Maryland Crab & Oyster Trail: Southern Maryland

Oyster Recovery Partnership

Enjoy hushed woodlands, tidewater vistas and colonial-era towns. In Southern Maryland, the history is rich and the seafood superb.

Amenities

Gas Stations

Regions

Southern Maryland

On the western shore of the Chesapeake, the rhythm of the tides, call of the gulls, and the hum of the engines from watermen’s boats create a symphony of sounds amid the miles of shoreline and open water. Nestled between the Potomac and Patuxent rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, the rolling hills of these Southern Maryland peninsulas are an easy peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of nearby metropolitan areas.

You’ll find plenty of lighthouses to explore on the Southern Maryland landscape. See if you can find Drum Point, Cove Point, Piney Point and Point Lookout lighthouses on your journey. If you’re lucky, you’ll also get to visit Blackistone Lighthouse on St. Clement’s Island, accessible only by ferry.

Enjoy the sweet salt air and sip a cocktail at a dockside restaurant while watching the sun slip below the horizon, revealing another evening sky. Chesapeake Beach, Cobbs Island, Broomes Island and Solomons Island are some relaxing destinations with several eateries and places to stay for your getaway. As you visit restaurants along the Crab & Oyster Trail be sure to look for the “True Blue” symbol to support Maryland’s local crab industry. Click here for a list of establishments certified as “True Blue.”

Southern Maryland abounds with quintessential crab houses and wharves that echo traditions from yesteryear. The placid scenes betray the hard labor that underlies the watermen’s lives. Experience catching your own crabs or harvesting oysters, or just learn about the Chesapeake Bay and the life of a waterman on a Watermen’s Heritage Tour. Several tours are based out of Solomons Island, which is a favorite port for sailors. The island has its own vibe.

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Blackistone Lighthouse at St. Clement's Island State Park is accessible by boat from the St. Clement's Island - Potomac River Museum in Colton's Point.

Drum Point Lighthouse at Calvert Marine Museum

U.S. Oyster Festival and National Oyster Shucking Championships.

Museums, Festivals, and Events

While on Solomons Island be sure to visit the Calvert Marine Museum. J.C. Lore and Sons was a large and successful seafood packing company founded at the height of the Chesapeake oyster industry in 1888. The company specialized in Patuxent River fish, crabs and oysters. Today you can explore all aspects of oyster processing – from receiving oysters at the dock to storing, shucking, washing, packing, and shipping the product to markets across the region.

Also in Solomons, stop by the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Visitor Center to see where cutting edge research from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is conducted. Visitor center exhibits highlight the health of the Chesapeake Bay, ongoing research, and an oyster reef community aquarium. Visitors will discover who CBL scientists are, what they are researching, and why it is important. The center offers group tours, an annual open house, programs and seminars.

Time your visit to take in the U.S. Oyster Festival and National Oyster Shucking Championships in Leonardtown. Get a taste of the bay at the Oyster Festival Tasting Room and pair oysters with a locally-crafted oyster stout. Try some tasty recipes from the National Oyster Cook-off. You’ll want to make them at home, and with all of the fresh seafood markets in Southern Maryland, that might be possible!

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!

See more of the Maryland Crab & Oyster Trail.

Trip Tips

Hunt for the fossilized remains of sea creatures at Calvert Cliffs State Park. The fossils found here are from a coastal ocean that covered the area 10-20 million years ago.

St. Clement’s Island was the first place settled in Maryland by the Catholics seeking religious freedom. A cross marks the location where Father Andrew White first held Mass here in Maryland. Access to the island is by ferry from the St. Clement’s Island Museum in Coltons Point.

See Historic St. Mary’s City and a replica of The Dove, a ship which carried Maryland’s first permanent settlers from England across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kayak Mallows Bay with a guide to discover submerged shipwrecks that have created a protected fish nursery habitat. Look for waterfowl and aquatic life in this remote and natural paradise.

Take a Side Trip

Savor some fruits of the vine at one of Southern Maryland’s wineries. Slack Winery and Vineyard, Port of Leonardtown Winery and Perigeaux Vineyards and Winery are some favorites to explore. But if you seek out Cove Point Winery, you might score a lighthouse too.

Maryland Lore

A male crab is called a “jimmy,” and a female crab is known as a “sook.” They can be told apart by the shape of the apron on their undersides. The females have a bell-shaped apron that resembles the dome of the U.S. Capitol. The males have an inverted T-shaped apron that resembles the Washington Monument.