Seaport Living Tour

Day Trip Itinerary
Seasonal – May through September

Visit the setting for James Michener’s “Chesapeake” and spend the day in historic Cambridge: visit museums, dine on Eastern Shore style cuisine at your choice of two waterfront restaurants, Snappers Waterfront Café or Portside Seafood Restaurant, and cruise aboard an authentic skipjack.

Begin your day at the Richardson Maritime Museum, 401 High Street, a repository of wooden boat building with a model collection of boats which actually worked the local waters, watermen’s memorabilia, a dedication to renowned wooden boat builder Mr. James B. Richardson, and the history of the lower eastern shore. Learn about our unique heritage of the wooden local boats which worked these waters; Log Canoes, Bugeyes, Pungys and the legendary Skipjacks and the lives of the Watermen who worked in this hard and often dangerous trade. See a video of the building of the last Skipjack the Nathan of Dorchester, launched in 1994. On Saturday afternoons, the Nathan when in port, offers a two hour public sailing which usually includes an oyster dredging demonstration. Lunch can be takeout in the park or on board, and is available from a number of the local restaurants.

After lunch or after a sail, take a walking tour of historic High Street to view the 18th and 19th Century Homes many built with ‘oyster money’ earned from either harvesting or canning this bounty from the Bay. If time permits, take a short walk across the lift bridge spanning Cambridge Creek and visit the Ruark Boatworks, located at Maryland Avenue and Hayward Street. There you will find wooded boats being restored most Mon. Wed and Fri. mornings. Come and spend a few moments watching the work in progress or even lend a hand. Also in the upstairs of this old building is the newly acquired Brannock Research and Education Center.