Cambridge, Maryland is on the state’s Eastern Shore in Dorchester County. On a quick weekend trip to the town, I loosely planned out some activities – this isn’t a place to be in a rush. Here are a few ways to spend a weekend escape in Cambridge.
Downtown Cambridge is small and quaint, with brick streets and beautiful architecture that combines Southern charm and a British colonial past. It’s the kind of place you can tell has a lot of history behind it even if you know nothing about it.
The Cambridge area is most known as the place where Harriet Tubman grew up enslaved and, after freeing herself, returned multiple times to free her extended family via the Underground Railroad. On Cambridge’s main street, we stopped into the Harriet Tubman museum before finding a place to eat.
Where to eat
I had lunch at Jimmie and Sook’s, which I highly recommend for seafood. The pan-seared rockfish and some oysters were delicious, all locally caught. I don’t usually order white fish at restaurants because chances are it will be flavorless, but that wasn’t the case. The oysters were huge, not too salty, and also very fresh. After lunch, I headed across the street to Katie Mae’s Country Shoppe for some farm fresh ice cream.
Walking ghost tour
The itinerary for the weekend included a lot of history. I signed up for a ghost tour with Chesapeake Ghosts. The tour led us along a portion of High Street in downtown Cambridge which contains a lot of history for just one block. Our guide, Missy, started at the courthouse and gave us a bit of history along with the ghost story of Bloody Henny, an enslaved woman who was hanged there.
The group then walked along High Street towards the Choptank River. Missy told us ghost stories mixed with history of the historic mansions and their previous residents.
My personal favorite is the story of the LeCompte Curse. The British granted Antoine LeCompte land along the Choptank River, but the Choptank tribe lived on the land and would not leave. So LeCompte invited the chief to his home and the chief brought his two sons. The chief still refused to leave the land, so LeCompte became angry and shot and killed the chief and his sons. The story goes that the tribe cursed LeCompte with blindness since he was blind to the ways of peace. Generations of LeCompte men up until today have developed blindness and it is believed that the curse is responsible.
The tour ended at the Christ Episcopal Church graveyard, across the street from the courthouse.
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
I spent the majority of the weekend visiting stops along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. This is a self-guided driving tour that takes you to locations significant to the life of Harriet Tubman and others involved. The courthouse and Harriet Tubman museum in downtown Cambridge are two of the first stops. Read about my full Harriet Tubman UGRR experience and see photos in my previous post.
Layton’s Chance Vineyard
After an amazing trip to the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge (more detail on this in my Harriet Tubman UGRR post), I headed to Layton’s Chance Vineyard in the nearby town of Vienna. It was the right choice because they had wine slushies which were perfect for the stifling July heat.
The vineyard offers a flight of five wines for only $3 and a flight of all wines for $12. The lounge chairs that look out onto the vineyard are the perfect place to sit back and relax with a glass of wine.
Cambridge and the surrounding area is an easy, relaxed place for a weekend getaway. There’s enough to do in a weekend, but not so much that you become overwhelmed. The scenery is beautiful, the people are friendly, and history is everywhere.
Would you go on a relaxing weekend escape in Cambridge?
If you liked this, check these out:
Harriet Tubman UGRR Byway: How to Take a Powerful Black History Road Trip
Getaway House: Relax & Refresh in a Tiny Cabin
8 Ways to Escape to Nature in Baltimore, Maryland
How to Practice Self-Care with a Beach Escape: Fenwick Island, Delaware
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