St. Michaels is a town in Talbot County, along the Miles River, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The population is around 1,200.
The town was laid out in 1770 and was named for the rural Episcopalian church that was founded here in 1677. Saint Michaels developed early on as a shipbuilding town, and it was because Saint Michaels built fast ships that could evade blockades that the British attempted to attack the community. However, the British did not destroy the shipyards from their vessels. A story emerged that the townspeople fooled the British by placing lanterns in the trees beyond the town, thus causing them to fire mainly into the countryside.
After the War of 1812, the oyster industry took hold in Saint Michaels, with oystermen setting out from the town and shucking houses being located in the town. The community also saw some tourism from people from Baltimore escaping the heat for a day, or summer houses along the water. Tourism became the dominant industry in the mid-1900s at around the time that the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum opened.
The Higgins, Dodson, and Eagle Houses, at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum on Navy Point. The Higgins House was built in 1856, the Dodson House was built in 1851, and the Eagle House was built in 1893.
The Hooper Strait Lighthouse, on the grouds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
The lighthouse was built in 1879 and originally sat in Hooper Strait, at the entrance to Tangier Sound in Dorchester County to the south. The screw-pile lighthouse was automated and then abandoned in 1954. In 1966, the light was facing scrapping, but was transported to the new Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum instead.
Houses on Talbot Street, the main street through Saint Michaels.
The Pinkett House, on Mill Street. The house was built in 1852.
A restaurant on Talbot Street.
A bed and breakfast on Talbot Street.
Businesses on Talbot Street.
A grocery store on Talbot Street.
Buildings on Talbot Street.
Businesses on Talbot Street.
Houses on Talbot Street.
Buildings on Talbot Street.
Businesses on Talbot Street.
St. Luke's Methodist Church, on Talbot Street.
The church was built in 1871.
The Keithley House, on Mulberry Street. The house was built in 1825.
The Sparks House, on Mulberry Street. The house was built in 1880.
A house on Green Street from across Church Cove.
The scene of Church Cove from Church Cove Park.
Houses on Green Street. The Bruff House, in the center, was built in the first decade of the 1800s.
The Wickersham House, on Locust Street. The house was built in 1750.
Houses on Locust Street. The Melson House, built in 1840, is on the left, and the Blades House, built in 1850, is on the right.
Looking down Locust Street at a house on Cherry Street.
The Tarr House, on Green Street. The house is claimed to have been built in 1667, but evidence suggests that it was built in 1808.
Houses on Chestnut Street.
A house on Chestnut Street.
Buildings of the St. Michaels Museum, on St. Mary's Square. On the left is the Chaney House, built in 1850 by three Free Blacks who were brothers. In the middle is the Jeremiah Sewell House, built in 1865 for a waterman.
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