Features (All)

Article - People; by Joe Slavin - 10/18/12

In Memory of Frank Sherman

I have been in many marinas in my 70 years of sailing, but none has been as interested in helping you as Sherman’s Marina in Deale, on the eastern shore of Rockhold Creek. Seven years ago when I moved my 35-foot Dickerson ketch to Sherman’s Marina, Frank Sherman became more than just my marina owner. He was someone who cared deeply about you and your boat: a real friend. Sherman’s Marina is a small family marina of some 35 slips with a group of friendly...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/18/12

Calvert Marine Museum’s Mixed News

Open this winter as remodeling is postponed

There’s lots to love at Calvert Marine Museum. “The lighthouse. The otters. The crabs or seahorses: Kids love them. Fossils or outboard motors or a familiar boat,” muses deputy director Sherrod Sturrock. “Everybody loves and gets excited about different things.” So the museum’s decision to stay open January and February of 2013 is less likely to disappoint you than it is the 65-person staff, whose plan...

Article - Green Living; by Ashley Brotherton - 10/18/12

Red, Right, Recycle

Green Annapolis collects at Boat Show

Annapolis looks less like a circus now that the U.S. Boat Shows — and their tons of waste — are packed up. This year was the first time that recycling routed waste. At 25 ecostations across City Dock, visitors found greener choices for recycling. At each station, a green 50-gallon bin collected paper, plastic, metal and glass while a red bin collected trash for the landfill. Boat fanciers got those choices courtesy of Elvia Thompson and Lynne...

Article - Green Living; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/18/12

Get Your Free Lunch

Spa Creek Conservancy treats to get your business

Water running off your roof, downspouts and parking lots into the roadways and storm drains is bad for the Bay. So bad that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ranks urban runoff and storm-sewer discharges as Public Enemy Number Two for America’s estuaries. Stormwater runoff could be bad for your business, too. In economically sound and environmentally attractive areas like Annapolis, customers make buying decisions on quality-of-life issues....

Article - History & Lore; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/18/12

October Skirmishes at Herring Creek

If you can’t wait to know more about 1812, you’ll have your chance at month’s end, when skirmishes at Herring Creek are commemorated. At the end of October 198 years ago, the British sailed into Herring Bay and invaded Town Point and Tracys Landing. Up to 300 soldiers destroyed farms and burned a tobacco warehouse. A scouting party advanced to the West River Methodist Church, likely on what is now Muddy Creek Road near Swamp Circle Road. On October 31, the...

Article - History & Lore; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/18/12

You Can’t Escape the War of 1812

Grants and historians revive this old conflict

At two centuries distant, the War of 1812 is unlikely to sweep away your sons, sink your boat, burn your barn or your nation’s capital. It will, however, invade your consciousness. It’s inevitable. With $1.5 million in Star-Spangled Banner bicentennial grants, war memorials will be popping up all over Chesapeake Country. Twenty-two projects in 14 counties (and two statewide) will use the matching grants to enroll the War of 1812 in our memories. ...

Article - People; by Michelle Steel - 10/18/12

The Man Behind the Mask

Skip Smith has been makeup man for presidents and celebrities. But monsters and ghouls are his passion, which he shares in Twin Beach Players’ production of Frankenstein

“This is all you get,” Skip Smith tells me, drawing the gauze-covered prosthetic from the Walmart bag. Dark and empty sockets stare at me for the second before Smith re-seals the bag. To see the mask Smith had created for Twin Beach Players’ Frankenstein (now playing in North Beach), I had to brave the little shop of horrors of his St. Leonard home. Monsters are Smith’s favorite subjects to work with, above even Audrey Hepburn and U.S. presidents....

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 10/11/12

Raising Money and Giving It Away

Lothian Ruritan Club celebrates 60 years helping the community

Andrew Dennis of Shady Side knew he wanted to go to college. He didn’t know how he was going to manage the costs. As a senior at Southern High School thriving in his welding class, Andrew went on the hunt for scholarships. He found his way to college with the Lothian Ruritan Club, which awards $8,000 in scholarships evenly to eight graduating seniors every year. Andrew earned the John Hiser Scholarship, which helps seniors wanting to go into culinary or vocational...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/11/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... The Flight of the...

Tagged with a transmitter, one bird’s migration ends in tragedy, mystery

Researcher Rob Bierregaard and his team climb into nests to tag East Coast osprey with radio transmitters. This fall, 11 birds are carrying transmitters that enable Bierregaard to track their every move. Birds have strong individual idiosyncrasies in their migration. Yet laid atop one another the migration lines form a clear pattern: East Coast Birds cling to that coast all the way down through Florida. Follow Cutch from Long Island, Bierregaard suggests...

Article - Boating; by - 10/11/12

When Old Boats Need a Friend

Along the Chesapeake, a fellow they call Bunny stays busy as a rabbit

The stately, down-on-its-luck vessel of vintage stock is badly in need of Bunny. Like people, every boat has its story. The plight of this ’41 Chris Craft Sedan Cruiser begins when its owner dies “down South somewhere.” She’s cast out of her covered shed, homeless. Somebody with an eye for elegant lines takes pity. A Washington lawyer has her, but soon the old boat, nameless now, belongs to somebody in Boston....