8/21/18 – 8/23/18: We arrived in St. Michaels around noon. We were told that this place was a little on the upscale side – that everything here catered to people with big boats and a lot of money. They were right.
There were several marinas in town, but the one most people went to (including us) was the St. Michaels Marina. It boasted a resort-like atmosphere and had amenities that we’ve never seen before. They had 3 on-site restaurants, a boat spa, and even a “yacht butler” where you could order cocktail delivery, lunches, and even breakfast in bed – right from the comfort of your own boat (and all those “extras” came with a “premium” price tag, too). Our slip was directly in front of one of the restaurants: an outdoor bar and grill type place. The bow of our boat was, quite literally, about 10 feet from the nearest tables. We did eat there a couple times, as it seemed to attract more of the “common folk” like us.
The boats and people here were definitely among the upper-class of society. There were exceptions, of course, like us and a few other boats, but for the most part, the people here were quite affluent. We saw several boats topping the 1 and 2 million dollar mark, and many others in the mid to high hundred-thousand range. And you could tell the people from those boats knew they had money, too. They had just a hint of haughtiness and arrogance that we’d never seen in boaters before. If we passed them on the docks, they’d look the other way and wouldn’t say hello unless we said it first (and several just ignored us and kept walking). We figured their poop probably had a slightly floral scent, much like roses or perhaps lavender.
You could tell that the town, too, catered to the upscale clientele. Almost every shop was either an art gallery, a jewelry shop, or a high-end clothing boutique. There were also several realty companies, and we’ll leave it to you to guess what home prices were around St. Michaels. We did find one little “five and dime” shop where we stopped in to get our cheap little coffee cup and refrigerator magnet. We said hello to a few people, too, and got responses from about half of them.
The one really nice thing about St. Michaels was the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. The museum was dedicated to the history of life on the Chesapeake Bay. It had 12 buildings of exhibits, including a lighthouse built in 1879 that was moved there solely to be placed on exhibit. Other buildings included the history of oystering, crabbing, duck hunting, and recreational boating on the bay. One buildings was dedicated to cartography and had dozens of historical maps of various parts of the bay, some dating back to the 1600’s. There was a full, working shipyard and boat restoration shop on site. When we were there, they were in the middle of restoring an 1879 log-hulled bugeye called Edna E. Lockwood. They completely cut off her hull and rebuilt it, and put her in the water just days before our visit (and it floated)! It was really a unique and neat museum to see.
Our original plan was to spend 2 nights in St. Michaels, but we ended up spending a third night due to a small craft advisory that was issued the day we were leaving. There were strong winds and heavy seas on they bay, and we didn’t feel like fighting it all day, so we just stayed put. All in all it was a nice stop, but if we ever returned to the Chesapeake, we would probably bypass St. Michaels. Other than the museum (a definite must-see), everything else was just too uppity for us. We prefer the small, quiet, out of the way, “treat you like family” kind of places, and St. Michaels just wasn’t that.
Pics of St. Michaels
