The J. Millard Tawes Historical Museum, Somers Cove Marina, 3 Ninth St. (tel. 410/968-2501; www.crisfieldheritagefoundation.org), was founded in 1982 to honor the Crisfield-born former governor of Maryland. Exhibits detail the town's history as well as its boat-building and seafood industries. It's open year-round, Monday through Saturday, from 9am to 5pm. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 12. This is also the starting point for the Port of Crisfield Escorted Walking Tour, offered from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Monday through Saturday at 10am. The tour around town and through the crab-packing plant reveals a lot about the town and seafood lovers around the world.
Since you are in this part of the Eastern Shore anyway, take a detour to Princess Anne, a small country town on the National Register of Historic Places about 15 miles north of Crisfield on U.S. Route 13. The town's many historic homes here are privately owned, except for the grand neoclassical Teackle Mansion, 11736 Mansion St. (tel. 410/651-2238; http://teackle.mansion.museum). It was built in 1801 by Littleton Dennis Teackle, a shipping magnate and an associate of Thomas Jefferson. It's open for guided tours April through mid-December, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1 to 3pm; and mid-December through March, Sunday from 1 to 3pm. Inside, you'll see elaborate plaster ceilings, a 7-foot fireplace, a beehive oven, American Chippendale furniture, a Tudor-Gothic pipe organ, and an 1806 silk world map. Admission is $5 for adults, free for ages under 12.
Wildfowl Counterfeiters in Wood -- Walk inside the two-room shack where Lem and Steve Ward fashioned their 25,000 world-famous waterfowl decoys and you'll swear they've just stepped out for a moment. Lovingly restored by real fans, The Ward Brothers Workshop is outfitted with the carvers' tools and paints. Sawdust covers the floors; cigarettes sit in the ashtrays, and notes the men scribbled on the rough walls have been carefully preserved. A comprehensive story emerges of two "wildfowl counterfeiters in wood," as they called themselves, who were all in all country gentlemen and humble artists. To visit, you must make an appointment. Call the Crisfield visitor center at tel. 410/968-2501.
