Sailing for Solomons Island

It’s race day at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons Island, Md. Tension builds as skippers test the wind, trim the sails, and jockey for position behind the starting line. Yet no one is actually aboard any of the sleek Chesapeake Bay skipjacks.

The handsome, faithfully detailed sailboats—replicas of the once ubiquitous working boats of Chesapeake Bay—are radio-controlled miniatures made from plans drawn by the late Leroy “Pepper” Langley, a master ship carver and one of the museum’s founders. Langley’s vision and love of Chesapeake Bay boats has ensured a rich heritage for those who appreciate watercraft. He built six boats for members of the Solomons Island Model Boat Club and his own beauty, the Lady Katie.

Whether it’s the creeks that feed into Solomons Harbor, or the Patuxent River, water is the town’s lifeblood—as evidenced by the community’s adaptations to shifts in fortune. It’s made a successful transition from oystering and shipbuilding to marine activities and tourism. Building on its seagoing heritage, the town has weathered economic change.

Solomons Island, called Bourne’s Island in 1680, was renamed for Isaac Solomons, a Baltimore businessman who bought 80 acres just after the Civil War and opened an oyster cannery. The village—known to newcomers as Solomons—is at the tip of Calvert County on the mouth of the Patuxent. A shallow stretch of water that once separated it from the mainland has been filled in over the years with oyster shells. Restaurants at the town’s lower end serve seafood specialties and offer views of the harbor and river.

In 1880, there were 237 residents and a fishing fleet of twice that number. The current population is 1,536, but boats of all sorts—not including the miniature skipjacks—still outnumber people.

The gem of Solomons Island is the museum that preserves and interprets the area’s history. Exhibits, chronicling life from the 17th century to the present, include restored boats such as the graceful skipjack. Established in 1970, the museum includes a woodshop, a model-making shop, and paleontology displays of Miocene fossils from nearby Calvert Cliffs.

The museum even boasts a lighthouse on its grounds. Drum Point Lighthouse, a six-sided dwelling, was decommissioned in 1962 and moved to the museum in 1975, where it opened for tours. A restored oyster dredger, built in 1899, takes visitors on an hour-long cruise of Solomons Island waters.

The water’s edge at the museum is the site of the skipjack races held the second and fourth Sundays of each month, weather permitting. The Model Boat Club has about 100 members, of whom 10 or so sail their skipjacks. Models are 5 feet long and can weigh no more than 22.5 pounds, and most honor actual skipjacks whose oyster dredging numbers they bear.

“It’s like racing a larger boat. You want to hit the line at the right time and avoid contact with other boats. It’s pretty exciting,” says club member Tom Younger, 64, builder of several boats. One is for his wife, Sandy, 63.

“If you watch the owners of the boats, you can see them lean and follow the boats with their bodies during a race,” Sandy says. “They really concentrate.”

The Youngers have lived all but a few years in and around Solomons Island. “I believe salt water is in my blood,” says Sandy, whose father ran fishing charters out of nearby Flag Pond.

Solomons Island exerts a powerful draw on its residents. Both Youngers volunteer at the museum and are on the board of directors of the local American Cancer Society and they’re active in their church.

Alton Kersey, a resident since 1956, calls the area a garden spot. “Solomons . . . is one of the prettiest spots on Earth. The people are friendly, and it’s a nice place to raise a family.”

“The museum and the Catholic Church are important in sustaining that strong bond,” Tom says. “Indeed, the museum helps to keep our history alive and pass it on to the young people.”

Freelance writer Paulette Dininny writes from her home in Washington, D.C.

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