Onward to Oxford - Maryland that is...

We’re still putting the interior of our home back together after having new carpeting installed.  The upgrade sure made us more aware of all the ‘stuff’ we have.  In any case, back to blogging…

I’m continuing with our late September road trip with family, when we explored parts of the Delmarva Peninsula.

I spotted one last structure of interest as we departed Cambridge Maryland.  This depot replaced the original combination depot for the Dorchester and Delaware Railroad.  The first depot burned down in 1886.  This ‘replacement’ served the Cambridge and Seaford Railroad, the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad, the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railroad and finally, the Pennsylvania Railroad.

In the 1970s, the old depot served as a bus station.  Ever since then it has been used by a real estate firm, Powell Realtors.

If you follow my blog, you may recall that we’d had lunch in Doc’s Downtown Grille in Easton Maryland.  Well, it turned out that Doc’s has another restaurant, this time it’s in Oxford Maryland.  Doc’s Sunset Grille is located on the waterfront, which was a plus, and we’d enjoyed our food in Easton.  Hence this was a logical stop for lunch on this day of exploration…

Bonnie and Bill posed for this photo.  Our turn for a photo came shortly afterwards.

The ambiance in Doc’s Sunset Grille was appropriately nautical and with windows everywhere, it offered good views of the water.  There were some folks eating or drinking outside but it was too windy and cool for us to be comfortable, so we opted for inside service.

Laurie’s sister Bonnie took this photo of Laurie and me at our table.  Even I thought that it was a decent photo.

It turned out that we didn’t order much food at Doc’s.  The ladies weren’t that hungry so, with one exception, the group went for Bloody Mary’s and beer…accompanied by one and a half dozen oysters. ($30.00) Bill loves oysters and he downed the majority of them…

I don’t ‘do’ oysters!  For proprieties sake, I won’t tell you how I describe oysters.  My option was a Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich.  The fried chicken breast was tossed in Doc’s signature Nashville Hot Sauce with sweet house coleslaw and pickles.  It came with French fries. ($14.00) It was a good sandwich and I was a happy diner...

Doc’s Sunset Grille can be found on Facebook at Doc's Sunset Grille | Oxford MD | Facebook.

After our midday/early afternoon break at Doc’s we looked around Oxford.  I loved the look of this simple but classic structure.  It was built ca. 1880 and it is one of 206 contribution structures that comprise the Oxford Historic District as listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  This historic district includes the peninsular portion of the town.   

Located at 220 North Morris Street, this building is described as a two story, two-bay frame store with an intact commercial front and eves.  It currently serves as an office for the Benson and Mangold Real Estate Company. 

The Oxford Inn was built ca. 1880.  It has 9 appropriately furnished rooms available for travelers.  In addition, it is the home of Pope’s Tavern which features a traditional Italian menu based on the owner’s grandmother’s recipes.  She’d immigrated to the USA from Italy in 1909.

I did find a reference that mentioned that the building had served as a grocery store and butcher shop at some point.  As for John Pope, he had opened the original Pope’s Tavern in Oxford way back in early 1692.  To learn more about the Oxford Inn, go to Oxford Inn - A historic inn with 9 quaint bedrooms & an Italian restaurant on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

The Robert Morris Inn predates the Oxford Inn by about 170 years.  Originally built as “River View House” in 1710, it has been an inn since 1800.  It is the oldest full-service inn in America.  Some of the 320+ year old rooms were slept in by Founding Father Robert Morris, George Washington and many other famous personages. 

As described in the Inn’s website, “Red brick fireplaces around which heated discussion on the arguments for independence from Britain took place and negotiations for sugar cane, tobacco and French wine were worked out.  Wood paneling and oak timbers are all as they were over 300 years ago, built by ships carpenters from locally acquired materials and the red bricks from England, used as ships ballast.”

Some folks these days may not be able to handle the fact that rooms at the Robert Morris Inn don’t have land line telephones or television.  They do have Wi-Fi service.  To learn more about the range of accommodations at the Inn, just go to robertmorrisinn.com.

Note: Robert Morris Jr. (1734 – 1806) was an English-American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States.  He served as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, the Second Continental Congress, and the United States Senate.  He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.  From 1781 to 1784, he served as the Superintendent of Finance of the United States, becoming known as the “Financier of the Revolution”.

Since Chesapeake Bay and most of this small towns along the shore of the bay are in the oyster harvesting business, it seemed appropriate that I should include a typical oyster fisherman’s boat.  The Chesapeake Bay oyster has been continuously harvested and eaten for many generations, beginning with Native Americans.  The harvest had declined in the late 1900s but steps to revive the oyster population and the environment have yielded positive results in recent years.  In the oyster harvesting season (6 month) which ended on March 31, 2022, 511,000 bushels of oysters were harvested.

Yet another yacht!  I can dream can’t I?!  ‘Celebration Day’ was photographed on the Tred Avon River in Oxford Maryland’s harbor.  This yacht is 82 feet and 10 inches long and it was built by Marlow in the USA.  She sleeps 6 overnight and if you want someone else to operate the boat while you ‘chill’, it has accommodations for 2 crew members.

The Cutts and Case Shipyard in Oxford MD was founded in 1965 by a legendary yacht designer and builder named Eddie Cutts Sr.  His partner in the venture was computer pioneer and IBM executive, John Case.  The company builds custom wooden yachts and boats.  They have also built motor yachts patterned after ones from earlier in the 20^th century and they restore yachts to their former glory.  It appears to me that sailing craft are the company’s specialty.  The company provides dockage and yacht maintenance as well.  To learn more, go to Cutts & Case, Inc. (cuttsandcase.com).

Note: Oxford has a population of 611 per the census in 2020.  However tourism is a big business.  In the 1800s it was all about oysters…harvesting and canning…but overfishing killed off that business. 

Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland.  The town first appeared on a map in 1670.  In 1694 Oxford and a new town called Anne Arundel (now Annapolis) were selected as the only ports of entry for the province of Maryland.

I had a tough time finding any history about this very interesting old church.  Part of the reason is that it’s been ‘decommissioned’ and is no longer an active church.  The main portion of St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1855 – 1856.  However, the bold Gothic Revival front of the structure was built in 1882.  I also learned that the interior of the church is known for its elaborate pressed metal décor that dates from a 1906 renovation.  I also read that in recent years it has been renovated again in order to preserve it.  In my opinion, it is a striking and attention grabbing church structure.

To be totally honest, the primary reason I wandered north along MD Hwy 565 and then west on MD Hwy 333 was so I could take the ferry across the Tred Avon River.  I am always looking for ferry boats.  Fewer and fewer are operating every year.  As of this year, the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry will celebrate its 341^st birthday.  Oxford is the home of the oldest privately operated ferry service still in continuous use in the United States.

Established in 1683, the ferry links Oxford with Bellevue Maryland, crossing the ¾ mile width of the Tred Avon River in 7 to 10 minutes.  The original owner was paid 2,500 pounds of tobacco per year (roughly $25.00) to operate a ferry service for “Horses and Men”.  Early ferries were powered by oars and sail, with steam power being introduced in 1886.

The first photo above is of the Oxford ferry landing back in 1930.  The current ferry boat is the “Talbot”.  She began service in July of 1980.  As the second photo shows, she isn’t a large ferry.  She usually only carries 9 vehicles, passengers, bicycles and motorcycles.  Occasionally she will transport a dump truck or cherry picker.  Our fare for this river crossing was $15.00 for the car and driver plus $3.00 for each passenger.  To learn more about this ferry service, you can go to Oxford Ferry Boat Crossing Between Oxford & Bellevue Maryland. 

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