We were up and ready to go fairly early. We pulled anchor and we were on our way by 8:30am. We went forty miles, crossing from the east side of the Chesapeake Bay to the west side, making a slight detour around Smith Island because it was in our way. Our trip took us about five and a half hours, and it was a pleasant ride, with our arrival around 2pm.
We made our way up the Potomac River, which would lead to Washington D.C. if we followed it all the way, but we turned off into St. Mary’s River to find our selected anchorage. We had read it has countryside scenery, protected waters and fabulous sunsets. We followed the chart and eventually came to our spot. We noticed another boat was anchored here already, but the bay was quite large so we could stay far away from them. We tucked up behind a piece of land sticking out and close to shore and the dinghy dock. We dropped anchor and had a beer making sure we were secure. We were looking at St. Mary’s College, a liberal arts college established in 1840. They have docks along the water not far from where we anchored, so that was nice to get Frank in to shore. After making sure we were secured, we took the dinghy to the docks.
“St. Mary’s College of Maryland is located on the original site of Maryland’s first colony, St. Mary’s City, which was also the first capital of Maryland and is considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in America. Colonial St. Mary’s City was actually only a town and at its peak had between 500 and 600 residents. However, as the colony quickly expanded and settlements spread throughout the Eastern part of what is now Maryland, the town remained the capital and representatives would travel from all over the colony to participate in the Maryland General Assembly, the colony’s first legislative body. The Colony was founded under a mandate by the colonial proprietor, Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore of England, that the new settlers engage in religious tolerance of each other. The first settlers were both Protestant and Catholic during a time of persecution of Catholics. This mandate was unprecedented at the time, as England had been wracked by religious conflict for centuries.” So yeah, there is some history here…. we learned a lot of them while exploring the “historic St. Mary’s City, which sits next to the college, is a State-run archaeological research, historical research, preservation and interpretation center and an indoor and outdoor museum complex. The area managed by the commission also includes a reconstructed colonial town and sailing ship, located on the historic site of Maryland’s first colony.” We walked around the archeological areas and walked for miles. Frank was even tuckered out after our walk. We saw there was a bakery on site as well, which Lauren looked up and placed an order for tomorrow, as they only are doing online ordering at this point due to COVID. We returned to the boat and relaxed the rest of the evening, looking at tomorrow’s weather and destination, but nothing was firm due to the forecast.
Day 2- I woke up early and checked the weather. It was not looking good for traveling. I still had to take Frank to shore and pick up our fresh bread that Lauren has ordered. Frank and I were waiting at the bakery for them to open, but we were too early so we walked around the grounds a bit longer. We made our way back and picked up our order, then retreated back to the boat. The weather was not looking good, so Lauren and I discussed our options- we decided that we would stay here another day and wait out the weather. The rest of the day was mostly spent inside, with occasional runs to shore to walk Frank. We explored the campus area of the college and decided tomorrow we would head around the corner to Solomons Island, Maryland…
