Page 200 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2021 DISCOVERING SANTA FE

Crabs but Not Crabby on the Eastern Shore of Maryland

PHOTOS AND STORY BY: MARGIE GOLDSMITH

needed a mini-vacation badly. Too many
months of isolation had gotten to me, and in
spite of the great green cathedral in my
I backyard, Central Park, I wanted a quick get-
away, an antidote to burn-out, I insisted on a place
which would not require a plane ride and a place
on the water, as lakes, rivers and oceans always
soothe me, I chose the Inn at Perry Cabin in St.
Michaels, located on the placid Miles River, a trib-
utary of the Chesapeake Bay on the eastern shore
of Maryland.
St. Michaels is easy to get to from anywhere in
the northeast either driving or by train and then
by car over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to St.
Michaels. I am a carless person so the Inn arranged
to have a driver meet me at the train. It turned out
my driver Monte was an opera singer, so I insisted
he sing me an aria. He was embarrassed – no one
has ever asked him to sing in a car before – but I
was determined, so he sang to me in a rich deep
baritone. He sang in his church’s choir, so together
we sang gospel songs and then sang every Harry
Belafonte song I know.
We were stuck in traffic on the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge which always has traffic or construction no
matter what time of day. To pass the time, I asked
Monte to tell me about St, Michaels, which calls it-
self “the town that fooled the British” in the War
of 1812. St Michaels had been a thriving ship-
building town and a tempting target for the

200 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2021