Maryland Crab & Oyster Trail: Lower Eastern Shore

From the Beach to the Bay

Crisfield, at the southern end of the byway, is famous for its seafood, water trails and annual Hard Crab Derby.

Driving Tours
Eastern Shore

Places along the way

Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore is known for its traditional watermen culture, where locals rise with the sun and work the waters to bring in the day’s catch.  Nestled between the vast, blue Chesapeake and the white, sandy beaches of the Atlantic, a tapestry of farms, woodlands, rivers and marshes paint an unparalleled landscape picture.

Among the wide open spaces, watermen villages and towns, like Deal Island, Crisfield, Princess Anne, Pocomoke City and Berlin, dot the countryside and provide a variety of places to pick crabs, slurp oysters and sample seafood dishes. 

Crisfield is especially known for its softshell crabs, which are most abundant in the early summer. The crabs molt (shed their shells) in the shallow grass beds in the bay close to land. When the watermen’s boats come to the docks, look to see if you can tell the difference between the live hard crabs and soft shell crabs. Then head to Captain Tyler’s Crab House or Linton’s Crab House to taste them fresh.

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Beer from Fin City Brewery in Ocean City

Soft shell crab season begins in early summer. The crabs molt (shed their shells) in the shallow grass beds in the bay close to land. When the watermen’s boats come to the docks in Crisfield, look to see if you can tell the difference between the live hard crabs and soft shell crabs.

Photo By: Fin City Brewing
Fish in the Atlantic from peaceful Assateague Island.

During the summer, check out Assateague Island State Park for hands-on bayside clamming and surf fishing programs. Then enjoy the surf and sun with the wild ponies.

Janes Island is an ideal spot for watersports like kayaking.
Camp in a cabin beneath tall loblolly pine trees near the waterfront at Janes Island State Park. Paddle a water trail to visit remote pristine beaches and see saltmarsh dwellers like birds, fish, and crabs up close.
Photo By: VisitMaryland.org
Painter in gallery
Sample the small town charm of Berlin and Snow Hill with their art galleries, boutiques, cafes, shops and a craft brewery. A vendor rents kayaks on the Pocomoke River, where you can see a grove of unusual bald cypress trees that grow in the water.
Photo By: Clark Vandergrift

Time your visit to take advantage of Maryland’s unique seasonal festivals, such as the Annual Skipjack Races (a traditional oystering vessel) in Deal Island on Labor Day Weekend and while you’re there, take in the Skipjack Heritage Museum. Watch live Chesapeake Blue Crabs in a race to the finish line at Crisfield’s Hard Crab Derby, also on Labor Day Weekend, or catch a seafood festival, like the J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake in mid-July in Crisfield.

The beach and dock at Crisfield are a fun place for a photo op

Photo By: Clark Vandergrift, OTD

Salisbury is an inland city that boasts plenty of fun things to see and do, including the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art and the Salisbury Zoo. Evolution Craft Brewery is a favorite local hangout, which also serves raw oysters and other seasonal grub.

Head for the beach to soak up the sun with a trip to Ocean City, where there’s an abundance of seafood restaurants sure to please, from the quirky and casual to the fancy and fine. What’s better than a crab feast at the end of a day in the salt, sand and surf?  For the nature lover, nearby Assateague Island is a popular place to relax on the beach, walk trails among the dunes and sight wild ponies.

Museums, Festivals, and Events

Maryland serves up a diverse menu of seafood festivals, crab derbies and waterfront attractions. Explore maritime museums to discover what it was like to be a waterman in decades past. Try your hand at tonging or running a trotline, when you spend the day on a watermen’s heritage tour. See the unparalleled majestic beauty of a skipjack or log canoe race, both traditional watermen’s boats. Catch all the Chesapeake has to offer!

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Take a Side Trip

Take a ferry from Crisfield to Smith Island, where you can explore a traditional watermen community that depends upon the bay for its livelihood. The shallow grass beds surrounding the island are a favorite place for young crabs to molt, and the island’s watermen are known for their soft shell crab harvests. You might get a chance to see workers at the Smith Island Crab Co-Op deftly picking crabs to sell packed crabmeat by the pound. Smith Island is also popular for its unique 10-layer cake – the state dessert.

Wild ponies are regularly sighted on Assateague Island.

Photo By: Frank Forgione

Maryland Lore

Soft shell crabs are the same species as the “hard crabs,” but they have recently shed their shells after outgrowing them. The new shell is papery thin as it first forms.

Photo By: Sophie Mac

Trails in this Region

Chesapeake Wine Trail
Maryland Crab & Oyster Trail: Upper Eastern Shore