A Brief Visit to Dorchester County Maryland

…continuing with our exploration of parts of the Delmarva Peninsula last September.  Now the focus was on the western shore of Maryland along Chesapeake Bay.

From Easton we headed south on US Hwy 50.  At Cambridge we turned onto MD Hwy 341 continuing 12 miles down the highway to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  This refuge was established in 1933 as a waterfowl sanctuary for migrating birds following the Atlantic Flyway.

The Blackwater Refuge is fed by the Blackwater River and the Little Blackwater River.  The name ‘blackwater’ comes from the tea colored waters of the rivers.  They are darkened by the tannin that is picked up as the water drains through the peat soil in the marshes.

The Blackwater Wildlife Refuge consists of about 28,000 acres of freshwater impoundments, brackish tidal wetlands, open fields and forests of both evergreen and deciduous trees.  The refuge plays host to more than 250 avian species, 35 different reptiles and amphibians and numerous mammals…one of which is the formerly endangered Delmarva fox squirrel.

During the winter migration the refuge is home for as many as 15,000 geese and 10,000 ducks.  Unfortunately, we visited the refuge before the migration season really started.  Still, it was a beautiful place.

Did you know that the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is just one of more than 540 units in the National Wildlife Refuge System?

While we have roosting eagles where we live in East Tennessee, it’s always fun to spot them as we travel around the USA.

The center of the Blackwater Refuge can be accessed via the Wildlife Drive.  This 3.5 mile paved road…or 6.5 mile loop travels along the Blackwater River providing excellent views of the refuge and, if you’re lucky, the local wildlife as well.  There is a daily permit fee of $3.00 for private vehicles and $1.00 for pedestrians and bicyclists who want to access the drive.  Since I have a lifetime senior pass to National Parks, Monuments and Wildlife Refuges, all we had to do was show my card.

For more information regarding this National Wildlife Refuge, go to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov).

The Refuge has a visitor’s center on Key Wallace Drive.  It features wildlife exhibits including an authentic eagle’s nest as well as both Eagle Cam and Osprey Cam monitors.  It also has a book and gift shop as well as a butterfly garden.  The second floor features bird exhibits and spotting telescopes for viewing the action along the Blackwater River.  Access to the refuge is from dawn to dusk. 

Note: Roughly half of the refuge has also been designated as the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument with a small portion of the monument now forming part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park.  To learn more about the Historical Park, go to Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park.

Following our visit to the wildlife refuge, we headed back north to Cambridge Maryland, the county seat for Dorchester County.  The photo shows the Dorchester County Courthouse...much different from the 'usual' design.  It was built in 1853 and it is the only courthouse designed by Richard Upjohn.  The painted brick structure shows both Italianate and Georgian Revival decorative details…with the latter being added in the 1930s.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Richard Upjohn (1802 – 1878) was a British-born American architect who immigrated to the USA.  He’s most famous for his many (at least 51) Gothic Revival Churches.  Probably his best known and most recognizable church is the Trinity Episcopal Church on Broadway in New York City.  However, he designed churches from Maine to Texas and Minnesota to Utah.  Upjohn was the first president of the American Institute of Architects.

FYI, Dorchester County Maryland has a population of about 33,000.  The county was formed in 1669.  It’s named for the Earl of Dorset who was a family friend of the Calvert family.  In turn, the Calvert’s were the founding family of the Maryland colony.

Located in front of the Courthouse is this relatively new statue of Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross) entitled “Beacon of Hope”.  The statue was dedicated in September of 2022.  It is just a few miles from where Harriet Tubman, the famous Underground Railroad Conductor was born.  It is stop #3 on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.  The location of the Tubman statue is meaningful as the courthouse was once the site of slave auctions and it was the site of an escape that Tubman engineered for a niece.  Harriet Tubman was born in 1822 and died in 1913.

Of note is the fact that this statue was blocked for some time until it was agreed that it wouldn’t be taller than “The Talbot Boys” statue on the courthouse grounds.  The latter statue was the last statue on public grounds commemorating the ‘Confederate cause’.  That statue has since been moved to a cemetery in Virginia.

To learn more about Harriet Tubman, go to Harriet Tubman - Wikipedia.  To learn about the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway go to Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).

Christ Church in Cambridge is the parish church of the Great Choptank Parish, which was founded in 1692 as one of the original 30 Anglican parishes in the Province of Maryland.  This impressive Gothic Revival style church was completed in 1884.  It was constructed in a cruciform form using green serpentinite or serpentine stone.  The adjoining cemetery is enclosed on 3 sides by a brick wall and burials here date back to 1674.  Church parishioners have included 5 Maryland governors and many other prominent personages.   

FYI, the name for this type of stone originated from its similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake.

The sign in front of this old home in Cambridge states that it was originally built by the Reverend Daniel Maynadier in 1739.  Maynadier was the rector of the Christ Choptank Parish.  This handsome home was rebuilt by a Maryland state senator in 1840.

Estimates of when this home was built vary a bit, from 1761 to the late 1760s.  Named “Sycamore Cottage”, it was remodeled a few times during the 1800s.  Hence it has Victorian windows, a Colonial Revival entrance porch and Greek revival decorative detailing inside.  It also contains a large meeting hall.  The home was moved to this site in 1840.  The Cambridge Woman’s Club has called the structure home since 1922.

Cambridge, population ca. 13,200, is located along the Choptank River which feeds into Chesapeake Bay.  Location is one of the reasons that the town was first settled by English colonists in 1684.  As anyone who follows me knows, I love trains/depots, planes and ships/boats.  So when I spotted the yachts “Renegade” and the “Joyful”, I had to take a photo.  Hey, I can dream can’t I!?

From what I could discover, “Renegade”, in the first photo, was built in the USA by Westport Yachts in Fort Lauderdale.  She is 125 feet long, can cruise for 2,500 miles, has a crew of 5 and can host 10 guests.  “Joyful” is quite a bit smaller, ‘only’ 81.5 feet long.  She is a Fleming designed trawler type yacht built in Taiwan that was delivered in 2020.  ‘Joyful’ has a maximum cruising range of 4,500 miles and a crew of 3.  She can host 6 guests.  Both of these yachts are sailing under the American flag.

That’s all for now.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave