Page 203 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2021 DISCOVERING SANTA FE

soaking tub, glass-enclosed shower, plushy towels,
soft bathrobes and slippers. Everything was per-
fect -- even the toilet paper had been sculpted into
a white rose. With my balcony overlooking the
river, this was the type of accommodation I never
wanted to leave, but it was just about two bells
(5pm Navy time) when all the guests gathered by
the flagpole with a complimentary glass of bubbly.
We stood toasting the flag, “Don’t Give Up the
Ship” which was the American Navy’s battle cry
during the War of 1812. The Inn was originally
built as an estate for Samuel Hambleton who
served with Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (and
later became his friend) in the battle of Lake Erie.
After the War, Hambleton ran a navy blue flag up
his flagpole with the motto, “Don’t Give Up the
Ship.”
Eventually, Hambleton’s estate was sold and be-
came a plantation, then a dairy farm, then an
equestrian farm. Designer Laura Ashley took it
over and later sold it to the founders of Orient Ex-
press. Today, The Inn is owned by a NYC-based in-
vestment company which is also creating a nearby
sister property with all water-facing rooms and
villas, The Lodge at Perry Cabin, to be completed
in 2023.
Post toast, I sipped my champagne while sitting
in an Adirondack chair (there are scores of these
comfortable chairs at the Inn) and watched the
boats float by. St. Michaels began as a shipyard
and from here I could see the Chesapeake Bay
Maritime Museum, once the site of seafood pack-
ing houses, docks, and work boats. The gentry ar-
rived and built homes here while the less
fortunate who lived near the swamps became the
Chesapeake Bay Watermen sustaining the fishing,
crabbing and oystering industries.
I was salivating at the thought of seafood, so I
headed for the Inn’s “Purser’s Pub” and sat outside
to eat the “Taste of the Eastern Shore Seafood
platter” with salmon, oysters, crab claws, rockfish,
and snakefish. But this was Maryland, and I was
jones-ing for more crab, so I ordered the most de-
licious crispy soft-shelled crab (with honey mus-
tard) that I’ve ever tasted. When I returned to my
suite there were freshly-made chocolate chip
cookies on my nightstand.

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