For the next several weeks I will be posting some of my favorite photos from the Chesapeake Country Roads on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Some of these have been posted here through the year. Some are in the Calendars and all are available to purchase as prints (Email CCR@ShoreToBeFun.com for more information.
Happy New Year!!
For over a decade the Rock Hall VFC has held a Fundraiser on New Year’s Day when the volunteers and other community members take a “Big Dip” into the Chesapeake Bay. It has become my annual tradition to photograph the event, and I plan to do so again in 2023. The Big Dip was cancelled one time due to ice on the bay, and also in 2021 due to Covid.
One of the first photos of 2022, a light covering of snow
I love seeing and watching clouds. Here is one from a series of cloud photos I did in September.
Ferry Point Park. A great place to visit any time of the year. This location is one that I use for outdoor portraits.
Another of those Stop Worthy view
Merry Christmas!!
I really haven’t gotten out much to photograph the season. I was able to photograph a few Christmas Parades, including the one in Greensboro, Maryland. This is not only my favorite photo from the parade, but also one of my all time favorites.
Another of the Murals that were unveiled in 2023 is at Rock Hall Elementary School. The three-panel mural completed by Kent Cultural Alliance Artist in Residence Kayti Didriksen and local students.
I have had the opportunity to photograph a number of murals that debuted in 2023. This is the Woman’s Mural in Cambridge.
As September transition into October and the autumn season flourishes the colors of the season are often part of store’s displays.
While traveling on the roads of Chesapeake County on MD Eastern Shore, I often see something that I feel would make for a wonderful photograph. A call these times as Stop Worthy. This is one of those Stop Worthy Views.
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You don’t know what you may see when traveling on a Chesapeake Country Road. I was just taking a ride in Cecil County and spotted this crop duster flying around. It was a Stop Worthy view.
Ferry Point Park in Queen Anne’s County is one of my favorite spots. While sitting at the water’s edge, one doesn’t know that not all that far away is the Kent Narrows Bridge on US50.
The town of Rock Hall has a long history of life on the water and the Chesapeake Bay. It flourish for years as a Waterman’s town harvesting the bounty of the Bay. Lately it still is a town with water based activities of recreation on the bay. The Annual Pirates and Wenches Festival has a dinghy run in the harbor in view of the Oysterman’s Memorial.
During the 1st half of the 20th Century the Town of Betterton was a major summer retreat town for people escaping the heat of the city (Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia). The town celebrates those times on the 1st weekend in August with a Beach Festival. A few years ago, after seeing something similar, I began my annual tradition of doing a photograph with their dated beer mug.
During the 4th of July Weekend Rock Hall Watermen (Kent County Waterman’s Association) hold their annual Waterman’s Day.
New Mural for the Denton Artsway located on 4th Street Denton, on the side of the building where Pizza Empire is located (328 Market Street). Caroline County County Council of Arts Executive Director Nicholas Tindall and Sean Parker was instrumental in the project.
Day lillies aren’t native to Maryland, but they are lovely flowers seen along Chesapeake Country Roads in Late June/Early July
Rock Hall is a town with a long history of watermen working on the Bay.
One disadvantage of having a store open during the Holiday Season is that you need to be there and often miss opportunity to photograph events. The Greensboro, MD Christmas Parade in a way came to me. The route went by the shop.
There are plenty of amazing spots for photos in Rock Hall.
One of my favorite spots regardless of the time of the year is the Kent County owned public park Betterton Beach. During the winter months the beach collects jetsam that will be cleaned by the end of April. The park while being a treasure by the local community is a far cry for what it was once.
Betterton began as a small fishing village and a port for local agriculture. Beginning in the late 1800’s the town became a summer hot spot and once was thought of as “Maryland’s Foremost Bayside Resort.” It was a key stop for ships traveling up the Chesapeake Bay through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal becoming a thriving beach resort for steamboat tourist traffic from Baltimore and Philadelphia. Hotels welcomed guests with comfortable lodging, orchestra-filled ballrooms, daily fishing trips with watermen, and dining on the Eastern Shore’s freshest local seafood and produce.
Unfortunately with the end of WWII, the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, automobile travel, and hotels with more modern conveniences, the town and its beach began to see its better days were in the past.
One of my favorite spots is Martinak State Park in Denton, Caroline County. As I was walking the trail I saw this view.
This display which obviously has been along the roadside in Queen Anne’s County has been there for awhile. I have passed it many times. Around Easter I stopped and photographed it.
The little farm house is barely visible. A few weeks later once the corn grew the house disappeared. I did return in the fall again.
Daffodils are a sign of spring. But you don’t often see that along the side of the road. Someone took great effort to plant these.
Sometimes even the locals don’t see what’s in their neighborhood. I have been asked by quite a few residents of Caroline County who recognize the bridge in Denton over the Choptank River, but aren’t aware of the murals.
As February turns into March everyone is excited for the approaching spring. Shot this taking a walk at in the pre-spring days of 2022.
Sometimes it can be depressing to see a favorite beach looking so lonely during the winter off season. Not to mention the stuff that can arrive on the waves. This is Betterton Beach in Kent County in February.
I don’t often photograph a Sunrise. I woke up early on the first day of Autumn this year seeing the beginnings of this sunrise through my window. (Day 3)
Day 2 of the 2022 Chesapeake Country Roads Photographs by SG (Steve) Atkinson
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