Solomons Island...
May 12, 2023



Leaving Point Lookout Marina, the crab boats were out checking pots.  When we got back out into the Chesapeake Bay, we were able to clearly see the Point Lookout Lighthouse.  When we travelled this area many years ago, we did not travel as close to the land as we did this time.  The Captain also didn't let me get closer to Point No Point Lighthouse continuing north.

We had good travels all the way into Spring Cove Marina.  Nothing has really changed in the last 20 years from when we were here.  People are nice and they take great care of the property.  Luckily, we were able to connect with Joy and David Lazarus who did the Loop previously and lived in Marina Bluffs with us in Virginia.  We enjoyed dinner which included my crab cake!

We enjoyed riding the dinghy around Solomons and caught this family of Canadian geese.

For Mother's Day, I went to Calvert Marine Museum to tour the Drum Point Island Lighthouse and see the museum.  The Lighthouse built in 1883 was to help voyagers avoid running aground.  Your could tour their living quarters and the large bell which was used during fog.  The lighthouse keeper had to hand wind the mechanism every 2 hours so it could hammer 2 blows every 15 seconds when there was fog.  The lighthouse was not used after 1962 and finally moved to the museum in 1975.

John Smith explored this area of the Patuxent River during his travel of the Chesapeake Bay in 1608.  He mentioned seeing 17 villages along the shores.  Settlers moved out to Solomons after the establishment of St Mary's City in 1634.  The Pawtuxent tribe which lived in this area disappeared by 1670.  This area also had a group of ships set out to fight British ships in the War of 1812.  While the island has had many names, it was named Solomons in 1867 thanks to Isaac Solomon and his oyster business.The museum had quite an extensive number of canoes made of different techniques.  Native Americans would use fire and shells to carve their canoes.  European settlers used some of Native Americans' techniques but used steel tools and multiple logs over the years.  The 3 major styles were:

                  1. Poquoson canoe                    2. Pocomoke Canoe                    3. Tilghman canoe

The canoe below was built in Poquoson, Va very close to where we grew up back in 1908 and used in Urbanna in the oyster trade.  It was built from 5 logs.

  

The museum touched on the significant decrease in the oyster business over the years from the change in the ecosystem in the bay.  In 1885 there were 15 million bushels versus 500,00 bushels in 2020.

Below is a boat built in Solomons in 1940's for a number of years.  The boat was used in an I Love Lucy episode that I remembered growing up.


Another item of interest was a display of oyster cans.  Many of you who came to our home will remember our collection of oyster cans in the kitchen.  Out of this group here, we had 4 out of 6.  Unfortunately, when downsizing, we kept one can from Hampton.
One of the stranger things that occur to us was coming up the Bay, prior to turning into the Patuxent River, we saw a number of planes flying back and forth out of Naval Air Station Patuxent River.  While I was taking pictures of the planes in the air, 2 of the non conventional one did not show up on phone screen.  It must have been something top secret, I guess.  This base was set up in 1943 following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The display made mention that many of the Mercury astronauts trained here at their Test Pilot School.

While Danny and I love Solomons, this stay was too long due to an item for the boat not being sent as agreed and waiting for UPS not to mention one day of high winds.  Enough said, I will just have to find more crab cakes to eat! 

Fellow loopers, Linda and Scott took this when they left Solomons

Next stop is Annapolis!

TOTAL MILES TRAVELLED   2732.50 miles
TOTAL DAYS 182

                                     




 

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