ANNAPOLIS HOME
STRUCTURE
A Pictorial Book Celebrating 40 years of McHale Landscape Design
For the last 21 years, David and Dawn Orso have served the real estate needs of over 1500 families in the Annapolis area. David is peerless as the top-selling agent in Anne Arundel County in total sales since 2013. An obsession with the client’s needs have led to curated systems for maximum results with minimal stress. David’s educational foundation in Psychology, an MBA in Strategic Marketing and negotiation training from Harvard University is tailor-made to give his clients a competitive advantage.
A reputation built on superior real estate RESULTS; David has 284 unsolicited FIVE STAR reviews from happy clients.
Consider a confidential conversation with David when you are ready to take the next step in your real estate journey. His professional and approachable style will showcase the substantial value he can add to your real estate journey.
CUSTOM HIGH PERFORMANCE WATERFRONT HOME ON THE SEVERN RIVER
ABS Architects, LLC
Erin Paige Pitts Interiors
David Burroughs Photography
Clean lines, sleek finishes and expansive glass are hallmarks of today’s contemporary designs. We can help you achieve a modern look with an array of products featuring narrow profiles, dramatic sizes and angles, unique features and much more. With our full portfolio of products, let us help showcase your personal style and bring your contemporary home design to life.
Experience the Eastern Shore ANNAPOLIS HOME
62
Photographer Jay Fleming has been documenting life on the Bay for over a decade, transforming his daily observations into fine art photography. He shares his process and insights with AHM. 29
Adventures on the Eastern Shore await you. Browse this list for plenty of ideas.
Mellow on Maxmore Creek
On the Cover: The perfect view from “Mellow on Maxmore Creek.” Photo by Keyanna Bowen 50 An architect and interior designer team up to breathe new life into a traditional home on the Eastern Shore, creating a “Transitional Colonial” aesthetic.
Bay Stories: Jay Fleming, Photographer with a Cause
90 Rooms to Roam in St. Michaels
Tour this spacious shingle-style home in St. Michaels that is brand new yet grounded in tradition.
36
Home Is Where the Art Is
Art and antiques from many different periods animate this elegant home owned by Jamie Merida, a well-known interior designer with his own store and furniture line in Easton.
Photograph by Robert Radifera
Publishers
Kymberly B. Taylor
Robert E. Haywood
Editor
Kymberly B. Taylor
Creative Director
Ryan Gladhill
Senior Designer
Samantha Gladhill
Director of Advertising & Business
Development
Elizabeth Davis
Account Executive, Advertising & Client Services
Marjorie Boyd
Photographers
Keyanna Bowen
Jay Fleming
Tony Lewis Jr.
Robert Radifera
Stacy Zarin Goldberg
Writers
Christine Fillat
Dylan Roche
Walinda P. West
Copy Editor
Patricia Stainke
Bookkeeper
Amber Trainer
Annapolis Home is published bimonthly by Taylor Haywood Media, LLC. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without express written consent of the publishers. Publishers disclaim any and all responsibility for omissions and errors. Publishers disclaim any and all responsibility for an advertiser’s products, services, or claims. The views expressed in this magazine are solely those of the writer.
All rights reserved.
© 2024 by Taylor Haywood Media, LLC.
PUBLISHERS’ LETTER
Welcome to Annapolis Home’s summer issue with special features on the Eastern Shore. Located at latitude 38.978443' North and longitude 76.492180' West, the geography of Annapolis is sumptuous, encompassing 12 watersheds, including creeks, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. Rich in colonial history, Annapolis is the gateway to the Eastern Shore, whose history is equally complex and dramatic. Wonderfully flat and bordered by acres of sweet corn and sunflowers in deep July, the Shore may indeed be shorthand for “Escape.”
Within an hour’s drive, you can find dock bars, dinner on a waterfront deck overlooking working fishing boats, and wildfowl untroubled and in abundance. Stay on the road, and you will reach the ocean itself, with Rehoboth, Lewes, and Bethany beaches for sunning and the wonderful 37-mile uninhabited Assateague Island, a national park open for beach visits and exploration. Our team of writers has fanned out, exploring many of the Shore’s nooks and crannies. We bring you several splendid homes to explore, the best places to feast on crabs, and many other surprises. Robert Haywood met with renowned Chesapeake Bay photographer Jay Fleming in his Stevensville, MD studio and shares insights about his mission and his labor of love.
Also, we announce an exciting collaboration between St. John’s College and AHM. Sparked by the renowned poet and playwright Grace Cavalieri and Editor-in-Chief Kymberly Taylor, “Poets in the Conversation Room” is a poetry reading series that will debut on September 7 at St. John’s College. It includes a casual Q & A with the poet, where the audience will gather around a grand seminar table in the Conversation Room in Mellon Hall. Mark your calendars! The inaugural poet is David Keplinger, who heads the graduate creative writing program in poetry at American University. Read his poem in this issue and our article about the series for more details. We hope to see many of you there!
Happy Summer!
Kymberly Taylor & Robert Haywood
Publishers
kymberly@annapolishomemag.com | robert@annapolishomemag.com
For subscriptions and advertising visit: annapolishomemag.com
For operations, contact Robert Haywood at robert@annapolishomemag.com or call 443.942.3927. For mailing, contact ahm@annapolishomemag.com
EXPERIENCE
THE SHORE 25 PLACES
By Dylan Roche
Photography by Jay Fleming. See our story about Fleming on page 62.
A picturesque region stretching between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, the Eastern Shore of Maryland offers a combination of natural beauty and historic charm. It’s a place where conservation reserves sit alongside quaint towns, where you’re as likely to see a blue heron as you are to see a traditional skipjack, and where there is no shortage of opportunities to explore, learn, or be entertained.
Because Maryland’s Eastern Shore was one of the first places settled by Europeans, it’s rich in history, with some buildings dating back to the Colonial Era. The region’s Dorchester County is also the birthplace of renowned abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who led enslaved people to freedom along the Underground Railroad. The region’s waterways, marshes, forests, and fields provide a haven for a wide variety of flora and fauna. Nature enthusiasts can spend hours birdwatching, hiking, sailing, or crabbing, possibly even seeing a bald eagle or a wild pony. When you leave the outdoors and return to society, you’ll find the many small towns of the Eastern Shore offer boutique shopping, waterfront dining, vibrant arts scenes, and all kinds of culture to take in!
Whether you’re making a weekend out of it or simply taking a day trip, the Eastern Shore boasts excursions that will leave lasting memories for people of all interests. Explore history, get lost in nature, and stop by a museum. Here are several places you won’t want to miss.
GET OUTSIDE
1. Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge This 2,200-acre island off mainland Rock Hall serves as a refuge for migratory birds, with brackish marshes, ponds, forests, and grasslands you can explore. www.fws.gov/refuge/eastern-neck
Captain Greg
2. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge This avian refuge boasts one-third of Maryland’s tidal wetlands, the highest concentration of nesting bald eagles on the Atlantic coast, and the largest population of the formerly endangered Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrels. www.fws.gov/refuge/blackwater
3. Wye Island Tucked away in the tidal recesses of the Chesapeake Bay, this reserved area serves to stabilize 30 miles of shoreline threatened by erosion and offers a network of trails for hiking and nature viewing. www.visitmaryland.org/listing/attraction/wyeisland-natural-resource-management-area
4. Terrapin State Park This park combines a compact network of trails through forests, wetlands, and a stretch of sandy beach along the Chesapeake Bay—perfect for hikers who want to take a swim afterward. www.visitmaryland.org/listing/attraction/terrapin-naturepark-and-beach
5. Elk Neck State Park Set on a peninsula formed by the Chesapeake Bay on one side and the Elk River on the other, this state park is a multi-use nature haven with an extensive campground, making it a great choice if you can’t do everything in one day. dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/pages/central/elkneck.aspx
6. Assateague Island National Seashore This renowned island encompasses 37 miles along the Atlantic Ocean, where wild horses roam the pristine beaches. www.visitmaryland.org/listing/attraction/ assateague-island-national-seashore
7. Tuckahoe State Park Perfect for boating and fishing, this park offers a 60-acre lake surrounded by wooded marshland. dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/eastern/tuckahoe.aspx
TAKE IN SOME ART
8. Chesapeake Country Mural Trail Tour Dorchester County by visiting these eight murals painted by nationally recognized artist Michael Rosato, each of which pays tribute to a noteworthy aspect of local culture or history. www.visitdorchester.org/chesapeakecountry-mural-trail
9. Tilghman Watermen’s Museum Explore the culture of the Chesapeake Bay’s watermen through exhibits showcasing their tools, traditions, and tales. This museum features not only artifacts but also artwork that pays tribute to the lifestyle of these skilled mariners, all on a picturesque waterfront campus. www.tilghmanmuseum.org
10. Academy Art Museum Based in Easton, this museum houses exhibits that include more than 1,700 works dating from the 17th century to today. Take a tour or participate in an art class. www.academyartmuseum.org
11. Classic Motor Museum Learn about our nation’s heritage of automotive innovation by seeing one of the ever-evolving exhibits of these mint-condition classic cars, including pre- and post-WWII automobiles, mid-century muscle cars, vintage trucks, and much more. www.classicmotormuseum.org
EXPERIENCE HISTORY
12. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center Learn about the life of renowned abolitionist Harriet Tubman through an immersive experience that includes interactive exhibits and educational programs detailing her work leading enslaved people to freedom along the Underground Railroad. www.harriettubmanbyway.org/harriet-tubman/#visitorcenter
13. Stanley Institute Visit this historic one-room schoolhouse where Black children learned throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Gain an appreciation of what education was like for these students through preserved artifacts and interactive displays. www.visitdorchester.org/stanley-institute
14. Spocott Windmill See a fully operational 19th-century windmill surrounded by a small historical village, including a colonial-era cottage and a one-room schoolhouse, which offers a glimpse into Maryland’s agricultural and social history. www.spocottwindmill.org
15. Oxford Museum At this museum dedicated to one of Maryland’s oldest towns, learn about our state’s maritime heritage and colonial roots by viewing exhibits showcasing artifacts, photographs, documents, and other displays. www.oxfordmuseummd.org
16. Historic Cambridge Officially incorporated in 1793, this quaint and charming city preserves much of its original architecture throughout a historic district spanning 40 blocks, including a bustling Main Street with options for shopping and dining. www.choosecambridge.com/221/Historic-Preservation-District
Eastern Great Egrets
17. Historic St. Michaels A picturesque waterfront community known for its rich maritime heritage, St. Michaels holds the distinction of being designated one of USA Today’s Top 10 Best Small Coastal Towns. Enjoy a leisurely stroll to see its historic homes, or explore by water on a boat tour. www.stmichaelsmd.com/st.-michaels-history
18. Chesapeake Maritime Museum Whether you’re viewing an exhibit or exploring the working boatyard—where you can participate in hands-on exhibits—this museum offers an opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the history, culture, and ecology of the Chesapeake Bay region. www.cbmm.org
EXPLORE THE WATERWAYS
19. Oxford-Bellevue Ferry Take a trip across the Tred Avon River aboard one of the oldest privately-operated ferries in the country. You’ll see picturesque views of nature as well as charming historic towns. www.visitmaryland.org/listing/attraction/oxfordbellevue-ferry-oxford
20. Accohannock Water Trail Kayak or canoe along the tranquil waters of East Creek off Bending Water Park, where you can take in the region’s pristine landscape and see diverse wildlife in its natural habitat. www.somersettrailmix.com/kayaking-trails/ accohannock-water-trail-marion
21. Sultana Sails Enjoy a scenic view of the Chester River while learning about 18thcentury maritime life aboard the Sultana, a meticulously crafted replica of a 1768 schooner where passengers can have a hands-on experience. www.sultanaeducation.org/public-sails
22. Patriot Cruises Get out on the Miles River to see St. Michaels and the diverse wildlife of surrounding natural areas aboard one of these narrated cruises. www.patriotcruises.com
SPECIAL PLACES
23. Bordeleau Winery This serene vineyard sits along the Wicomico River and offers a natural ambiance and a breathtaking view as you enjoy tastings of its award-winning wines. www.bordeleauwine.com
24. Downtown Berlin This historic city offers a little bit of everything when it comes to shopping and dining. A huge draw is its thriving arts scene, with its many galleries and live music venue. www.berlinmainstreet.com
25. Blue Elk Vineyard This vineyard occupies 14 rolling acres along the Elk River, producing distinct grapes as unique as its barnyard-to-beach atmosphere. Enjoy the view of the water while you sample wine or cider in a tasting room converted from a 1930s horse barn. www.blueelkvineyard.com
EXPLORE MORE PLACES
www.wicomicotourism.org/things-to-do/attractions | www.visitmarylandscoast.org www.downtownsnowhill.org | www.visitdelaware.com/beaches/lewes/things-to-do www.tourtalbot.org/things-to-do
At the end of this winding road sits Boxwood Hill, a six-acre refuge for designer Jamie Merida and his husband, Vincent Bochin.
The stately brick home recalls the Georgian era.
HOME IS WHERE
The Art Is
INTERIOR DESIGNER JAMIE MERIDA SHARES HIS HOME
BY WALINDA P. WEST
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
ROBERT RADIFERA | STYLING
BY
CHARLOTTE SAFAVI
Tucked away on the Eastern Shore is a meandering gravel road with a cluster of ramshackle mobile homes on the right. As with many things on the Shore, looks can be deceiving. At its very end is something beautiful and unexpected: Boxwood Hill, a six-acre oasis along the Choptank River. Owned by interior designer Jamie Merida and his husband Vincent Bochin, the grounds are animated by a profusion of meticulously manicured boxwoods, cherry blossoms, showy dogwoods, and flowering rhododendrons.
Homeowners Merida and Bochin gave the outdoors a makeover during the pandemic to create separate living spaces for changes in scenery.
Merida is a classically trained pianist. It was important to him that the piano, purchased for him as a child by his parents, take center stage and hold a place of honor.
“It’s really about the art for me.”
– Jamie Merida
The couple spends time together in this light-filled great room; great for conversation or for quiet time together.
Owner of Easton-based Jamie Merida Interiors, Bountiful Home, and his own line of furnishings for Chelsea House, Merida spotted the house in a real estate advertisement in a local newspaper in 2005. The ad included a picture of the house and a description of its waterfront location. “I called my agent, and we drove out here. When we turned on the driveway, I said, ‘If there is a house for this price at the end of this driveway, I’m done. I don’t even need to go in,’ ” Merida says. That day, Merida was sold on the land and sold on the property.
Although Boxwood Hill dates back to the 1960s, if someone were to say it was built in the 1800s, it would be believable. If one had to label the style of the home’s architecture, it might best be described as a Tidewater Colonial—a style that takes its cues and sensibilities from the classical, symmetrical, stately brick exterior of the Georgian period.
Lore has it that the original builder, who made his living building period installations for the Smithsonian Museum, purchased the land and built the house as a hobby with a nod to 1800s
architecture—and personally fired the bricks used for the house in a kiln on the property.
Merida believes that in an effort to remain true to the period, the house was built without central heat and relied on its six fireplaces to provide warmth. Two decades later, a social secretary for a Maryland governor purchased the residence and updated it to 1980s standards, installing heating and air conditioning systems. The owner also transformed the outdoor gardens to befit a governor’s residence, complete with a beautiful gazebo that remains today. It was the house and grounds that appealed to Merida.
To put his personal touch on the property, Merida knew the home’s one-and-a-half bathrooms would be insufficient, so he and Bochin added additional bathrooms, updated the home’s kitchen, and added a family room with ample windows. In 2020, when the pandemic put the world on lockdown, Merida and Bochin updated the outdoor space, creating peaceful vignettes that offered the couple additional living spaces as a change of scenery.
The house itself occupies 3,200 square feet, with the couple making use of every inch of the space. Merida and his team of designers have built a reputation for extraordinary designs with clients up and down the East Coast. Many projects have been published in prestigious magazines and speak to a coastal or beachy aesthetic. However, when it comes to the couple’s own style, there’s not a crab or oyster in sight. Their style is decidedly understated, with paint, wallpaper, and furnishings taking a backseat to the stars of the show: art and antiques.
“I don’t think of my own house as decorated,” Merida says. “We do a lot of houses where people want things decorated and very coordinated. They are beautiful, but they are not for me. Mine is all about the stuff. It’s curated, and it’s about ‘things’ to me. I try to make wallpaper and paint play second fiddle. You don’t see crazy bright colors. It’s really about the art for me.”
The couple’s home reflects decades of acquisitions and the artful eye of its owners. No room has been overlooked when it comes to their collection. All the pieces of museum-quality art—including prints by Picasso—have been inherited or purchased and then tastefully curated. In fact, their home has become something rare: a private,
The home is filled with curated antiques from around the world that blend perfectly together.
The chandelier above the dining table is a crystal and iron-guilded 18th-century replica from Currey and Company.
Every room has exquisite artwork and antiques, including the couple’s bedroom.
personal gallery where art coexists with daily life. Merida has been told that his grandfather lived in West Africa in the 1930s and 1940s, where he collected prized African artifacts, including masks and figures. Those pieces were handed down and now occupy places of honor throughout the home. Merida’s parents, both artists, were art dealers, and Merida himself was an antiques dealer in Easton in the early 2000s. The collection includes 19th- and 20th-century African masks, an 18th-century chinoiserie chest, 19th-century Russian demi-lune tables, antique rice holders from Thailand, and early works from Picasso. “The pieces all work together, and they make me happy,” Merida says. “My backdrop is all neutral with lots of beige and taupe. Let’s let everything else sing.”
The couple’s house is just the way they want it, Merida says, with no new projects in the offing. They are now focused on their latest venture: a home they’ve purchased in Normandy, France. Merida’s husband of 11 years is from Normandy, so the new house pays tribute to Bochin’s homeland, which Merida has come to love, too. Like his home on the Eastern Shore, the Normandy home is expected to exude the same warmth and be filled with the art and antiques the couple love. So, whether it is the Eastern Shore of Maryland or Normandy, France, for Merida and Bochin, home is where the art is. AH
INTERIOR DESIGN: Jamie Merida, Jamie Merida Interiors & Bountiful Home, Easton, Maryland.
Great Room:
Sofa – Hooker Furniture
Wingback Chairs – Wesley Hall
Round End Tables – Woodbridge Furniture
Square End Tables – Sarried Furniture
Dining Room Chandelier – Currey and Company
Living Room Chairs – Wesley Hall
Bench at Foot of Bed – Century Furniture
Outdoor Furniture – Universal Furniture
Outdoor Pillows – Annie Selke
For additional photos, visit annapolishomemag.com.
Handcrafting Waterfront Homes
BREAKING THE STATUS QUO Scott
Providence, Annapolis
$3,495,000
Under Contract, 258 Providence Road is 1 of 18 waterfronts located in this highly sought after commmunity. This resulted in a massive record sale price. Represented Seller.
$6,200,000
Recently Sold, 279 State Street in Annapolis is a boater’s paradise with breathtaking Spa Creek views. Built in 2021 at the South Annapolis Yacht Centre, this luxurious 4,660 sq ft home offers 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and high-end amenities. Featured in Coastal Style Magazine, it’s an exceptional waterfront gem. Represented Seller.
Murray Hill, Annapolis $1,099,000
License #: 5004232
scott.wallace@cbrealty.com
Under Contract in 3 days with multiple offers. 24-B Steele Ave, in the heart of Murray Hill, Annapolis, is a dream home. With sun-soaked rooms, a new deck, and recent updates like a new roof and HVAC, this property offers comfort and charm. Represented Seller.
A breezeway with traditional pillars echoes the home’s transitional colonial-style aesthetic.
MAXMORE
MELLOW
ON MAXMORE CREEK
Before its recent remodel, this transitional Colonial home had a choppy “railroad-style” floor plan, with one room leading to another.
BY DYLAN ROCHE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEYANNA BOWEN, EAST & LANE
It’s a challenge: How do you remodel an older home and maintain its charm while making it conducive to modern living? With this goal in mind, designer Julia Longchamps and architect Charles Paul Goebel teamed up to reconfigure an Easton home tucked away on 20 acres of forest along Maxmore Creek.
As Longchamps explains, the house was originally built in 1969 but styled to look like the early 1900s. The new owners, who have a large family and love to entertain, found that the linear, railroad-style layout didn’t meet their needs. Instead of a choppy floorplan in which one room led to another without adjoining hallways, they needed something with a better flow. Still, they did not want to simply tear the house down and build something modern. “We wanted to get rid of the railroad style but make it look like something that has always been here,” Longchamps says.
Generous outdoor spaces are extensions of the home and ideal for plein air dining
Goebel describes the architecture as transitional colonial, noting how it blends traditional exterior elements with modern design characteristics, such as an open plan, soaring ceilings, and expansive glass. The remodel added 1,200 square feet to the existing 3,100 square feet and incorporated rooms and amenities that wouldn’t be found in a traditional historic home: a mudroom, a laundry room, and a bar. Nevertheless, the traditional exterior of the home has not been compromised.
“As we often do, the home is more traditional on its street side, yet more modern on the other faces, where glass areas are dramatically increased to capture light and views,” Goebel says. These views were important because it was the beautiful natural surroundings that drew the owners to the property. “The property has three significant and distinctive views which the home now addresses: woodland, pond and pool, and Maxmore Creek, which flows to the Tred Avon,” he adds.
The kitchen serves as a central space for entertaining and living, with not one but two islands, plus a breakfast nook and a small sitting area off to one side. Longchamps describes the kitchen and sitting area as the owners’ “eat-live space,” which had to be both practical and attractive. Each kitchen appliance has its own built-in nook and can easily slide out of view, minimizing the feeling of clutter. The island dividing the kitchen from the sitting area has paneling, so it looks more like furniture. All of this makes the space feel less like a kitchen and more like a place where people can gather, relax, and simply live.
Once the sliding glass doors between the sitting area and a screened-in patio are opened, they create a generous, seamless space that can accommodate a crowd, complete with a table for dining and chairs gathered around the fireplace for sitting. “We needed it big to entertain,” Longchamps explains. It’s easy to picture a large group of loved ones meandering from a cooking prep zone in the kitchen to a comfortable chair on the patio without ever feeling like they went to a different room. “Being able to do this indoor-outdoor dining was really important.”
Throughout the house, Longchamps makes use of a neutral color palette and durable, practical textiles that do not compete with the magnificent views of nature. Nowhere is this more evident than in the living room. Wide windows open onto the forest beyond, which practically becomes a work of art.
A large neutral sectional sofa dominates the room but is surrounded by many elements intended to surprise. “We really wanted to keep everything neutral and then layer our color in through our textiles: our pillows, the little swivel chair,” Longchamps says. “We have little fun pops like our leather chair in the corner and the little wood accent on the lamp, the pop of color from the cabinetry.”
Indeed, the built-in shelves hold colorful decorative items, the soapstone fireplace stands out boldly against the white wall, and the walnut-and-marble cocktail table serves as a handsome anchor for the room.
This may be the formal living room in the home, but it’s not formal in the stuffy sense of the word. The size and softness of the sofa beg one to come and lounge there. Its fabric was chosen because of its durability, but “even though this isn’t a performance fabric, it has a lot of movement.
In this modern addition with transom windows and a soaring ceiling, a sliding glass door opens to a screened in porch large enough for a dining table, fireplace, and chairs.
Its colors—these browns and warm creams—are very forgiving,” she says. Another place where durable textiles came into play is the breakfast nook, where the seating is upholstered in Sunbrella fabric that can be wiped down if food is accidentally dropped there—a likely occurrence when the grandchildren visit.
Even with a neutral palette, some bold statements are hidden away in surprising places. For example, glass mosaics adorn the wall in the moody blue bar room, and the quartz countertops are streaked with subtle blue veining. The master bedroom has a wallpapered accent wall that makes a big impact. Longchamps and Goebel’s bold design strategies have breathed new life into this older home—a life infused with beauty and mindful elegance one might experience while vacationing. Even outside, the teak furniture on the pool deck creates the ambiance of a luxurious resort.
ARCHITECT: Charles Paul Goebel, AIA, AICP, LEED AP, Principal Architect, Easton, Maryland. BUILDER: West and Callahan, Inc., Easton, Maryland. INTERIOR & KITCHEN DESIGN: Julia Longchamps Design, Stevensville, Maryland. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: George’s Green Thumb, Easton, Maryland.
For additional photos, visit annapolishomemag.com.
The updated kitchen has two islands and room for a dining room table with views of the creek.
In the formal dining room, elegant built-ins showcase collectibles and fine servingware.
Donald Lococo Architects
Anice Hoachlander Photography
The details make all the difference in attaining a seamless and successful sale. Before signing, Michele will walk you through each clause, explain the terms, and clarify nuances to ensure that you fully understand the agreement. Whether you’re
BAY STORIES
Jay Fleming, Photographer with a Cause
By Robert Haywood | Photography by Jay Fleming
Above Johnson Creek, Somerset County
Jay Fleming’s
two masterful photographic books, Working the Water (2016) and Island Life (2021), document, with enormous resolve, the Maryland seafood industry and the Eastern Shore’s waterways, its fragile ecosystem, and its islands. In this photojournalism work, he is a historian of sorts, recording everyday ways of life that are forever changing and, in some instances, disappearing (e.g., Smith Island, which is sinking).
It can be misleading to describe his work as photojournalism because there is more at work than a photographer simply aiming and snapping a digital camera. Fleming has an expert knowledge of light, weather, and winds and the sharp, experienced eye of an artist composing a picture. With great deftness, he presents the most poignant moments of weather-worn watermen harvesting crabs and oysters or a local woman icing a seven-layer Smith Island cake.
Raised in Annapolis, Fleming got a jump start on photography from his father, Kevin Fleming, who was a photographer for National Geographic. The son learned from his father but has developed a style and artistic voice of his own. This is evident in his fine art photographs of boat bows with their calm, streamlined aesthetic, and their decisive and colorful forms.
When I met with Jay Fleming and interviewed him in his studio on the Eastern Shore, we talked about his photographic books, his subjects of choice (i.e., life on the Bay), and the character of his photography.
Annapolis Waterman Patrick Mahoney and Son Hunter, South River
Robert Haywood: Can you talk about the two books you have published about the Chesapeake Bay?
Jay Fleming: I have one book out that was published in 2016, Working the Water. That book’s all about the Chesapeake Bay seafood industry. So, it’s a lot of stuff on the Eastern Shore. Most of the photography is on the Shore because that’s where most of the watermen and seafood industry is. But there are still some watermen in Annapolis, Solomons, Patuxent River, Potomac, and then on into Virginia as well. Then I also have my second book, Island Life, which is all about Smith Island and Tangier Island. It’s all about how the isolation of those two communities has shaped the way that people live out there and how the landscape is changing as the environment changes.
RH: You spend so much time out on the water. From your perspective, how would you describe the essence of the Eastern Shore, its character, and what makes it distinct?
JF: To me, the Eastern Shore is a way to get away from Annapolis. Coming across the bridge, Annapolis is busy; it feels a little bit like the city. I know it’s not when you compare it to DC or Baltimore. But the Shore has a different pace of life. Unfortunately, now, Annapolis and the Western Shore are pushing over to the Eastern Shore.
The people who have been here for their whole lives, like on Kent Island, they see the development, and there’s just no more open space. [The open space] is what a lot of people like about the Eastern Shore. That’s why they might move here. But they don’t realize that just by them moving here, they’re taking away the character of the place that they came here for.
But there are still a lot of places on the Shore that retain that authenticity and retain that traditional character of the way things used to be. And you just have to go find them. Fortunately, my job has allowed me to spend the time to go and find all that stuff, becoming immersed and photographing these waterman communities, whether it’s Tilghman Island, Hoopers Island, or Crisfield. On the Western Shore, there’s some really cool places, too.
Blackwater National Wildlife Refefuge, Dorchester County
RH: What is it about the waterman and boats that continues to attract you and inspire you to photograph these subjects?
JF: Well, I love seafood. I recognize that seafood’s a big part of the heritage of this area. It’s an important part of the economy in certain communities. And I’ve become an advocate for the waterman in a sense, encouraging other people to eat local seafood as much as they can and support these communities, support these small businesses, and also encouraging people to recognize where their seafood’s coming from. And that’s a whole ’nother story with crab meat from overseas.
The demand for crab meat and crabs here far outweighs the local supply. So, there’s no way that Maryland crabbers, or even Virginia crabbers and Maryland crab picking houses, could supply this whole region with crab meat. We’ve created a huge demand here, and people are just nuts about crabs in the state. So, unfortunately, as the stocks of crabs have declined and the number of watermen has also declined, there aren’t as many crabs coming out of the Bay as there used to be. So, we import live crabs from Louisiana, the Carolinas, and elsewhere. And then also, crab meat comes in from overseas, including Asia.
There are crabs all over the world. And that’s filling the void that we have because there’s just not enough local product. Also, that product is cheaper for restaurants to buy.
Summer Storm, Smith Island
RH: Can you taste the difference between a Maryland crab and a Louisiana crab?
JF: Probably not. But I could taste the difference between Maryland crab meat—local crab meat—versus Mexican, Venezuelan, or Indonesian. You can taste the difference.
RH: From your experience, what makes a great photograph?
JF: So many things: lighting, color, perspective. You want a picture to have some sort of action or like a verb going on in it. With the boat bow prints, for instance, what makes them is the simplicity of the scene. The fact that they’re so easy to look at. You’ve got a horizon line background. You’ve got incredibly calm water with the boat reflected in it. You’ve got nice, soft, like muted colors. So, what makes those photographs is a little bit different than what makes, like, a photograph that would be published in my book Island Life—that like tells a story about something. So, different things and different styles of photography work better than others.
For the boat bow pictures, I’m constantly watching the weather, looking at the wind forecast, and trying to figure out when the conditions are going to be optimal for me to take these pictures. You could have those flat calm conditions and fog one day, and then the next day, it could be blowing 25 miles per hour and crystal clear, and it just wouldn’t work. So, it’s all about timing it right with the weather conditions.
RH: What sets your work apart from all the people taking nature photographs and pictures of the Bay? Why should people pay attention to your work?
JF: This is what I do for a full-time living. Like, I have no other job. This is my bread and butters, taking pictures. So, I’m constantly trying to improve my craft. I would tell people that “I’m only as good as my next picture.” I have a huge body of work, but I’m always searching for new imagery, new places, a new story to tell, new people to photograph. So, I’m always on a constant search for my next picture and constantly working on the next project.
To learn more about Jay Fleming and to purchace his prints online, visit jayflemingphotograpy.com or visit The Annapolis Collection Gallery, annapoliscollection.com.
Jay Fleming with his Boat Bow series.
Callinectes sapidus: The Beautiful Swimmer
By Christine Fillat | Photography by Jay Fleming
The scene: a table on a shady waterfront deck. Your favorite people are sitting with you, and the conversation bubbles. Brown butcher paper is covering the table. A couple of ice-cold bottles of your favorite beverage leave rings of sweat on the paper. You have ordered a side of hush puppies, cole slaw, and corn on the cob. Perhaps a plate of sliced tomatoes. A tray of steaming hot spicy crabs is deposited in the middle of the table. Everyone grabs a crab. And the merriment begins.
Eating crabs is a social activity. It takes time. You don’t want to miss any of the precious, sweet meat. This is a ritual that is time-worn and deserves to be taken at a leisurely pace.
Eating crabs is nothing new. 90,000 years ago, Neanderthals ate brown crabs in an oceanside Portuguese cave. It is surmised from scorch marks on the crab shells that the crabs were roasted and eaten. Archeological evidence suggests that crabs have been consumed in the Chesapeake Bay region since 1200 BC. Native Americans ate crabs, and crab
Diamondback
remains have been found at Mount Vernon Estate and at a 19th-20th century African-American domestic site. In other words, crabs have been eaten here for a heck of a long time.
While crabs can be found all along the East Coast from Nova Scotia to Argentina and in the Gulf of Mexico, one-third of all the crabs consumed nationwide come from the Chesapeake Bay.
There is a reason Chesapeake Bay crabs are a delicacy.
Generally, crabs have a lifespan of three to four years. Once the water temperature hits 50 degrees in the Chesapeake Bay’s estuaries in the Spring, crabs meander, rise up out of the mud, and settle into underwater grasses in shallow, warm waters until Fall. Curiously, male crabs prefer less salty waters to the north. Female crabs mate once in their lifetime but can store the male crab’s sperm and release millions of larvae up to three times in a season. After migrating to the salty waters near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, female crabs release the larvae into these spawning grounds, where the larvae will mature and then migrate all over the region.
The population of the blue crab fluctuates from year to year. In an effort to understand and control the population of the blue crab, scientists in Maryland and Virginia have been conducting an annual winter-time dredge survey of the crab population in the Chesapeake Bay since 1988. Numbers have ranged from a high of 828 million in 1991 to the present population of 317 million.
Currently, limits to harvesting female crabs are in place, resulting in a greater population of female crabs. Under the careful watch of the Department of Natural Resources, the total population of blue crabs is presently at a sustainable level.
Seeking out crab houses in the Delmarva region is quite the treasure hunt. Blue crabs can be rather expensive, and the crabs need to be fresh. Friends are consulted for their favorite haunts. “I only get my crabs from local watermen,” says one fortunate, resourceful friend.
But, lucky for us, there are a lot of places we can go for crabs. The following is a list of some sit-down crab houses on the Eastern Shore. Some are indoors, some are on waterfront decks, and some are simply picnic tables on the side of the road. As of the writing of this story, average prices for crabs are $60/ dozen for medium, $80/dozen for large, and $120/dozen for extra-large. For up-to-date quotes, be sure to call the venue.
Consumer Alert! When you order crabs in Maryland or any place that offers “Maryland crab cakes,” you may not be eating crabs from the Chesapeake Bay. With the limited number and costs of Maryland crabs, many restaurants serve crabs from Louisiana, Venezuela (for crab meat), or elsewhere. Be sure to ask your server; hopefully, they will answer accurately. AH
Annapolis Rotary Crab Feast
Crabhouses on the Eastern Shore
Chesapeake Landing
23713 St. Michaels Road
St. Michaels, MD 21663
410.745.9600
chesapeakelandingrestaurant.com
Claws Seafood House
167 Rehoboth Avenue
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
302.227.2529 | 227claw.com
The Crab Claw
304 Burns Street
St. Michaels, MD 21663
410.745.2900 | thecrabclaw.com
Fisherman’s Crab Deck
3032 Kent Narrows Way S. Grasonville, MD 21638
410.827.6666 | crabdeck.com
Harris Crab House
433 Kent Narrows Way N. Grasonville, MD 21638
410.827.9500 | harriscrabhouse.com
The Jetty
201 Wells Cove Road
Grasonville, MD 21638
410.827.4959 | jettydockbar.com
Kentmorr Beach Bar & Grill
910 Kentmorr Road
Stevensville, MD 21666
410.643.2263 | thekentmorr.com
Stevensville Crab Shack
116 Pier 1 Road
Stevensville, MD 21666
410.604.2722 | stevensvillecrabshack.com
Suicide Bridge Restaurant
6304 Suicide Bridge Road
Hurlock, MD 21643
410.943.4689 | suicide-bridge-restaurant.com
Tickler’s Crab Shack & Restaurant
21551 Chesapeake House Drive Tilghman, MD 21671
877.818.1922
wylderhotels.com/tilghman-island/dining/
Victoria’s Seafood & Crabs
81st Street 4 Coastal Highway
Ocean City, MD 21842
410.390.7248 | crabsoceancity.com
Waterman’s Seafood
12505 Ocean Gateway
Ocean City, MD 21842
410.213.1020 | watermansoc.com/menu
Waterman’s Crab House
21055 W. Sharp Street
Rock Hall, MD 21661
410.639.6860 | watermanscrabhouse.com
Crab Feast
The Snyder | Bradshaw Group is led by two real estate veterans, Carol Snyder and Tina Bradshaw, who partnered to create an unmatched real estate experience. By aligning their Sotheby’s brand with their local expertise and in-house staging and design department, The Snyder | Bradshaw Group is able to present properties as no one else can and attract the most qualified buyers. Carol and Tina artfully unite extraordinary properties with clients’ aspirations across all price points.
Photograph by Jay Fleming
BEST OF THE
EASTERN SHORE
Consult these top Eastern Shore pros for your needs, from finding a landscape or interior designer, to choosing a builder, architect, or realtor, or even selecting food and wine for your next great party. See their profiles in this section.
FOCUS CONSTRUCTION
CHUCK MANGOLD, JR.
Benson & Mangold Real Estate
WALNUT HILL
LANDSCAPE COMPANY
LUNDBERG BUILDERS
LAURA CARNEY
TTR Sotheby’s International Realty
CHESTER RIVER
WINE & CHEESE
WELCOME HOME
NALLY HOMES
McHALE LANDSCAPE DESIGN
CHARLES PAUL GOEBEL ARCHITECT
BECKER MORGAN GROUP
MAI INTERIORS
SPONSORED SECTION
Embodying a coastal shingle-style, this home graces the banks of Eastern Bay on Kent Island. The main living spaces flow in a linear, one-room-deep fashion to maximize views, culminating in a show-stopping three-story stair tower. Focus Construction has been crafting waterfront homes of distinction on Maryland’s Eastern Shore for nearly 20 years.
Hammond Wilson Architects
CampionHrubyLandscapeArchitects ErinPaigePittsInteriors
| $13,500,000
CHUCK MANGOLD, JR.
A leading agent in all price ranges, Chuck has been with Benson & Mangold since 2001. With over 1,300 local transactions and 22 years solely serving the Mid-Shore, Chuck brings unmatched knowledge, experience and customer service to the table for every client. Benson & Mangold is the Mid-Shore’s #1 Real Estate firm and has been serving the area for nearly 60 years.
31 Goldsborough Street, Easton, MD 21601 410.924. 8832 | Mobile • 410.822.6665 | Office chuckmangold.com chuck@chuckmangold.com
LAURA CARNEY
Specializing in Talbot County and Queen Anne’s waterfront properties, Laura combines local knowledge with the worldwide recognition of the iconic Sothebys brand.
Laura is Senior Vice President at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty and is proud to be ranked in the top 1.5% of all agents nationwide. With 30+ years of experience, and more than $165 million in sales since 2020, Laura’s professionalism, unmatched ethical approach, and unwavering dedication to her clients are what make her one of the leading agents in Talbot County.
Her insight and in-depth understanding of the ever-changing real estate market is critical in guiding both buyers and sellers. Laura says, “Luxury is not about a price point. It is about providing every client with an exceptional customer service experience.”
PROVISIONS FOR THE PALATE, GOODS FOR AN INSPIRED, RESTFUL HOME.
Chester River Wine & Cheese Co. was founded in 2015 by two management consultants turned small town purveyors of great food. We aspire to make everyday beautiful. Visit our gourmet specialty market for cut-to-order cheese, wines, fresh & frozen pastas, oils & vinegars, the best French Jam, and regional speciality meats from around the world.
Welcome Home, with locations in Annapolis, Chestertown, and Easton, is filled with tools for the cook and everything you need to dine and entertain. We focus on heirloom quality goods with a special emphasis on American and European brands.
We’re dedicated to helping you create amazing meals, wonderful memories, and a restful home.
JENN BAKER & JOHN LAUCIK
Charles Paul
GOEBEL Architect, Ltd.
The Fine Art of Architecture
DISTINCTIVE DESIGN UNIQUE, SITE- SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS THAT SHAPE
YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCES.
Evoking the vernacular of shingled seaside homes and cottages of the New England Coast, this new oceanfront home on the Delaware seashore melds traditional forms and elements with graceful curves and subtle whimsical details.
CHRISTOPHER L. PATTEY, ASSOCIATE AIA PROJECT DESIGNER
EASTERN SHORE TOAST
By Maria Louise Ellegood (1916)
Here’s to the Land where the Evergreens grow, In the Summer’s sun and the Winter’s snow. Here’s to the Land where Oyster thrives, Where the Terrapin crawls and the Wild Duck flies; Where the Crab abounds in Chesapeake Waters, The pride of Maryland’s Sons and Daughters. Here’s to the Land where Skies are Bluest; Home ties are Strongest; Hearts are Truest. Here’s to the Sweetest Land I Know— The dear Home Land—the Eastern Sho’.
ADVANCING THE WAY YOU LIVE
We believe in redefining luxury with our state-of-the-art home automation and audio video solutions by bringing innovation and simplicity to the forefront. Our mission is to provide total control over your living space, ensuring every detail of your home aligns with your vision. Designing and integrating sophisticated but simple to use systems, including intuitive control and wireless solutions, as well as entertainment systems that are both effortless and elegant, creating a seamless and elevated living experience.
Meagan Buckley and Reid Buckley Real Estate Advisors
Rooms to Roam IN
ST. MICHAELS
The water-facing side of this home has many windows, a modern modification to traditional shingle-style architecture.
BY DYLAN ROCHE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STACY ZARIN GOLDBERG
This home has a series of steep pitched roofs and a cupola—a playful, almost ornate nod to the past, when Victorian architecture was popular at the turn of the 20th century.
Thereis a reason shingle-style architecture is so ubiquitous in waterfront communities— primarily in the Northeast, such as Newport or Nantucket, but also on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. These “playful waterfront homes,” as architect Christine Dayton describes them, gained popularity around the same time as Victorian architecture and share some of the same attributes. “It has a lot of character, and the steeper roofline makes it a more commodious house, so it can accommodate large families,” she says.
Commodious—there’s the key word. Signifying space and comfort, it perfectly describes a home suited for multigenerational living and family gatherings.
That makes this architectural style a clear choice for homeowners who want to frequently welcome their adult children with grandchildren in tow for an extended getaway. This was the case with Dayton’s clients, who lived in St. Michaels. The couple had moved to St. Michaels about ten years prior because they loved the sense of community.
The pool, with cascading waterfall, reflects a thoroughly modern lifestyle, with leisurely afternoons spent pool-side.
They had recently bought an empty waterfront lot for a completely new build. When Dayton began working with them to reimagine the Dutch colonial house they’d been living in—just down the street in the same neighborhood— she used the basic layout of their old home as inspiration but expanded on it to accommodate the anticipated frequent family visits.
Dayton notes it isn’t unusual for a client to look at the way they live in another home as a starting point. It might be because they’re building a new primary home, as was the case here. Or they might be designing a secondary home— not an unusual occurrence on the Eastern Shore, which draws vacationers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. “They relate to spaces they’ve lived in before, and they know how they work,” Dayton says. “We took cues from what they knew from their other house. This was the new and improved version, if you will.”
As for those improvements? Much of it came down to needing a little bit more space. “We added ensuite baths to each of the bedrooms, [and] reworked the efficiency of the mudroom-laundry room entrance from the two-car garage,” Dayton says. “We also created a larger, more spacious family gathering space on the second floor, along with the bunk room.”
Though traditional on the outside, open spaces and lots of glass characterize the contemporary interior.
The homeowners didn’t specifically request the contemporary transitional shingle style, but the high roofline of this architectural style meant it could have plenty of space on the second floor for guest suites and a living area while still having a large vaulted family room on the first floor with windows to take in the water and sky view.
Maximizing this type of view is always a priority when designing a waterfront home. “That’s the money view, right?” Dayton quips. However, it does present certain challenges. As a waterfront home, it has to serve a purpose from both sides: the front needs to maintain a welcoming street presence, where the owners could sit on the front porch and greet neighbors who pass by, but the back needs to take advantage of the waterfront, where most of the time could be spent.
There’s also the issue of privacy. Leave the view unobstructed, and it’s easy to see into the house from the water; put up some privacy barriers, and you end up obstructing the view. The solution, in this case, was a pool deck with minimal fencing, which creates a screen of privacy around the house without ever making it difficult to see the Miles River.
Inside, the house’s open floor plan in the main living area lends itself to large family gatherings. The L shape creates designated spaces for the kitchen, dining, and living room—or the ‘river room,’ as it’s known in this house, with its arch-top windows that look out over the water. This design maintains an openness so family members can interact with one another while they’re cooking in the kitchen, sitting at the table, and relaxing in the river room.
As Dayton was working with these homeowners to design this home during the pandemic, they were aware of how many people’s lifestyles were changing, their family included. “As for the Eastern Shore, a lot of people used to come down Friday to Monday, but during COVID, people were down here for weeks at a time. The weekend became more Thursday to Tuesday,” she explains.
Soaring roofs and glass window-walls in the remodeled portion of the home create drama and beauty.
That meant designing a house that would host large groups of people, including remote workers or virtual students enjoying long weekends. Knowing they would need private spaces for a phone call or a Zoom meeting, the second floor was designed to include discreet spaces away from the open space so nice for communal gatherings: guest suites, a mixed-use gathering space, and a workspace.
“If somebody needed space to do something for work, creating those little nooks gave them that opportunity,” Dayton says. The raised gambrel roof with steeper pitches and dormers meant the second floor had the space to accommodate these needs. It also meant the mixed-use gathering space, which works equally well for a sitting room or a home office, had a beautiful view of the water.
Enlisting the expertise of an architect is an exciting endeavor; even when both parties understand each other, the outcome can be unexpected or a compromise. Dayton has done something extraordinary: conceiving the home that existed in her clients’ imagination. The interior is commodious with room to roam while its pitched rooflines cast long shadows on the lawn, paying homage to its shingle-style beginnings.
A curvaceous glass wall enclosing the porch is a modern innovation, yet also reflects the home’s imaginative architectural style.
ARCHITECT: Christine M. Dayton Architect, PA, Easton, Maryland. BUILDER: Spurry Builder, Inc., St. Michaels, Maryland. INTERIOR DESIGNER: Louise Christoffers, Higgins & Spencer Inc., St. Michaels, Maryland. KITCHEN DESIGNER: Chris Potthast, Kitchen Creations, LLC, Easton, Maryland. LANDSCAPE DESIGNER: KDB Landscapes, Easton, Maryland.
For additional photos, visit annapolishomemag.com.
SOUTH RIVER WATERFRONT
Annapolis Home Magazine Launches
Poets Conversation Room with St. John’s College
in the
In a spontaneous back-and-forth style, renowned poet and playwright Grace Cavalieri, recent Maryland Poet Laureate, joins Kymberly Taylor, poet and Editor-in-Chief of Annapolis Home Magazine, to discuss the nature of poetry, why poetry is needed here and now in Annapolis, and to present their launch of an exciting new poetry series.
Grace Cavalieri (left) and Kymberly Taylor discuss the brand-new poetry series “Poets in the Conversation Room.” Photograph by Tony Lewis Jr.
Grace Cavalieri: Why in the world are we planning a Poetry Series in Annapolis?
Kymberly Taylor: Annapolis needs poetry. It needs this incredible art form that helps us feel things beyond what we hear and read online, on television, and in the news.
GC: You and I are writers, so we love poetry. But what makes us think that it is for everybody? I believe it is. I have never met a person who has not secretly written a poem. But what makes us think we can get enough people to attend a poetry series?
KT: We have to remind people right here and now how fabulous listening to a poem is because it helps you think about your own life in a different way. Your own perspective and other people’s. It’s like a mini revelation.
GC: I like that a lot. It is said that poetry makes us less lonely because if a poet says something and you have thought the same thing to yourself but never said it out loud, you’ll think, “Thank goodness, someone feels as I do.”
KT: Yes, you’re no longer alone in the cold, cruel universe or feeling empty.
GC: Well, I don’t think we can save people’s lives, but we can save their emotional lives for sure. Why do you write poetry?
KT: I feel like there are hidden energies in language. I need to wake them up, play with them, and bring them forward.
GC: Well, what do you discover about yourself? Because I find it is an act of discovery. I don’t know where I’m going... it’s not a chess game. I don’t know where I’m going with the poem, but when I finish, something is clearer to me than it ever was before.
Let’s tell everyone about this grand idea.... I have been a poet laureate since 2018, and Governor Moore is going to choose a new one any day. In those days, those years, I tried to garner support for poetry. I found in Annapolis, and everywhere I went, even in the most educated book clubs, they would say, “This is the first poetry reading I have ever heard.” I found that so sad. I thought, “Make a place, and people will come.”
Why do you think the community is welcome at St. John’s?
KT: President Nora Demleitner was on the cover of our Faces of Annapolis in 2022, and we had the great opportunity to interview her shortly after she arrived. One of her goals was to welcome the community into St. John’s on a regular basis, to interact.
GC: There will be a reading from a world-class poet the first Saturday of each month, starting September 7 and running through December, for the first half of our season. We even know the first few poets.
Our inaugural reader is David Keplinger; he is a very beloved poet in America and has a poem in this issue of AH. He has been named a top scholar and top teacher at AU and heads their MFA program
in poetry. What do you think about distributing one of his poems to the audience?
KT: I think it is a great idea; it is not usually done at readings. Usually, the poet just reads, and the audience listens. I think it makes sense for St. John’s and think they would like to ask questions and comment on it and have a colloquy, a form they are so comfortable with.
GC: We talked to the President’s team. They did like this in terms of how it fits in with their Socratic method, and I think the poets would like to talk about their poems.
Imagine a 40-minute reading and a 20-minute Q and A in their beautiful venue called “The Conversation Room.” I think it’s going to create a tremendous audience because it’s also entertaining. Poetry speaks to how we feel and how it is to be alive in this world—and who does not want to hear that?
KT: Who’s on the roster?
GC: We have David Keplinger, then Pulitzer prize-winning poet Remica Bingham-Risher, Carolyn Forche, and something very special. The fourth poet, Andrew Wong, will read poetry from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He will be in conversation with a St. John’s faculty member who is a Chinese translator. We hope some of the students come, that the faculty come, and that the word gets out.
Annapolis will have a poetry presence. It will be a locus, a place for poetry. And that is what has been missing. We want Annapolis to be seen as a temple carrying the light.
KT & GC: Readers of this magazine are invited and must come over to say hello to us! We will see you September 7 at 2 pm in The Conversation Room at St. John’s College.
Grace Cavalieri is an award-winning American poet, playwright, and radio host of the Library of Congress program The Poet and the Poem. In 2018, she was appointed the tenth Poet Laureate of Maryland.
Kymberly Taylor has an MFA from Columbia University and has published poems in journals such as New American Writing, the Boston Review, Notre Dame Review, Pivot, Samizdat, The Fortnightly Review, the Hawaii Review, and the Seneca Review. Her chapbook “Extravagant Captivities” is published by Aralia Press. Poems are forthcoming in FotoSpecchio.
Poets in the Conversation Room Fall Schedule
September 7, 2:00 pm — David Keplinger
October 5, 2:00 pm — Remica Bingham-Risher
November 2, 2:00 pm — Carolyn Forche
December 7, 2:00 pm — Chinese poet Andrew Wong in conversation with a St. John’s College faculty member
To learn about each poet and receive updates, sign up for Annapolis Home’s newsletter at annapolishomemag.com.
Gymnopedia no. 2
by David Keplinger
At our booth in the constantly surprising early years of the century my father stands to help the tall, old stranger with her coat, her arms halfway inside the dark sleeves. Now we all stand together inside the dark sleeve of the diner. My father has a year left in this body, holding this coat which is green and heavy for his shaking hands. It is heavy for anyone, it is too beautiful, I think, looking back at them, half there and half here in the future, my body half inside the sleeve of that place—but I mean it’s hard to see them clearly, because I am not surprised anymore, it’s hard to see the obvious thing, that this is a day in the world, this collision of needs, oppressive, the coat he regally lifts to her shoulders, which the shoulders almost, almost, lower themselves to receive.
A professor of Literature at AU since 2007, David Keplinger is the recipient of the 2022 American University Teacher/Scholar of the Year Award. He is the author of eight collections of poetry, most recently Ice (Milkweed Editions, 2023), The World to Come (Conduit Books, 2021), winner of the Minds on Fire Open Book Prize, and Another City (Milkweed, 2018), which was awarded the 2019 UNT Rilke Prize.
Keplinger is the inaugural poet for “Poets in the Conversation Room,” sponsored by Annapolis Home Magazine and St. John’s College. To meet the poet and hear him read, please join us on September 7, at 2 p.m. in St. John’s College’s “Conversation Room.” For details and updates, visit annapolishomemag.com and subscribe to our newsletter.
© Nikolay Evsyukov
The High-Heeled Gardener
Hydrangea fossils date back 40-65 million years. Derived from the Greek, ‘hydrangea’ means ‘water vessel,’ which references the shape of its seed capsules.
Gentle Giant THE JAPANESE CLIMBING HYDRANGEA
BY KYMBERLY TAYLOR
Whether big or small, our gardens are miniature worlds; within each plant is a natural force. Observe the delicate surge of the bluebell, the canna lily’s sky-ward rush, the calm hosta. As gardeners, our tasks are to cultivate and manage these bright energies for aesthetic and practical purposes. Have a tough spot to cover? A bare fence? A brick wall? If so, you may harness the magnificent strength and beauty of the Japanese climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea anomala petiolaris. This summer-blooming perennial is one of nature’s most powerful vines, adhering to almost every surface, reaching 30 to 50 feet high and 5 to 6 feet wide. Native to Japan and Southeast Asia, this Japanese climber is not well known in America but is common in the deep forests of Japan. Though a non-native plant, it does quite well in Annapolis, Maryland’s Zone 7-b, distinguished by hot, humid summers, cool winters, and lots of rain.
Keep in mind that when young, Hydrangea anomala needs a lot of care. Plant in rich, slightly acidic soil in a partly shady spot. Talk to it, water it, and dose twice a year with a little Mir-acid. You won’t notice much at first. However, after three to five years, it will take over and almost become a living dream, slowly enchanting your backyard as it grows imperceptibly year after year. Covering almost half of my 30-foot privacy fence, its large leaves and huge lace-cap flowers have become a verdant bower. Recently, I looked behind the leaves to find an astonishing ecosystem humming with life. Two wrens resting in its shade took flight. A matrix of aerial roots, some the size of human arms, seemed to have a will of their own. They spread horizontally and vertically simultaneously, climbing up and over my fence and blooming on the other side.
The Japanese hydrangea blooms from early to mid-summer and has brilliant yellow foliage in the fall. Plant this slow-growing beauty in dappled shade and take pleasure as the forces within mature. Toast in honor of Chronus, the Greek god of cyclical time. However, be wary of his trickery. Before you know it, your friendly little hydrangea will become a gentle giant.
FINE DESIGN
ANNAPOLIS THE FACES OF LAUNCH PARTY
Annapolis Home celebrated The Faces of Annapolis 2024 at the ADU showroom in late May. Record-breaking rower Lauren “Nini” Champion, part of the duo Team Ocean Grown, spoke to the Faces professionals and guests about her and teammate Lisa Roland’s time in the World’s Toughest Row. A BBQ cookout was provided by Chef Egg. Many thanks to our sponsors, ADU – Your Appliance Source, Viking, and Lynx. See The Faces of Annapolis by visiting annapolishomemag.com. | Photography by Tony Lewis Jr.
Mike Prokopchak, guest, Melanie Ulrich, John Hanks
Reid Buckley, Meredith Hillyer, Lauren Schnabel
Megan Reiley, Katie Carlin, Adam Peck
Reid Buckley, Mark White
Johanne Côté, Helena Briggs
Rebecca Ramsay, Ellen Hagerty
Rick Jaklitsch, John Hanks, Dennis Ulrich Nini Champion and her parents
Ben Crozier, Parissa Sedghi, Max Sedghi
Adam Peck, Elizabeth Davis, Bobby Efthimiadis
Helena Briggs, Margie Boyd, Barry Boyd
Christy Oliff-Ellis
Rick Jaklitsch, Andrea Wheeler
Kymberly Taylor and Lauren “Nini” Champion
Abby Martin, Paul Mueller, Jr., Kelly Skovron, Jasmine Strain, Jesse Price
LEADING PROFESSIONALS
ADVERTISING INDEX
ARCHITECTS
ABS Architects pg. 111 410.268.1213 | absarchitects.com
Becker Morgan Group pg. 86 beckermorgan.com
Charles Paul Goebel Architect pg. 86 | 410.820.9176 | cpgoebel.com
Hammond Wilson pg. 17 410.267.6041 | hammondwilson.com
Three B Architecture pg. 18 443.791.6193 | threebarchitecture.com
CUSTOM BUILDERS
Bayview Builders pgs. 10-11 410.280.0303 | bayviewbuildersmd.com
Blackketter Craftsmen, Inc. pg. 112 410.923.3111 | blackcraft.com
Fichtner Home Exteriors pg. 113 410.519.1900 | fichtnerexteriors.com
Focus Construction pgs. 76-77 410.690.4900 | focus-construction.net
Gate One Builders pg. 23 410.268.0778 | gateonebuilders.com
Lundberg Builders, Inc. pg. 81 410.643.3334 | lundbergbuilders.com
Lynbrook of Annapolis pg.45 410.295.3313 | lynbrookofannapolis.com
Maxim Building Group pg. 112 443.871.4584 | maximbuildinggroup.com
Mueller Homes pgs. 46-47 muellerhomes.com
Nally Homes pg. 84
302.581.9243 | nallyhomes.com
Procopio Homes pg. 73
410.551.8454 | procopiohomes.com
Pyramid Builders pgs. 2-3
410.571.7707 | pyramid-builders.com
Winchester Construction Inside Back Cover | 410.987.5905 winchesterinc.com
Younger Construction pg. 109
410.626.8602 | youngerconstruction.com
DESIGN PROFESSIONALS
Fitzsimmons Design Associates, Inc. pg. 33 410.269.1965 | fitzsimmonsdesign.com
Interior Concepts, Inc. pg. 20 410.224.7366 | interiorconceptsinc.com
Karen Renée Interior Design pg. 110 410.647.0435 | karenreneeinteriors.com
Sew Beautiful Interiors pg. 24 410.544.3300 | sewbeautifulwindows.com
Simply Wesley Interior Design pg. 108 | 443.994.6757 simplywesley.com
EXCLUSIVE KITCHEN OR BATH DESIGN
314 Design Studio pg. 115 410.643.4040 | 314designstudio.com
Kitchen Encounters pg. 16 410.263.4900 | kitchenencounters.biz
Severna Park Kitchen & Bath pg. 97 410.777.9526 | spkitchenandbath.com
Stuart Kitchens Back Cover 410.761.5700 | stuartkitchens.com
BEAUTY
ProMD Health pg. 105 410.449.2060 | promdhealth.com
HOME SERVICES
84 Lumber Kitchen & Bath Design Studio pgs. 6-7 410.757.4684 | 84designstudios.com
ADU, Your Appliance Source pg. 32 | 410.267.7110 | adu.com
Atlas Marble & Tile, Inc. pg. 113 410.315.8720 | atlastile.com
Architectural Window Supply pg. 98 | 410.266.5254 | archwin.com
Blinds to Go pg. 21 866.968.3818 |blindstogo.com
California Closets pg. 34 410.247.8088 | californiaclosets.com
Compass Stone & Tile Studio pg. 115 | 443.224.0700 | cst-studio.com
Elite Hardwood Flooring pg. 59 | 410.280.1420 elitehardwoodflooring.com
Gold Seal Services pg. 112 410.583.1010 | goldsealservices.com
In Home Stone Marble & Granite pg. 108 | 410.626.2025 | inhomestone.com
MAI Interiors pg. 87 410.490.0690 | maiconstruct.com
Quality Window & Door pg. 60 877.542.8481 | qwdinc.com/annapolishomemag
TW Perry pgs. 14-15 443.808.1481 | twperry.com
WalterWorks Hardware pg. 115 | 410.263.9711 walterworkshardware.com
OUTDOOR LIVING
Bay Pile Driving pg. 58 410.879.3121 or 888.886.1213 baypiledriving.com
Burge Sprinkler Company pg. 112 443.333.8782 | burgesprinkler.com
Clinton+Ries Landscape
Architects pg. 35 301.699.5600 | clintonriesla.com
Coastal Pools pg. 24 443.775.2880 | coastalpoolbuilders.net
McHale Landscape Design
Inside Front Cover, pg. 1 + 85 410.990.0894 | mchalelandscape.com
Scapes, Inc. pg. 19 410.867.6909 | scapesinc.net
Walnut Hill Landscape Company pg. 4-5 | 410.349.3105 or 410.690.0977 walnuthilllandscape.com
Walpole Outdoors pg. 31 866.757.6979 | walpoleoutdoors.com
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Chester River Wine & Cheese Co. pg. 83 | 443.282.0220 | chesterrivergourmet.com
Brennan Title Company pg. 104 410.224.1400 | brennantitle.com
Green & Bean Boutique pg. 112 greenbeanboutique.com
Jo Fleming Contemporary Art pg. 113 | 410.280.1847 | 703.989.9043 joflemingcontemporaryart.com
Nancy Hammond Editions pg. 111 410.295.6612 | nancyhammondeditions.com
Welcome Home pg. 83 + 112 welcomhomemarkets.com
REAL ESTATE
Brad Kappel of TTR|Sotheby’s International Realty pgs. 12-13 m. 410.279.9476 | o. 410.280.5600 bradkappel.com
Chuck Mangold, Jr. of Benson & Mangold Real Estate pg. 78-79 m. 410.924.8832 | o. 410.822.6665 chuckmangold.com
David Orso of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices pgs. 8-9 c. 443.691.0838 | o. 443.372.7171 davidorso.com
Day Weitzman of Coldwell Banker Realty pg. 99 | m. 410.353.0721 | o. 410.263.8686 dayweitzman.com
Georgie Berkinshaw & Jean Berkinshaw Dixon of Coldwell Banker Realty pg. 22 | gb. 443.994.4456 | jbd. 443.995.279 o. 410.263.8686 | gberkinshaw.com
Joanna Dalton of Coldwell Banker Realty pg. 72 | c. 410.980.8443 | o. 410.263.8686 joanna.dalton@cbmove.com
Kelly Harris Homes of Coldwell Banker Realty pg. 112 | m. 443.763.2000| o. 410.721.0103
Laura Carney of TTR|Sotheby’s International Realty pg. 82 m. 410.310.3307 | o. 410.673.3344 lauracarney.com
Michele Deckman of The Tower Team, TTR|Sotheby’s International Realty pg. 61 c.410.353.3703 | o. 410.280.5600 micheledeckman.com
Reid Buckley’s Mr. Waterfront Team of Long & Foster Real Estate pg. 89 d.410.266.6880 | o. 410.260.2801 waterfronthomes.org
Scott Wallace of Coldwell Banker Realty pgs. 48-49 | m. 410.991.5627 | o. 410.263.8686 scott.wallace@cbrealty.com
Snyder Bradshaw Group of Monument Sotheby’s International Realty pg. 71 | o. 443.906.3848 d. 410.216.0018 | snyderbradshaw.com
Washington Fine Properties pg. 109 202.944.5000 | wfp.com
SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY
Maddox Audio Visual Design pg. 88 |maddoxav.com
ULTIMATE HOME SERVICES
Quality Services for the Home pg. 114
Jay Fleming, Shades of Blue, photograph. See our story about Fleming on page 62.
