contests, rowing races and docking competitions, plus net-making demonstrations and watermen’s story sessions. Don't miss the best oyster stew you will ever taste. The day also brings live music from local bands, all sorts of seafood plus arts and nautical crafts for sale and a silent auction featuring everything from automotive tools and a free oil change to a guided fishing trip, framed nautical photos and a T-shirt from the Maryland Watermen’s Association. The $5 admission includes a map to the exhibits, events and food booths. www.tilghmanmd.com/tilghmanday.htm.
Skipjack Sailing. Capt. Wade Murphy Jr., a fifth-generation Eastern Shore waterman, has spent 50 years dredging oysters off the coast of Tilghman Island; his boat, the 53-foot Rebecca T. Ruark, was built in 1886, and is the oldest in the dwindling fleet of sailing oyster boats called skipjacks. During the tour, Murphy will describe the history of the fleet, the restrictions on oystering (the skipjacks are permitted to dredge under sail for one month before motorized dredges are permitted to fish the oyster beds) and the complicated politics around protecting the bay and its bounty. The two-hour tour includes an opportunity for passengers to dredge a few oysters, and guests often get to hoist the sails and take a turn at the helm. $30 per person for two hours (bring your own food/drink). Half-day or full-day trips also available. 410-829-3976, 410-886-2176, www.skipjack.org.
Tilghman Watermen’s Museum, 5778 Tilghman Island Road; 410-886-2930; tilghmanmuseum.org. Open Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., April through December. Housed in a former barber shop, this crowded collection of artifacts includes both historic and current treasures. Paintings, oral histories (some from locals who still live down the road) and model boats compete for space with nautical knot displays, photographs, fishing poles and totes made from sailcloth. A vibrant group of Tilghman enthusiasts, many of them transplants, is now raising money to move the museum to a historic “W-house”—so called because of its shape, which is designed to catch the breeze in the notoriously hot summers.
Crawfords Nautical Books, 5782 Main St.; 410-886-2418; www.crawfordsnautical.com. Open weekends only, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., April to December. Specializing in maritime-themed titles ranging from Patrick O’Brien novels and yachting guides, to books on pirates and ship modeling, Crawfords is charming not only for its books, but for its historic location in an old bank building—complete with the original safe. You’ll also find locally focused literature and a jolly shopkeeper, Gary Crawford, who can tell a few tales himself.
—Virginia Myers
