ONTO OXFORD

The town of Oxford was our next destination. Laurie set the GPS to the address of the Oxford Museum, located at 100 S. Morris Street.  Morris Street is one of the main strips.  Coming from St. Michaels it would be easy to take the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry.  The problem is that the GPS did not know that the ferry was not operating.  We had to go alongside Easton and then find route 333 taking us onto Morris Street.

They had to find a place to store a collection of more than 2,500 artifacts, but not all are on display as the exhibits run a gamut of cultural, historic and economic evolution of Oxford.  This town is one of the country's earliest colonial ports through the American Revolution, the Civil War, days of the railroads, oysters and watermen.  More info is available through their literature and website www.oxfordmuseum.org

 

The rubber chickens must have been there as I found a photo of them posing with Executive Director, Ellen Anderson and one of many volunteers.

Sunday Brunch at Latitude 38 Bistro and Spirits.  We met owner Wendy Palmer.  Love the wood decor and paintings in this restaurant and more so, the food.  Slices of perfectly soft and cinnamon-sugar topped coffee cake are placed on the table, rather than bread. They make their own fresh lemonade and being a brunch, I had to try the Bloody Mary that is rimmed topped with Old Bay seasoning.

I ordered the Tuscan Spinach Salad topped with grilled shrimp, grilled vegetables, shaved parmesan, with grilled Naan bread and a basil vinaigrette.

Rather than the traditional Eggs Benedict I opted for the Crispy Fried Oyster Benedict with poached eggs and a creamy Hollandaise that came with slices of melon and hashed red potatoes.

Laurie chose the Crispy Fried Oysters on a large Caesar Salad.

Mystery Loves Company is the name of a bookstore selling mostly mystery books.  Kathy Harig is the owner of this most charming store that has a history of being a bank.  In fact, the safe is still there. They offer books on the Eastern Shore's history, fiction for all ages, and of course, mystery.  You'll find both new and gently used books including new authors. 

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Check out Sister In Crime, an organization to promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry.

I don't just scream for ice cream especially when finding a local creamery and hand made.  This one is called Scottish Highland Creamery, located on Tilghman Street, next to a boat launch.  Victor Barlow grew up in Scotland and lived above an Italian ice cream parlor.  That's where he worked and learned how to make both ice cream and gelato. Victor and is wife Susan run this ice cream-to-go venue that has some outdoor seating. 

Although they have about 600 flavors, only about a dozen are presented for hand scooping and some uncommon flavors. I couldn't decide on one flavor so I had: Chocolate Cherry Muffin, Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint, Double Belgian Chocolate and Strawberry Sorbet gelato.

People tend to walk their dogs and treat them to ice cream.  I don't blame them as although dogs don't seem to have a problem eating "anything", a special ice cream is set aside for dogs using soy milk. 

As if we didn't have enough to eat Afternoon Tea was a treat at Robert Morris Inn that holds a long history and why the main street of Oxford is named after him.  Although it might be historically of interest to many, I was most interested in the "Tea".  We chose the Celebration Tea so that I might taste it all.  It consisted of three tiers at which the bottom held "tea sandwiches" of: egg salad with arugula; smoked salmon with lemon and cucumber; and roast beef with horseradish, lettuce and tomato.  The middle layer had cookies, scones, house-made Smith Island cake, meringue filled with Chantilly cream. The top layer held the whipped cream, lemon curd and strawberry preserves to pair with the scones.  As for the tea, I was surprised to see a selection of tea bags. Due to tea being offered to guests of the inn during the afternoon they cannot accommodate the use of loose tea and the pots that they are brewed in.  There is a private room used for this Afternoon Tea vs where the guests are having tea and scones.

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