As we were finishing our tour of Chesapeake Bay, we found another gem in the Northeast corner – Chestertown, MD. It is a bit out of the way, as you need to cruise 3 ½ hours up the Chester River (and then back down again), but so worth it! This historic colonial town on the river was Maryland’s second largest port of entry (second only to Annapolis) and the town fought the British in the War of 1812. Chestertown is home of Washington College, founded in 1782 is the 10th oldest college in our country, with George Washington serving on its Board of Visitors and Governors for 5 years. The town has the best bakery we have found to date, the Evergrain Bread Company with freshly baked bread available each morning, a wide selection of pastries (the best ever chocolate croissant), and decadent desserts. I was in heaven. If that wasn’t enough, the day we left we stopped by a great Farmer’s market, which had even more homemade goodies and a large selection of fresh produce. Of course, Murphy found the pet treat booth and giving the “aren’t I cute” look, garnered not one, but two delicious treats.
On our way to Chestertown from Annapolis, we stopped at a marina at Rock Hall, MD and on the way out grabbed a mooring ball also near Rock Hall, before we made our way across the bay to Havre de Grace, MD. Beautiful sunrise/sunsets once again.
Havre de Grace has a lovely Promenade along the waterfront with several stations describing the devastation the town encountered during the War of 1812. The best part of this town was an ice cream and candy shop just a block from the marina. Yummy! We stayed at Havre de Grace 2 days, the second day being a great day to sit out a front that rolled through. Rolling is sure what we did in the marina. Our boat was the last in the line of 4 boats at the face dock and with the wind from the northeast and an northeast opening to the marina at our stern, we were bouncing around. Oh well, that’s just part of living on a boat.
One fun fact, Havre de Grace, was a contender for our nation’s Capital, tying George Washington’s preferred location at the mouth of the Potomac River. On July 16, 1790, a compromise between Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison enabled the Residence Act to pass, declaring George Washington’s selection to be the site of the nation’s capital.
Our last stop on the Chesapeake was Chesapeake City, MD which is about halfway through the C&D Canal. “C&D” stands for Chesapeake and Delaware which is what this very busy canal connects. The C&D Canal is the 3rd busiest canal in the world, While staying at Chesapeake City marina (with a lively restaurant on site), we connected with crew on several other looper boats, We are now at Delaware City, DE, ready to traverse the big water of Delaware Bay tomorrow arriving at Cape May, NJ early afternoon. The winds are suppose to pick up, so we are leaving, along with our buddy boat, Betty Gail at first light for a 7 hour run down Delaware Bay.
We plan to spend Memorial Day weekend at Utsch’s Marina in Cape May with Betty Gail, waiting for a good weather window. Our next leg of the loop takes us out to the Atlantic Ocean, up the New Jersey coastline. New Jersey does not have an intercoastal waterway that is easily traversed by boats our size, so “outside” we go. The first run is from Cape May to Atlantic City and then the next day (or when there is good weather), we cruise from Atlantic City to New York Harbor. We are so excited to be cruising into New York Harbor, right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stay tuned for pictures of that exiting milestone of our trip.
Loving the looper life,
Dave, Brenda, and Murphy
The history knowledge you guys are acquiring is amazing! Thanks for sharing it all with us.