Places to visit in Maryland

Annual Events in and Around Crisfield

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Are you thinking of moving to Crisfield and wondering what the town has to offer? Are you a new resident of the town looking for things to do? Are you thinking of planning a trip to Crisfield and are looking for the perfect weekend to visit? You’re in luck! Crisfield offers a ton of great local events that celebrate Crisfield’s heritage, community, and seafood culture. So what are you waiting for? Plan a trip to Crisfield and visit one of these great events!

Somerset Strawberry Festival. If Crisfield is the “Seafood Capital of the World,” nearby Marion Station is the “Strawberry Capital of the World.” While Marion Station is no longer producing strawberries like it did back in the early part of the century, the town hasn’t forgotten the produce that built their town. What better way to kick off summer than with a festival dedicated to one of summer’s most iconic fruits? The Somerset Strawberry Festival takes place in May every year. Events include a Little Miss & Mr. Strawberry Festival Pageant, the Strawberry Strut 5K, Strawberry Jam & Jelly contests, and the Strawberry Festival Parade.
Freedom Fest. The Freedom Fest is an Independence Day celebration that features food, fireworks, and fun that costs only $5 for regular admission. Veterans get in free.
National Hard Crab Derby. Arguably one of Crisfield’s most famous events, the National Hard Crab Derby is a four-day crab extravaganza in early September. Visitors come from all over the world to celebrate one of the sea animals that made Crisfield famous: the Maryland blue crab. Events include a carnival, a Crab Cooking Contest, live entertainment, a 10K race, a parade, skiff races, and arm wrestling contests. Major events include the Crab Picking Contest, the Governor’s Cup Race, the Boat Docking Contest, and the National Hard Crab Derby Race. The Hard Crab Derby Race is exactly what it sounds like: it’s a race where live crabs race. The crabs are all numbered on the back of their shells so participants and race officials can tell which crab has won. It’s a national event!

Brush up on Your History With the Crisfield Heritage Foundation

The Crisfield Heritage Foundation provides a number of services to the historic city of Crisfield. The Heritage Foundation is dedicated to preserving Crisfield’s heritage and educating the public about Crisfield’s heritage. It also provides tourists with local information and services. The Crisfield Heritage Foundation invites tourists to come explore “the best kept secret of the Chesapeake.”

One of the forefront attractions in the city of Crisfield is the J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum. The foundation runs this museum and invites people to use the museum as a “starting point” in order to learn about Crisfield. The museum showcases the Maryland Lower Shore’s history. The J. Millard Tawes Museum features exhibits on topics like the origins of the Chesapeake Bay and the Native Americans of the region and how they interacted and impacted the area’s colonists. Exhibits on seafood harvesting and processing can be found within the museum’s walls, along with Crisfield’s long and impressive history as the “Seafood Capital of the World.” Museum visitors can explore exhibits about decoy carving and painting. One of the J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum’s newest exhibits is a “Shanty” exhibit. Museum visitors can experience the crab shanty of a working waterman. The museum has a low admission price of only three dollars, with children between the ages of 6 to 12 paying one dollar. Children under 6 are free. Find the J. Millard Tawes museum on the Somers Cove Marina waterfront.

In addition to being a link to Crisfield’s past, the museum is also the starting point for Crisfield’s walking tour, The Port of Crisfield Walking Tour. A favorite stop on the port-side tour is always the visit to the modern seafood processing facility.

The Crisfield Heritage Foundation also manages three other properties, including the J. Millard Tawes Library and the Ward Brothers Workshop, which are available by appointment only. The Foundation’s newest acquisition is the Cedar Island Marsh Sanctuary, which totals 330 acres and is the home of a plethora of local wildlife. The sanctuary is right by Jenkins Creek, where local watermen work to harvest the seafood that made Crisfield famous.

Filed Under: Crisfield Tagged With: J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum, Maryland, Museum

Changing the way we use Land

The way cities are made up these days is an affront to the effective use of our land. And since the old saying about how they are not making any more land is true, we have to deal with what we already have in as efficient a manner as is humanly possible. The way we use land has gotten very inefficient, because we are so used to having extremely abundant resources. Unfortunately, those resources are only so resilient against the relentless onslaught of our tendency to let our cities sprawl out into the countryside. Urban sprawl hurts our environment in several different ways, and what hurts our environment will ultimately end up hurting us, as well as every other living thing out there.

One problem that spreading out into the suburbs carries with it is that, by definition, people in the suburbs are far away from everything. So they have got to use a lot of gas, just to get back into town. This obviously put a lot of fluorocarbons into the air. And this is not even considering how many animals have to lose their habitats, just so a bunch of identical houses can be dropped out of an assembly line in five different shades of beige. The overall impact of urban sprawl is ultimately devastating to the ecosystem we have to share with all of the other creatures of the Earth.

Of course, it is still possible to correct these kinds of problems, and stop urban sprawl in its tracks. Good property managers, just like good city planners, can help us to use the land that we have far more efficiently than we would have otherwise. Oceanside property management is an example of how, even in established cities, we can change the way that the land is being used, in order to help the environment to be in balance. With a solid balance between humanity and the environment, our world will get better.

Filed Under: Property Management Tagged With: land, Urban area, Urban sprawl

Local Restaurants in Crisfield: The Watermen’s Inn

Ask any Crisfield local and they’ll tell you that one of the of the best places to go in Crisfield is the locally owned The Watermen’s Inn. The restaraunt is owned by Brian Julian and Kathy Berezoski. These two owners and operators have owned The Watermen’s Inn for over 20 years. Julian and Berezoski have owned the restaurant since summer 1988. The two both received Culinary Arts Associate degrees from the Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Berezoski also has an Associate degree in Pastry Arts and a Bachelor’s in Food Service Management.

The Watermen’s Inn prides itself on using fresh and local seafood as well as a variety of other fresh local ingredients. The restaurant offers nightly dinner specials to keep the menu fresh and interesting. The restaurant also offers fresh-made desserts. The restaurant boasts a tap room with a full drink menu.

The restaurant is conveniently located two blocks from the City Dock and Somers Cove Marina. The Watermen’s Inn is located on the corner of 9th and Main and is also close to the J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum. The seafood restaurant is open only from Thursday to Sunday for lunch and dinner except for July and August, when the restaurant is open from Wednesdays to Sundays. The restaurant also serves breakfast on the weekends. The Watermen’s Inn staff recommends that diners make reservations for dinner. The Watermen’s Inn starts lunch at 11:00 on weekdays and it opens for breakfast at 8 AM on weekends.

The Watermen’s Inn also runs an extensive catering service. The staff promises to work with clients in order to create a customized menu. The catering service also delivers. Kathy Berezoski also runs a “Cakes by Kathy” service which provides wedding cakes along with other specialty cake. At the Pocomoke Elks, the Watermen’s Inn is listed on the preferred catering list and the company has catered at many local businesses, hotels, and museums.

Menu favorites include backfin lump crab cakes, crab soup, and the restaurant’s homemade desserts. Locals always recommend to get the daily special for a true treat.

Filed Under: Crisfield Tagged With: Crisfield Maryland, J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum, Restaurant

Demographics: Who Lives in Crisfield?

Crisfield had 2,723 people at the 2000 census. Of these 2,723 people, there were 1,172 households. 723 of these households were families. Crisfield has a population density of 1,675 people per each square mile. The 1,357 housing units had a density average of 835/square mile. As for ethnicity demographics, the town is 59 percent white, 37 percent African American, .5 percent Asian, .4 percent Native American, and .4 percent Pacific Islander. .4 percent are from other races. 2.68 percent are from two or more than two races. The population is also 1.7 Latino/Hispanic.

Of those 1,172 households in Crisfield, 30.3 percent had children under age 18 living within the household. 33 percent were married couples who lived together. 25 percent were women with no husband in the household. Non-families made up 38 percent. 34 percent of the Crisfield households were comprised of individuals. 19 percent were a single individual over age 65. The average household size in Crisfield is 2.3. The Crisfield average family size falls at 2.9.

As for age demographics, 28 percent of the city is under the age of 18. 8 percent is between the ages of 18 to 24. People aged 25 to 44 make up 24.5 percent of the city. 21 percent of the population is between the ages of 45 to 64. People who were 65 or older make up 18 percent of the city. The average age in Crisfield is 37. There are statistically more women than men in Crisfield, with 75 males for every hundred females. There are 71 males for every hundred females over the age of 18.

The average income for a household in Crisfield is just under $18,000. The average income for a family is just under $24,000. Men in Crisfield make about $10,000 more than their female counterparts, with men making an average income of over $30,000. Women in Crisfield make over $20,500 in average income. Crisfield has a per capita income of $12,387. 35 percent of population is below the poverty line while 30.5 percent of families fall below the poverty line.

Filed Under: Crisfield Tagged With: Crisfield, Crisfield Maryland, Household

The History of Crisfield

Crisfield can trace its inhabitants all the way back to when the Annemessex, part of the Algonquin Nation’s Pocomoke tribe, lived in the area (the Annemessex River takes its name from these native inhabitants). In 1663, a settler from England, Benjamin Summers, came to the area to claim his headright (a common practice in England at the time). Summers claimed a 300-acre stake of land which he called “Emmessex.” Summers would go on to claim another 200 acres, which he named “Musketa Hummock.” These original tracts of land remain within Crisfield. Later, a 100-acre piece of land was patented and named “Little Worth.” The combination of these three initial land claims would eventually be called “Somers Cove.” Somers Cove grew into a large seafood distribution center on the East Coast. The fast-growing Somers Cove had more than 100 buildings by 1804, whereas two similar towns on the peninsula only had 40 and 4.

John W. Crisfield helped bring the Pennsylvania Railroad System’s Eastern Shore Railroad to Somers Cove in 1866. Somers Cove became a city shortly thereafter, in 1872. The town was renamed to honor Crisfield’s efforts in having the railroad connect to the former Somers Cove and boosting its economy through rail traffic. Crisfield was soon called the “Seafood Capital of the World” due to the amount of seafood Crisfield shipped to different parts of the country. The nickname is still used today to describe the city.

Thanks to the flourishing seafood industry, Crisfield was the second largest city in Maryland by 1904, following Baltimore. The town had a population of 25,000, with people coming to Crisfield from all over the country to work in the seafood industry. The town had so many leftover oyster shells from the seafood industry that the shells, along with soot from the rail system, was deposited in salt marshes. The shells and soot formed a peninsula upon which downtown Crisfield was built, leading people to honestly say that the town was built on seafood, or “on top of oyster shells.”

Crisfield is still best known for its seafood to this very day.

Filed Under: Crisfield Tagged With: Crisfield Maryland, Maryland, Seafood

Advertising for a Home Based Childcare Center

So you want to open an at-home childcare. Once you have survived the inspections and have the go ahead to begin operations you may wonder, “what next?” Unlike some businesses, this can be a hard concept to advertise and even harder to get new customers in the door.

First, you will likely want to see if anyone you know is looking for childcare. Just because their children are already enrolled in a day care center doesn’t mean that they aren’t looking for an alternative. Many people would love the opportunity for their children to stay with a trusted family friend than with strangers in a large day care center where they likely won’t get the personal attention that they deserve.

Next, you will want to reach out to “friends of friends.” If you are a member of the PTA at an elementary school, or you children play on any sports teams, this is a great way to find parents that you don’t know well, but know of that may be looking for a new childcare option.

Hopefully by this time you are full, but if not there are other ways to advertise for potential clients without spending a bundle. The social networking sites are a great way to get in touch with those around you. Post about your business on your Facebook profile or on your Twitter account and encourage your friends to share the post with their friends. If everything works like it should, your message should be shared with dozens or hundreds of people that many need your services.

The traditional approach of handing out business cards and flyers or posting a sign in your neighborhood is also a great option. Many people are too busy to go out actively looking for a new daycare, but if they see your advertisement in their mailbox or while they walk around the neighborhood they may consider giving you a call.

Filed Under: Property Management Tagged With: Childcare, Daycare, Facebook

At-Home Childcare Centers – The Inspection

A very popular home based business is that of operating an in-home childcare facility. This idea is very appealing to many potential business owners because it may be something they are doing already. While this can be a very lucrative business, it is one that should not be entered into lightly.

There are many important things that you must consider before you open an in-home childcare business. One of the most important is passing inspections. This goes hand in hand with providing a safe and nurturing atmosphere for the children who will be staying at your home, so this is doubly important.

The inspection process may vary from state to state, but will involve making sure your facility is safe and secure for any children who may enroll with you. There will often be requirements about space, fire escape plans, cleanliness, playground equipment and toys that are left in reach of the children.

The inspection will seem very stressful if you have never been through the process, but in reality, it should be simple. If your childcare center is normally a nice, safe place for children then it should reflect in your inspection. One thing to remember is that the inspectors are not the enemy, they want the same thing you do, a safe childcare facility.

Hopefully you will pass the inspection on your first try. If you do not, don’t get discouraged, simply fix any problems and prepare for the second inspection. You will likely be better prepared this time around and should pass with flying colors. Once the inspection process is over you can breathe easy and get ready for the adventure of childcare. Just make sure you keep all of your safety practices up to date because most states require retesting at least annually if not more often.

Filed Under: Property Management Tagged With: Childcare

Hiring for Your Small Business

Hiring employees for your small business is a task that many owners do not particularly enjoy. It is however something that must be done, and if you choose wisely you will spend much less time training and rehiring in the future.

How do business owners decide which prospective employee is right for to work for them? It’s not as hard as you might think. Before you even interview the first candidate you can often eliminate many candidates simply by reading their job application and resume. If the resume is not written in good English, or the application is so mess you can’t read it, this is not someone you likely want working for your business. You want someone that is ready to put their best foot forward.

Another aspect to consider is availability. If you are hiring for a position that will require a lot of weekend work and the availability on your prospective employee’s application says that they want Saturdays off, they are probably not a good fit.

Once you have a pool of candidates to choose from you can begin interviewing. Do not be tempted to hire any candidate on the spot. You are only cheating yourself by not interviewing all of the potential candidates you have before you make a decision. If the potential employee finds other employment in the meantime, they are likely fickle and may have left your job in a short time anyhow.

Handling the hiring for your business may never be one of your favorite tasks, but there is no reason why it has to be a task you dread either. Using some common sense, and utilizing all of your options will enable the task to go more smoothly and hopefully allow you to find an employee that will be with you for a long time.

Filed Under: Property Management Tagged With: Business, Candidate, Hiring