Boat U.S. - January 2008 - (Page 32) SolomonS ISland about to boom W hat is 60 miles southeast of the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue (Rt. 4), has no home delivery mail service but boasts over 2,000 boat slips? The answer is Solomons, MD or Solomons Island, MD. It depends on which side of the culvert you happen to be standing on. Nestled at the southernmost tip of Maryland’s Calvert County between the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay, this waterfront community is home to fewer than 1,500 year-round residents. It’s been a destination for boaters from surrounding states who have been flocking to this yachting center for decades to enjoy its small town ambiance, in contrast to Annapolis, its more cosmopolitan neighbor 65 miles to the north. I first stumbled upon Solomons some 20 years ago on a weekend jaunt in early December. To this day I remember pulling in to a quiet little burgh late on an unseasonably mild afternoon, enjoying a good meal at a cozy waterfront restaurant and emerging that evening to find the entire area decorated with glowing luminaries along every nook and cranny for as far as the eye could see. The transformation was magical and the village, with its quaint and funky shops — all within walking distance — begged to be explored. Clearly, I had stumbled across the advent of something quite special as the town’s annual “Christmas Walk” has endured to this day and is now entering its 23rd season. In fact, the town seems to have a thing for turning on, the lights, that is. From December 7 to January 1, Annmarie Gardens, a 30-acre public outdoor sculpture park offers “Garden in Lights,” a drive-through holiday light show featuring works of art on loan from the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum. But, if your copy of this magazine doesn’t arrive before the New Year, there’s still time to experience Cove Point by Candlelight at the Calvert Marine Museum’s Cove Point Lighthouse, Saturday, January 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. This magical evening is the only time the public has the opportunity to make a nighttime visit to the 1828 Cove Point Lighthouse, the oldest continuously working lighthouse in Maryland. Candles, decorations and twinkling white lights will provide a soft counterpoint to the powerful beam rotating over the water from the lighthouse. Guests will enjoy entertainment by a maritime musician and raconteur along with tales of lighthouses in the keeper’s attic as well as a showing of the new Cove Point Lighthouse historical video in the Fog Bell Mini-Theatre. For more information and details, call 410-326-2042 x17. 32 BoatU.S. Magazine January 2008
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