July 19 through July 31

The unrelenting heat was making it difficult for the refrigerator aboard Lazy W to keep its contents cold so we decided that a return trip to Hampton was mandatory in order to troubleshoot this latest problem.  So we pulled up anchor and retraced our route down the James River.  This time the current was in our favor and, instead of the trip taking five hours, we shortened it to three-and-a-half!

 

After numerous calls to Nova Kool’s Canadian headquarters and making seemingly insignificant adjustments and minor retrofits to the refrigerator, we were somewhat convinced that the refrigerator was minimally cooler than when we first arrived in Hampton!  Frank hopped on his bike and made a grocery store run to replace the spoiled items that we had trashed.  Now if we could only find a replacement battery for my dead smartphone...

 

As long as the weather was so hot and humid I was content to stay at the Hampton Public Docks where Lazy W was plugged in and her a/c hummed and kept me cool and comfortable.  But the Captain was encouraging me to move on with these words of wisdom - “After all, it is July!” and “It is summer, you know!” and “It’s supposed to be hot!” -  wow, who would have guessed that?!?!  So I relented and we were off to Mobjack Bay.

 

Cargo ship inbound to Hampton Roads

 

Passing Old Point Comfort Light

 

We had an anchorage on East River near Weston Creek all to ourselves except for a pod of dolphin that was feeding just yards off Lazy W.  It was so quiet in the early morning that we could hear the dolphin spouting as they broke the surface of the water!  That evening, despite the very bright light from the full moon, we were able to see the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, the real Lazy W!

 

The Captain kayaking along the East River - alone

as the Admiral thought it was much too hot for such activity!

 

Under beautiful clear skies and with the promise of calm water, we set out in high spirits for Dozier’s Regatta Point Marina in Deltaville.  A few miles south of Sting Ray Point we noticed a thickening and darkening of the clouds.  Within minutes the Coast Guard was on the radio warning of imminent thunderstorms and winds in excess of 30 knots at Sting Ray Point.  WHAT?? The storm was tracking in our direction and we scrambled to button up the helm and secure the cabin.  We managed to skirt the worst of the storm but the calm water was history – the bay was now roiled up and Lazy W was rocking and rolling through the chop.  As we struggled around Sting Ray Point into the Rappahannock River Lazy W was taking the waves on the beam and the Captain began to tack our way into the river.  When we arrived at the marina on Broad Creek, Sissy showed us this picture of a waterspout taken from the marina dock a few hours before our arrival.  Luckily, we only saw lightning!!

 

Waterspout at entrance to Broad Creek on July 24, 2013

 

We had enough excitement to last us for awhile so, when a small craft advisory was posted for the following day, we opted to stay put at Regatta Point.  Ironically, the high temperature was only in the 70’s, perfect anchoring weather, yet Lazy W was plugged in with a/c readily available!

 

It was time to head up the Rappahannock River to drop anchor in the Eastern Branch of the Corrotoman River near where Patti and Alan have their cabin.  Patti called us as we passed beneath the Rappahannock River Bridge to let us know that she and Alan were just crossing over it by car and caught sight of Lazy W! 

 

Family of osprey on Rappahannock River

 

 

A short dinghy ride up Hills Creek brought us to their dock; a short uphill climb led us to the cabin.  Patti harvested a bumper crop of blueberries that she put to delicious use in a blueberry pie and a blueberry grunt, both great accompaniments to our weekend dinners.

 

 

Our Friday evening visit flew by and then it was dark - really, really dark – and we still had to make our way back to Lazy W.  We gingerly picked our way through the dark woods down to the dock where our dinghy waited in the dark.  We slowly snaked our way along the creek – where’s that moonlight when you need it? – hoping that we would find a darkened Lazy W  and wishing we had remembered to turn her anchor light on!  When we finally arrived back at the mother ship we vowed that any other nights spent ashore would end while there was still a bit of daylight...

 

One attraction to country living on the Northern Neck is the abundance of birds.  We spotted many eagles in the trees surrounding our anchorage. This feeder hanging on the cabin porch was a popular dining spot for dozens of voracious little hummingbirds who would fill their bellies with nectar then hide in the nearby crepe myrtles.

 

 

While touring the Northern Neck we stopped at the Tides Inn on Carter Creek in Irvington where we enjoyed lunch and Lancaster Lemonade.

 

 

 

Also in Irvington is The Dog and Oyster Vineyard.  Two forty-foot tall corkscrews flanking the driveway entrance make it hard to miss this place!  As we tasted wines in their ‘tasting stand’ – think upscale farm stand and you will get the picture – the gentleman pouring the wines told us the story behind the corkscrews.  The local town ordinance does not permit a sign larger than 4’x4’.  The vineyard owners felt the signage size would not draw enough attention to their business, thus the massive corkscrews!  And why call a vineyard The Dog and Oyster?  The name honors both the rescue dogs that patrol the vineyard keeping deer and other critters at bay and the oyster that is one of the Chesapeake Bay’s greatest assets.

 

One of two 40-foot tall cork screws

at the entrance to The Dog and Oyster Vineyard

After dinner aboard Lazy W Frank dinghied Alan and Patti to their cabin and returned just before dark.  The night sky was filled with stars – unlike the following evening when gusty winds and the rumble of thunder from a fast approaching storm sent us scurrying from the cabin back to Lazy W.  As lightning flashed in the distance Frank gunned the dinghy out of Hills Creek.  We reached the relative safety of our anchored boat mere minutes before the first of the heavy rain fell.

After three days on the hook it was time to visit a marina.  We chose Dozier’s Port Urbanna Marine Center in Urbanna where most of downtown is only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  It was Monday!  One of the few open businesses was Marshall’s Drug Store where we cozied up to the old-fashioned soda fountain and had ice cream cones.  Dockside, the marina restaurant, supplied crab balls for happy hour and the marina garden supplied fresh tomatoes and basil for our onboard dinner.

 

Weathered boat house on Urbanna Creek...

...across from Oyster Harbor Condos

Fifteen miles from Urbanna and across the Rappahannock River from Deltaville is Windmill Point, our next stop.  After a full two weeks on the water, we are just 86.5 miles from Portsmouth!?!?

 

 

 

The 2013 Cruise of Lazy W - July 17 through July 21

 

Our last lengthy cruise on Lazy W ended on October 17, 2011.  Much happened since then to keep us at the dock at Ocean Marine Yacht Center until July 17, 2013. 

Wanting to teach high school physics, Frank went back to school fall 2011 as a ‘career switcher.’ He spent months in ODU classes and jumped through all the required hoops to receive his provisional Virginia teaching certificate. 

Our son, Jon, and his wife, Nancy, had a beautiful baby girl in May 2012 and we jumped at the chance to fly to Phuket, Thailand (with stops in Germany and Switzerland) to meet Ashley Rose.  Grandma even made a solo trip back to Thailand for Ashley’s first birthday in 2013!

 

Grandma and Ashley enjoying Itsy-Bitsy Spider

 

We hosted friends for the fantastic OpSail 2012 and entered Lazy W in the parade of sail along the Elizabeth River.

 

While in Thailand, Frank was able to schedule interviews for teaching positions in Virginia.  In late August 2012, he began his short-lived teaching career as a teacher of both AP Physics and “Physics for Poets” at Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach.  This was the perfect excuse to get off Lazy W and rent a condo at the oceanfront for the off-season, YEAH!

I put on my volunteer hat and helped out at registration for the Polar Plunge and Shamrock Marathon. I managed to score a few Texas standardized reading tests from home.  I became a Whole Foods snob. Along with Patti and Alan Sutton we checked out numerous happy hours at the bars and restaurants along Atlantic Avenue. 

 

 

By October 2012 the professor was sure of one thing – that teaching would be crossed off his bucket list forever!!  He toughed it out one excruciatingly painful day at a time until June of this year when his great teaching experiment was put to rest.  His days were now free to get Lazy W in ship-shape condition for cruising.  Crawling around the engine room for hours and ending the day reeking of eau-de-diesel suited him much better than dealing with teenagers with no interest in how things worked!  He was a happy camper again.  And even happier when he got the results of the AP Physics exam and saw that 12 of his 13 test takers passed the tough exam.

                    Or   

                      

 

The first weekend of June the Buckheit family gathered in Angier, NC for the wedding of Leslie Orcutt and Kevin Buckheit.

     

   

                                                                           

 

Cameron kept us busy the last week of June when he came for his summer visit.  He brought his cousin Isaiah along for a fun-filled week of kid-centric activities – catching crabs, swimming, bowling, driving the dinghy, seeing Monsters University at the movie theater, attending a Tides baseball game, and watching fireworks.

 

 

          

By July there was nothing left to do BUT LEAVE!!  On July 16^th the gang from ‘B’ dock (Mike and Cindy, Bill and Darlene, Bonnie and Charlie, Mike and Ruth) had a leaving-the-dock party at Gosport Tavern.  Bill, a Mass Maritime alum, gifted us with a ‘chart book’ which definitely will not be used for navigation purposes!!  :)

So on July 17^th, after a pumpout and topping off the fuel tank, we cast off northbound on the Elizabeth River bound for the Hampton Public Docks.

Passing USS Wisconsin and Nauticus

 It was a typical hot, hazy, humid July afternoon with very little boat traffic on the river.  Docked at the Norfolk Naval Station were three aircraft carriers - #77 – USS George H.W. Bush, #69 – USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and #75 – USS Harry S. Truman which would leave on a long deployment later in the month.

With a little help from Maxwell at the Hampton Public Docks, Lazy W tied up within feet of the Virginia Air and Space Center and the Hampton Carousel, a fully-restored 1920 merry-go-round with 48 beautiful handpainted horses.

 

 Hampton Harbor from the Virginia Air and Space Center

with Lazy W hidden behind the trees

Patti and Alan were on Fairways at the nearby Hampton Yacht Club so we got together for dinner at Venture Kitchen and Bar on Queens Way.  What an eclectic menu! There are not many restaurants in Hampton Roads that serve Pad Thai PB&J (surprisingly delicious) or asparagus with salted popcorn and creamy goat cheese dressing.  We sampled and enjoyed both.

 

Frank and I wandered through the Virginia Air and Space Center (blissfully air conditioned) along with several dozen pre-teens on field trips from Virginia Beach and then perused the artwork at Blue Skies Gallery.  An added perk with a stay at Hampton Public Docks is the use of the pool at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, so after enjoying two single dips at the Old Hampton Ice Cream Parlor we took a refreshing dip in the pool.

 

Chippokes Plantation State Park, a working farm since 1619, is located on the James River across from historic Jamestown and is the site of the annual Pork, Peanut and Pine Festival in July.  A few boats from Ocean Marine were planning to attend and we decided to meet them there.  We left Hampton at noon on July 19^th and fought the current for five hours before dropping anchor in Cobham Bay.  Sonata arrived about 6:30 followed by Slack Time and Southern Comfort towing Junior. 

Shortly after breakfast the following morning we realized the error we had made in picking our anchoring location – we were directly in the ‘flight path’ of the hundreds of testosterone-laden boats arriving for the party in mid-bay!  We pulled up anchor and made our way to the calmer side of the bay where the other OMYC boats had wisely dropped anchor the previous evening.

None of us ever made it to the Pork, Peanut and Pine Festival but Frank and I did hike up the hill to the visitor center for a nice view of the boats at anchor.  There was plenty of food, fun and antics on the water along with mimosas, bloody Marys, beer and wine to keep us entertained in the blistering heat.  Thankfully, there was a brisk wind.

 

Cobham Bay where the OMYC gang sat peacefully at anchor....

 

...and Cobham Bay where the young party crowd hung out.

  

The OMYC crowd out for a run on Southern Comfort’s Junior.

Frank, Ron, Bill Russell, Cindy Ewing, Darlene

Charlie and Bonnie Burke, Roy, Barbara, Mike Ewing

We're b-a-a-a-a-c-k!

A sunny day at Baltimore’s Anchorage Marina

The first Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race (GCBSR) was held in October 1990 and is now a yearly event.  Because of their speed, schooners were ideal for coastal sailing and became one of the favorite commercial watercraft in the United States and Canada in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century.  Cargo-hauling schooners regularly sailed the Chesapeake Bay and the faster the schooner the better the price it fetched for its services.  Today the GCBSR serves as a reminder of the trade rivalry which once existed between the ports of Baltimore and Norfolk.

In 1988 Captain Lane Briggs and his Norfolk Rebel, a sail-powered schooner-rigged tugboat, challenged the newly launched schooner Pride of Baltimore II to a race from Baltimore to Norfolk.  The challenge was accepted and in October 1990 the first GCBSR was born with seven competitors.  While cargo-hauling schooners are a thing of the past, there are many schooners in use today as privately owned cruising vessels, state-sponsored goodwill ships, charter vessels and floating classrooms.  As many as 56 schooners have registered to compete in a single race!  All proceeds are donated to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for use in its youth education programs aimed at saving the bay.

While Lazy W was docked in Baltimore’s Anchorage Marina on Monday, October 11^th, the first of the competing schooners were arriving at the docks of the neighboring Baltimore Marine Center.  We soon discovered that on Tuesday Canton’s O’Donnell Square would be hosting “Sail Around the Square,” a party to benefit the GCBSR.  We had frequented many of the fine establishments in Fell’s Point and along Canton’s Boston Street, but O’Donnell Square?? We just had to check this party out!  So off we went to JD’s Smokehouse to register for the poker run.  There were ten bars/pubs participating and each had a designated dealer handing out a playing card in a sealed envelope.  The best five-card hands to arrive back and be opened at JD’s by 8:30PM would receive one of three prizes.  

Neither of us ended the evening with anything even close to a winning poker hand but we thoroughly enjoyed meeting the host of characters hanging out at Looney’s Pub, Nacho Mama’s, Fins, Mama’s on the Half Shell, Speak Easy, Claddagh Pub, Portside, Te Amo!, and Sauté.  Ten pubs in one night!  Whew...

The rain arrived just in time to dampen the Wednesday afternoon Parade of Sail.  The hearty schooner crews left their slips in Canton, unfurled their sails and paraded up to the Inner Harbor and back. 

The weather had not improved much by Thursday morning when the schooners castoff for the starting line of the race, 21 miles south near the Bay Bridge and Annapolis.  We waited at Anchorage Marina for the fog to lift before starting Lazy W’s engines only to find that she really did not want to leave her slip in Baltimore!  Frank spent a few hours in the engine room coaxing her port engine back to life and, despite the delay, we arrived at the Bay Bridge in time to see all the schooners milling around waiting for their 1:30PM start. 

Schooner Sultana approaching the Bay Bridge

Schooner at the Bay Bridge

A dreary day for the start of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race

We continued south on the bay another fourteen miles to the Rhode River.  Shortly after dropping the anchor the sun came out and we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon anchored among a few sailboats.

What a difference in weather!

The following morning we made the forty-four mile run south to Solomons and up the Mill Creek to a beautiful anchorage at Brooks Cove.  Just before turning up Mill Creek we noticed that the schooner Sultana was docked at one of the marinas and we wondered what had happened to keep her from finishing the GCBSR.  Only later did we learn that of the almost forty schooners that registered to compete in the GCBSR, only fifteen managed to finish the race in the allotted time.  It is hard to sail south in a southerly wind!

The autumn view at Brooks Cove from Lazy W

This anchorage afforded us great protection from the gusty 30 knot winds that were forecast to blow out on the bay so we hunkered down here for another day.  We launched the dinghy and took a short but choppy ride into the docks at the Calvert Marine Museum.  The friendly, hospitable staff was more than happy to share their knowledge of skates and rays, mermaid’s purses, terrapins, river otters and starfish with us on what was a slow visitor’s day at the museum. 

In addition to wonderful displays on the natural resources of the Chesapeake Bay, the Calvert Marine Museum does a wonderful job of relating the history of Solomons Island.  In 1865 Isaac Solomon purchased what was then known as Sandy Island near the mouth of the Patuxent River and proceeded to assemble an oyster fleet and to build a cannery and a shipyard.  His dream of building an oyster empire crumbled ten years later when creditors forced him to sell his island.  It was left to other entrepreneurs to turn Solomons Island into one of Maryland’s commercial hubs of boatbuilding and seafood harvesting.  It is amazing to realize the huge impact that the small oyster had on so many communities along the Chesapeake Bay!

Drum Point Light at Calvert Marine Museum

The wind on the bay had calmed down (for awhile anyway) so we pulled up anchor on Sunday morning.  Heading due east into the bright morning sun made it difficult to distinguish a crab pot marker from a floating seagull so we made our way cautiously back to the Chesapeake Bay where beautiful calm waters awaited us.  Our fifty mile cruise to Pitman Cove near Kilmarnock was smooth and uneventful.  NOAA was again forecasting winds gusting in excess of 30 knots for the remainder of the afternoon and overnight so we let out plenty of chain when we dropped anchor for the day in what we thought would be a well-protected cove.  Were we ever wrong!!

The gusty southwest winds started blowing at 9PM and our anchorage gave us little protection.  We set the anchor alarm but unfortunately it cannot be heard from inside the boat – one of those seemingly minor flaws that was to be remedied before we left Portsmouth in June. Fearing that we would drag anchor, Frank remained at the upper helm all night long vigilantly watching our position.    Luckily we did not have a repeat of our Atlantic City anchor dragging! By 8:30 in the morning there was just a slight breeze and the water was as smooth as glass.  On very little sleep, we pulled up anchor and headed to Portsmouth knowing that we would really appreciate being tied securely in our slip on ‘B’ dock that night!

As we approached Thimble Shoal the familiar naval and commercial chatter came over the VHF.  Outgoing Warship 60 requested that all traffic keep their distance; the Coast Guard informed all that they were repairing buoy 18 on the Elizabeth River.  The navy shipyard and the cranes of the marine terminals were welcome sights.

 

USCG prepares to relaunch buoy 18 on the Elizabeth River

 On Monday, October 17^th, after spending 124 days ‘at sea’ and cruising over 1,500 miles we tossed Lazy W’s lines to the smiling dockhand waiting for us at Ocean Marine Yacht Center’s slip B27.  Rod welcomed us back and filled us in on all the news.  It was good to be back home...

We love Baltimore!

We love Baltimore!  It has been almost 4 weeks since we nosed Lazy W into her slip at Anchorage Marina’s ‘C’ dock and we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  Any boater would appreciate the marina’s ideal location on Boston Street in Canton – a well-stocked Safeway is directly across the street as is the Coldstone Creamery; West Marine is two short blocks to the southeast.  There are plenty of small saloons and a variety of dining establishments hosting well-attended happy hours all within walking distance – we have made a concerted effort to stop in at many of them.  All the while, Natty Boh, the mascot of National Bohemian Beer, watches over us.

 Natty Boh peers down O'Donnell Street

In 1785 Captain John O’Donnell, a merchant seaman, brought his first shipload of Chinese goods to Baltimore.  He bought some land for a plantation here and named it Canton after the Chinese port that brought him wealth.  The 1800’s brought an influx of Irish and Polish immigrants who sought work in the many factories, canneries, shipyards and breweries that had sprung up in the area.  What were once factories are now condominiums, apartments, artists’ studios, offices, eateries and shops.

The old American Can Company site has been transformed into this...

...thriving retail center along Boston Street in Canton

Bo Brooks on the Canton waterfront

In 1869 this was the site of the  J.S. Young Licorice Factory.  A smokestack built in 1883, converted into a working lighthouse, serves as a landmark and namesake for Lighthouse Point, a small shopping center on Boston Street anchored by Baltimore Marine Center and Bo Brooks Restaurant.  On football game days, Bo Brooks serves 50¢ Yeunglings and cheap oysters with a great water view!

The ‘Friday After Five’ promotion at the National Aquarium features deeply discounted $8 admission tickets, so one rainy Friday we boarded an MTA bus in Canton for the ride to the Inner Harbor.  What should have been a ten or fifteen minute ride turned into an hour-and-a-half odyssey as the bus literally inched its way along the congested, rain-soaked streets. Yet we remained undeterred as we sloshed our way from the bus stop on Market Place toward the Pratt Street aquarium entrance.  The rainy weather actually worked to our advantage as it kept the crowds at bay allowing us to leisurely peruse the exhibits within both aquarium pavilions.

 Australian freshwater crocodile relaxes at the National Aquarium

Upside down jellies at the Jellies Invasion exhibit at the National Aquarium

Tuesday’s are Ollie’s Night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards – upper reserve seats for just $9.  So off we went (with 22,000 other fans) to watch the Orioles take on the Boston Red Sox.  While the game did not mean much to the AL East last-place Orioles, the Red Sox were in a wild-card dead heat with the Tampa Bay Rays who were simultaneously playing the New York Yankees.  As a result, there were plenty of vocal Boston fans in attendance.  The game turned out to be the most exciting baseball game I have ever attended.  The outcome was held in the balance until the very last out in the ninth inning.  The Orioles, fighters until the end, left the game-tying run on second base as Adam Jones grounded out.  Red Sox 8 – Orioles 7.  And since the Rays beat the Yankees, the wild card race was still undetermined!  But the following evening the Orioles proved to be the spoilers as they beat the Red Sox (4-3) in another down-to-the-wire finish!  It was all The Baltimore Sun could write about the next day, and the next, and the next...

Frank at Oriole Park at Camden Yards

On another ‘Friday After Five’ we unexpectedly came across the USCG Eagle docked at the Inner Harbor.  While we had seen the Eagle on many other occasions at many other ports, we had never been aboard.  Cadets heartily invited all comers to take a tour and we did.

We watched the Buffalo Bills lose to the Cincinnati Bengals at Finnegan’s Wake in Canton with avid Bills fans Jim and Mary Anne Lancaster before making our way over to the tailgate party at the Ravens M&T Stadium.  A light rain and unseasonably cool temps in the 40’s – kept the crowd away.  But later on the streets around the Inner Harbor were filled with purple-shirted Ravens fans making their way to the stadium for an 8:20 kickoff.  Baltimore teams were on a winning streak: Ravens 34 – Jets 17.

The biggest tourist draw of October in Fell’s Point is the annual outdoor street festival.  The Fell’s Point Fun Festival was started 45 years ago by The Preservation Society as a way to raise funds and draw attention to Fell's Point when the area was slated for demolition due to the proposed extension of I-95 across the Inner Harbor. Had the Preservation Society not been successful in its ten year "road fight," the highway would have demolished the Federal Hill and Fell's Point communities.  Senator Barbara Mikulski played a key role in organizing these communities to rally against the roadway project and eventually both were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fell's Point became a National Register Historic District in 1969 and Federal Hill in 1970.

After weeks of rain, clouds and generally miserable weather that felt as if we were in Seattle instead of Baltimore, the sun came out and we made the best of it.  Long walks along the waterfront Promenade and a guided tour of Fell’s Point with an urban ranger were just the ticket for boaters cooped up on Lazy W for too long.  Our tour guide led us along the historic streets paved with thick Belgian blocks, the former ballast of the many early trans-Atlantic sailing vessels that visited the bustling waterfront piers of this maritime community.  Stories were told of the important role that the local shipbuilders and privateers played in the American Revolution and the War of 1812.  The informative stroll made us very appreciative of the Preservation Society’s successful fight to save Fell’s Point.

This mural at the corner of Fleet Street and Broadway depicts the history of Fell’s Point.  A closer look at the upper right hand corner reveals Senator Mikulski peering out over the scene.

 

While in Baltimore, we enjoyed the company of good friends Rich and Terry Wills (they offered us shelter in Connecticut during Hurricane Irene) and Stu and Carol Wikander (they offered us dockage at their Eastern Shore marina).  Lunch at BOP Pizza in Fell’s Point – great pizza baked in a wood-fired brick oven.

At BOP Pizza in Fell's Point

The Horse You Came In On Saloon

 1626 Thames Street, Fell’s Point

Rumor has it that the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe haunts the upper floors of Baltimore's The Horse You Came In On Saloon, a favorite Poe watering hole and one of the last places he was seen alive.  The saloon also purports to be Baltimore’s oldest continually operated saloon (since 1775) and the only Maryland saloon to exist before, during and after Prohibition.  Of course, we had to stop in with Stu and Carol!

Beautiful weather held out for another weekend and we decided to get a jump on the bicentennial of the War of 1812 by paying a visit to the Flag House/Star-Spangled Banner Museum and Fort McHenry.  Tours of both historic sites highlighted the pivotal role that Baltimore played in this war.

The Flag House/Star-Spangled Banner Museum is located at the home of Mary Young Pickersgill, the seamstress who sewed the 30’ X 42’ flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814.  Her small home was not nearly large enough for her to work on the huge flag so she sewed the pieces in her home but assembled it on the floor of the brewery across the street.  This daunting task was completed in just over six weeks!

 A full-size depiction of the flag sewn by Mary Pickersgill

on the facade of the Star-Spangled Banner Museum.

Notice that it has 15 stars and 15 stripes.

The huge flag was commissioned by Major George Armistead who wanted Fort McHenry’s flag to be large enough “that the British will have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.”  He wanted the stars to be two feet from point to point and the stripes to be two feet wide.  At that time in U.S. history there was no uniform flag code and the flag had the same number of stars and stripes as states in the union – fifteen. (It was not until 1818 that an act was passed providing for thirteen stripes and one star for each state of the union.)  Ironically, the flag was made from British bunting! 

The flag sewn by Mary Pickersgill was forever immortalized by Francis Scott Key who penned the poem, Defense of Fort Mc Henry, after witnessing the unsuccessful British assault on the fort. His relief at seeing the flag still flying over Fort McHenry after 25 hours of bombardment is evident in the words he wrote.  His poem, now known as The Star-Spangled Banner, became our national anthem in 1931.  Ironically, the poem is sung to the tune of a British drinking song of the Anacreontic Club of London, a group of wealthy men who met to celebrate music, food and drink! 

Just when we thought we had done enough sightseeing in Baltimore and were ready to head back to Portsmouth, we realized that the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race is next weekend.  Frank was involved with the volunteer committee on the Portsmouth finish line end of the race for the past two years and now the schooners are due to arrive in Baltimore by noon on Wednesday, October 12^th.  We may have to stick around and join in some of the fundraising activities scheduled in Canton for Tuesday night...