Nothing like starting with a generality, which is nothing
more than that (and most likely not original with the Feeder, who sometimes misses the
nose on his face) I’ve always thought that St. Mary’s county is a funny
place. Could be two counties: North St. Mary’s County, and South St. Mary’s
County. North of Great Mills or maybe Hermanville Roads.
North seems to be hell bent on full scale “development”
which has been euphemistically called “controlled”. Yeah you bet.
Chain restaurants by the score (although there may be some pandemic
casualties like Fridays and Pier One), motels, mass housing, all sorts of
businesses, Waldorf-ization continues.
But, once you get south of Hermanville Road on Route 5, it’s
like entering a different county say even country. Rather than neons, old fashioned stuff for outdoors
things to do
No high rises, no chain restaurants; some reminders of “used to be’s”
such as Spinnaker's which has long been gone from the scene, but a few
iconic legendary places have survived
An old companion of Courtney’s, nee Scheible's Crabpot Restaurant long shuttered is
trying to rise again to become a “fine dining” destination
Effort continues with much activity
The once home of Trinity Manor of 1634, has been turned into an upscale B&B plus winery
outlet
But generally it remains rural
There are peaceful little marinas on the creeks
harboring a few local residents
And the creeks provide the opportunity for “aquaculture” for
crabs
And Oysters
Many double wides exist with typical SMD front yards
So if you want to get away from the “modern” Pax River and
journey a bit back through time, a trip south is rewarding.
History
And (clever Feeder writer that I am) “back in time” provides
a segue to something that has been running around my brain for a bit. A reminder also existed on the way “down
south” with the reminder of colonial St. Mary’s City
The so called “Birthplace of Toleration” as the Calverts established
a colony where you could worship as you please without intervention from the “The
State” (a la England at the time).
Anyway alert readers will know that both MFO and I have been
involved in “history” since coming here.
We both have a love and respect for the past and the events that shaped our
country. Today, that country is
undergoing a major upheaval over police violence and brutality towards African
Americans, something that I hope brings real change in our society. But it has also spawned a mentality that anything
associated with any part of history of the "South" is racist and should be
removed (statues, plaques, etc.). I do
not believe you can expunge or should ignore a portion of our history just by
eliminating anything to do with the events of Civil War times. Any amount of removal of statues and so forth
will not change what actually happened. It did. Kind of
like pretending the Holocaust did not exist if we don’t talk about it. I
suppose there are those who would not agree, but I think confronting and
discussing those events will do more to eliminate that behavior rather than
closing our eyes and labeling anything to do with that period as racist, and
that’s it. Locally Sotterley Plantation (historically
slave owners) has taken the “let’s learn from this” approach.
It troubles me that young kids might grow up asking “Hey
mom! who was this Robert E. Lee guy?” and being told “hush junior! we don’t
talk about him, he never really existed”. Like anything else there is a whole spectrum
of opinions on this subject, but that is the Feeder’s. Thank you for listening.
And soon with the Phase 4,836, 723 of emergence from the
pandemic, soon it might be time to say:
DFD again!
DFD again!
