North East

March 14-15

We arrived home in the Northeast sometime Friday afternoon. But we spent Thursday night in North East, which is technically in the South—in Maryland.

We got to the Best Western before the room was ready, so we drove downtown for a stroll on Main Street. 

It’s a charming old town dating back to the early 18th century. There are buildings of all ages, but most are probably from late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has much the same feel as New Hope, Pa., or Brattleboro, Vt. 

A lot of people live there. Main Street has a large number of private homes, including many two-family attached houses.

But the center of town has gone gentrified commercial, with mid- to upscale boutiques and antique shops. I’m sure plenty of tourists stop here. There are at least a half dozen motels for them around town.

But when you go in, the exchanges between shopkeepers and shoppers sounds like much of the clientele consists of locals, or at least regulars.

One of the highlights of the walk was the old brick church, St. Mary Anne’s. The parish was established in 1706 and the building dates to the 1740s. 

According to Wikipedia, it was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The “Anne” was added later, to acknowledge a bequest from Queen Anne of England, who died in 1714.

The bell tower in front apparently isn’t original. A stone plaque above the door says a parishioner donated it in the early 1900s in memory of his father.

The town has very good restaurants for its size. There are several I have yet to try. 

I’ve been to Woody’s Crab House, but prefer Steak and Main. My sister Jamy and brother-in-law Bob introduced me to the place. We sometimes met there when I was on my way south and they lived on the other side of the Susquehanna in Havre de Grace. 

This time Joanna had short ribs, and I went for lamb chops.

Both came with the most interesting Brussels sprouts I’ve ever encountered. Mine were mixed with orange marmalade, pecan honey glaze, and bliss potatoes. Joanna had the house Brussels sprouts, minus the marmalade and glaze, and still exceptionally good.

I had dinner with a couple of glasses of a fine pinot noir. Dinner was pricey, but worth every cent. 

We left Friday morning around 11. We made a brief stop at the Woodrow Wilson rest area on the New Jersey Turnpike, where we had a snack outside by the car. 

The sun was out, but a storm wasn’t too far away, I guess. It was like trying to eat in one of those prairie winds out west. 

Having been away for two months, we knew there wasn’t much to eat at the house, so we took a detour to East Hanover to our favorite Chinese grocery store, Kam Man on Route 10, and then swung by Esposito’s Deli on Ridgedale Ave.

I’m going to be making Godfather sauce in a few days. I needed my ground meat and my sausages.

We reached Joanna’s house around 3 in the afternoon.

We had great Chinese for the first time in weeks—steamed striped bass, bok choi, and rice. It felt great to use chopsticks again.

Happy trails, gang, and be well, all.

Harry