If you’re looking for a fun-filled coastal daytrip, add the 24th annual Solomons Maritime Festival to your itinerary. The free event is Saturday, May 3rd, in Solomons Island, Maryland, which is about an 80-mile drive from Fairfax.
Held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., the festival celebrates Chesapeake Bay life with activities like crab-cake making, oyster shucking, live music, and toy boat building. Plus, hop aboard the popular 30-minute, narrated cruise on the 125-year-old William B. Tennison. The oyster boat takes a scenic loop around Molly’s Leg Island where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay.
Explore Maritime Life
Located in Calvert County, the festival takes place on the grounds of the Calvert Marine Museum, a small but mighty waterfront complex containing reproductions of historic fishing vessels and an expansive collection of fossils gathered by amateur paleontologists and fossil hunters.
More than 600 species have been found in the region, mostly at nearby Calvert Cliffs. The most “jaw-dropping” exhibit is a replica of an 18-million-year-old megalodon shark’s mouth containing 135 authentic teeth.
In the museum’s estuarine gallery, the exhibits and bubbling tanks showcase the diverse marine life around the Chesapeake Bay with swirling jellyfish and adorable seahorses. Outside the main building is a woodcarving and model boat showroom where you can watch master craftsmen hand-construct boats. A cadre of volunteers show off a variety of marine animals, including molting crabs shedding their shells and techniques for cooking crabcakes.
Also, on the grounds of the museum is a boardwalk trail over cattail marshes and access to the observation deck at Drum Point Lighthouse.
Eat, Drink, and Stay in Solomons
After spending a few hours at the festival, head over to historic Solomons. This resort town has several restaurants and shops to keep you entertained, with a waterfront promenade on the Patuxent River where you can see a variety of vessels returning from a day of fishing.
In good weather, put your toes in the sand at the Tiki Bar & Grill and listen to live music while sipping on tropical drinks. Watch the prettiest sunset around at the Lighthouse Restaurant and Dock Bar or at the Pier Restaurant & River Bar. If you want to pick up fresh-caught seafood, stop by Captain Smith’s Seafood where they fry and steam it while you wait.
Sign up to learn the art of cooking seafood at No Thyme to Cook. Chef Gwyn Novak offers hands-on instruction for a variety of delicious dishes, and best of all, students eat what they make.
Before heading home, stop by Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center to shop for original artwork and admire the gallery exhibits by notable artists. There’s a quarter-mile path through the woods with art installations, including 30 pieces on loan from the National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian collections.
If you want to make a weekend of it, the Hilton Garden Inn Solomons and Solomons Victorian Inn put you in the heart of town.
Feature image courtesy Renee Sklarew
