Easton, Maryland
 

Anyone familiar with Easton? Anyone live there?? Looking for information on what the area is like. I will be there next week to see for myself but am curious to know what you like / dislike about living there. If you have a recommendation for lunch let me know. Really, any feedback is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

ttt

I live twenty-five miles away off the Wye River. Easton is a very pleasant town in a spectacular region of Maryland called the Eastern Shore. In town, the Bartlett Pear Inn was just recently touted by the Washington Post dining critic Tom Sietsema. We are to a degree a crab culture here on the Shore so you will have to pick up picking crabs(always eaten with cold beer), crab cakes and crab soup.

Thank you, George. I am a big fan of the Maryland blue crab though my picking skills could use some work.

Looks as though I won't make it there this week after all. Instead, we're going for a weekend in June so if anyone has anything to add, I would love to hear from you. Have yet to visit City Data Forum.

We loved Easton! We stayed at The Tidewater Inn which is a very quaint historic hotel with excellent service. We enjoyed meals at The Bartlett Pear Inn and Mason's, both were amazing! Rignt across the street from The Tidewater was nice restaurant where we enjoyed Creamy Crab soup. St. Michaels is just a short drive away. We loved the Key Lime Cafe there and the Crab Claw. We had beautiful views of Chesapeake Bay from the Crab Claw. Enjoy Maryland! ***kim*** ((#))

Thank you for your input, kim! Haven't seen you here in ages--good to "see" you, again. Hope all is well!

Follow-up:

We had the opportunity to spend this past weekend in Easton, staying with friends of ours who live there. Absolutely fell in love with the town and surrounding areas.

Friday night we had dinner in St. Michael's at Towne Dock. I thought the food and service were good, not great. They have a very nice view of the water and surrounding area which we enjoyed from the deck.

Saturday morning, I ate my way through the excellent farmer's market in Easton. Was I ever impressed by the variety, if only zucchini blossoms would hold up until I could get them home. There was a man there from Belgium making to-die-for Belgian waffles and, because he lived in Spain for a time, a delicious paella and two varieties of gazpacho. Very generous with samples, he let us try everything before buying.

From the market, we walked around town stepping inside the Aurora Theater and Hill's Pharmacy which still has a working soda fountain in the back. I'm sorry we didn't have more time to go inside all the varied shops, this town has a lot going on!

To help us get to know the area better, Saturday afternoon our friend drove us all over Easton and its environs. We somehow ended up at the Bellevue ferry and took it across to Oxford. So much fun, a 9 car flat bed ferry. The only ferry we'd been on prior is the one that crosses the English Channel. Night & day.

Once in Oxford we stopped at the Scottish Highland Creamery. I'm not a big fan of ice cream so for me to say this is the best ice cream I've had and would go back for more is saying a lot. Oxford is a dream on the water, we enjoyed seeing it and hope to spend more time there one day soon.

Back in Easton, we enjoyed an excellent dinner at the Bartlett Pear Inn. All of us ordered the crab and muscle salad from the menu and for dinner I had the special, rockfish with tomatoes and olives. Really impressed by the food and service here.

On our way "home" we notice a few street closures because of an outdoor concert. Really, I could go on and on about this place, all there is to do, and how much we loved our time here but that's it, in a nutshell.

Thank you, all, for your recommendations!

Just curious, could Easton/Oxford be done as a day trip from Washington? We have an entirely free day next Saturday, and were thinking of going to Annapolis, but Easton/Oxford also sounds great.

sf 7307, Easton could absolutely be done as a day trip from DC. It is approx a 2 hour drive straight out route 50. Haven't been there in a while, so I don't know the Oxford ferry schedule, but you could probably squeeze Oxford in as well. Enjoy and make sure to eat all the crab you can!

Thanks!! (I'll let my DS and his GF decide between Annapolis and Easton)

If you're refering to the Bellevue / Oxford ferry the phone number is 410-745-9023. I looked closely at my photos for a schedule but only found something that read, "last ferry departs 8:30 PM".

Our friends in Easton told us it takes them about 1.5 hours to get to D.C.. Probably dependent on traffic and destination.

Enjoy a great time!

I like the Easton area and St. Michael's is a cute little town. The problem with getting there is that you have to cross the Bay Bridge which depending upon the day and time could be no fun. It reguarly gets backed up on the weekends with all the beach traffic. Friday and Satrudays are bad crossing it gong to the shore and Sunday is bad returning to the DC area. I'd take that into account when deciding where to go. Annapolis is a quick 45 minutes and u don't have to cross the bridge.

yestravel, I figured there'd be more traffic on Saturday, but knowing my family, we won't leave DC as early as most shore-goers! (and we'll be coming back Saturday night).

Unless there is rain(and one lane from the westbound span is dropped due to safety concerns), Fridays are not so bad crossing the Bay Bridge most of the time. Sometimes the worse back-up, from about 3PM to 7 PM, is at the Severn River Bridge. However, Saturday is bad in the summer, often in either direction. Remember, not only are people going to the beach but people are coming home from vaction.

Hint- When coming up to a backup at the Bay Bridge, bear as far right as possible to get to the toll booths and, after passing through the toll booths, fight your way to the center.

I just bumbled onto this thread because you posted something about the heat in Maryland on the Friday rants and raves. I clicked on your profile and really liked your profile picture, and then noticed you had posted something about Easton.

My second home is on the eastern shore, geographically halfway between Easton and Oxford on the Tred Avon River, so the little town of Easton is our town. It's such a cute town, and the area is so wonderful with so many things to do. Sometimes I feel like I'm back in time 40 years. People are super friendly and nice.

One of my favorite fun facts about Easton is that on New Years Eve, they have a huge crab that "falls" at midnight! GeorgeW is correct: it's a serious crab culture.

Anyway, if you liked Easton, think about returning in November for the waterfowl festival. It's an entire weekend of great seafood and more than you ever wanted to know about duck hunting, but even if you have no interest in "waterfowling" it is fun and fascinating.

Cheers! Always happy to discuss the eastern shore. It's a little known piece of heaven.

Hi spcfa,

"People are super friendly and nice." No kidding! We lived in Texas for 20 years, the friendliest place I've ever lived, and I have to say that it felt as though we had gone back, the people of Easton were so warm and welcoming. It did my heart good to be there.

Thanks for letting me know about the waterfowl festival, sounds like fun! We hope to return soon and, if things go well for DH, make it our home. Would love to see that crab fall on NYE (lol!). :-)

I grew up in Easton and currently live a short distance away. It is so nice to hear how much everyone loves it. If I can be of any help, please ask.

Wish the Robert Morris Inn was open for dining.

It just had its grand re-opening 2 weeks ago, but under new ownership. I haven't been yet, but the chef is the former executive chef Mark Salter from the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels. There was a big story about it in the Easton Star Democrat a month or so ago.

For myself, I still think about their squash casserole, and the combo crab and shrimp cakes. That place was heaven - we loved eating there for years. The article said the new owners were working closely with the family that sold it, so perhaps some of the traditional recipes will still be available. I'm hoping so.

Wonderful news and thank you for the details.

You are most welcome. I adore Easton and the immediate area, and am always happy to talk about it (although my husband thinks we should keep very quiet about it so it stays wonderful).

spcfa, you'll be happy to know that we didn't make it out there this trip! (but saving this for a future trip :-) )

DH and I returned to Easton for the day, yesterday. Although we were there on "business", and spent the better part of the afternoon looking at houses, I had time in the morning to further explore a bit while dh met with his future employer.

After dropping dh off I made the short drive to St. Michael's for another look-see. This was before 10am so little was open. I cannot wait to get to know this place better. As I drove into town I noticed a sign that reads, "St. Michael's, the town that fooled the British",

http://www.stmichaelsmd.org/about/history1.html

After putzing around there I returned to Easton to see the Amish Country Farmers Market which is only open Thursday thru Saturday. The place is filled with food and furniture, a shed builder, weather vanes, clothes and signage. I didn’t buy anything but hear from our friends that the meats there are very good. Also, their beautiful kitchen table and chairs were purchased there.

http://www.amishcountryfarmersmarket.com/

What I learned about parking in Easton… there are discreet posts that line the streets indicating a 3 hour maximum. I didn't notice them at first and thought parking was free and unlimited. It‘s not but after 5P it is. There are metered lots off Washington, 25 cents will get you an hour with an 8 hour maximum. In driving around I also noticed what appeared to be a free lot also accessible from Washington. The fine for parking beyond the limit is $10.

After hearing positive things about Coffee Cat I stopped in for a latte. Coffee was great and the people working there could not have been more friendly or helpful in answering questions I had about Easton. There’s a nice sitting area when you first walk in or you can retreat to the back room where there are mostly tables and chairs and a couple of upholstered chairs by the windows. At night Coffee Cat transforms into Night Cat with live music,

http://www.nightcatmusic.com/

For lunch I joined dh and company at Martini's. Everything from crispy chicken salads to burgers and chicken sandwiches were ordered off the menu at our table. Though oversized, I loved my crispy chicken salad and dh said the chicken sandwich, the waiters favorite, was excellent. Wait staff was great with suggestions, attentive and friendly and I loved the local artwork and decor.

http://www.martinisofeaston.com/

For dinner we went to Mason's. The mention of Mason's is met with a lot of positive feedback, "I love that place, it's my favorite" is what we heard time and again. We ordered off the menu starting with the black fig salad that was an unusal blend of ingredients I would never think to combine but worked really well together. I got a taste of DH's cream of crab soup that was *yum!* incredible, rich and creamy with a lot of flavor. He out ordered me there. For dinner I had a perfectly cooked mediterranean sea bass. DH ordered ice cream with bananas, walnuts and chocolate for dessert that was pretty tasty.

In addition to all this wonderful food you can buy chocolate, and the hand soap found in the restrooms, at a shop on the main floor--I found this out after mentioning how wonderful the hand soap smelled to the waitress--'it is from France and we sell it downstairs', ooh, la la! Again, great wait staff and nice décor, a lot of oversized euro prints and pictures.

http://www.masonsgourmet.com/

More and more we are so excited to move to Easton after the first of the year!

Eastern Shore is a nice area indeed. We came from Missouri for an Elderhostel at Ocean Beach and then traveling en route to Annapolis. We drove to Oxford via Cambridge and stayed at the Robert Morris Inn which is a bit pricey but very nice.
A real sailing town. Dinner was in Easton at Crazy Janes...I have no rememberance of the place. Liked the Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. On to Annapolis with stay at Maryland Inn...and we realy did enjoy our time here. Lunch Ram's Head, dinner McGarveys.

Bill in Boston

AnnaMarie, such a lovely visit you had. I'm happy you are so enchanted with my hometown. It was a wonderful place to grow up and I can't imagine wanting to live anywhere other than the Eastern Shore of MD.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your explorations as you settle in.

Thank you, bfrac! :-)