The Chesapeake Bay
The Tred Avon River contains a high percentage of the most popular anchorages on the Choptank River.
The two primary marks for the entrance to Tred Avon are the Choptank River Light which is a spider located about 2 nm south of the river entrance and the Tred Avon River #1 light on Benoni Pt. Off Oxford there is an open anchorage in the Tred Avon between the #2 buoy and the entrance to Town Creek. This is acceptable for a late night arrival, but I would never want to stay here during the day. The constant power boat traffic on the river makes this a Rock & Roll anchorage.
Town Creek, the Oxford town harbor, is also a popular anchorage. For years we always anchored off Crockett's Boatyard in Town Creek. It afforded a short dinghy ride (normally rowing) to get ashore. However the holding ground in the harbor is both poor and debris-strewn. It seemed we always dragged anchor in a thunderstorm or found our anchor fouled by debris on the bottom (once it was a carpet roll). Finally we gave in and no longer anchor overnight in Town Creek.
Immediately across the river, and due north of the Town Creek entrance is Plaindealing Creek with 10' of depth. Further up the river is Trippe Creek which offers a large, but well protected anchorage.
 This is Plaindealing Creek straight
across the Tred Avon from the entrance to Oxford Town Creek. This
looking south from the anchorage to the mouth of the creek and the Tred Avon. |
 On a different weekend Prelude
(Jeaneau 47) and Vela Llena (Columbia 8.7) are rafted together in
Plaindealing Creek, getting ready for the dinghy ride across the Tred Avon
to Oxford. |
 Entering Oxford Town Creek in our
dinghies. Several of the dinghy docks in Oxford charge for a tie-up,
or insist you can only tie-up while you are using their establishment.
At this time (1997) Crockett Brothers Boatyard made neither demand. Consequently we always tied
our dinghies to their dock and we always made at least one purchase at their
store (not a difficult obligation). In general we do not patronize
those other establishments that are not "dinghy-friendly".Sometime after this cruise to Oxford the Crockett Brothers Boatyard was sold and is now owned and operated by Hinkley. I have not been back to Oxford since that change and I do not know if the Hinkley facility is as welcoming to cruisers as Crockett was. |
 The town park on the shores of the
Tred Avon is a good place to get out of the sun and relax after hiking
around the town. |
 This is FOTO, which used to belong to
the principal yacht photographer on the east coast. I believe it is
currently owned by the proprietor of the Cutts & Case Boatyard and has been
beautifully restored and maintained by that yard. It was featured in
the Wooden Boat calendar a few years back.Crockett's Boatyard (Hinkley now) is to the left and Cutts & Case is to the right. |
 Oxford has several excellent upscale
restaurants, but for Gyros and steamed clams there was no better place than
the Pier St. Restaurant. One of the major attractions of the
restaurant, other than the plain food, was the domesticated Rock Fish that
feed on food scraps thrown by customers into the Tred Avon River. A
good way to get thrown out of this facility was to show up with a fishing
pole and try to catch one of those Rockfish. I saw a teenager, off a
boat tied up to the restaurant pier, catch one and in an instant the manager
was in his face and the fish was quickly returned to the Tred Avon.Recently(2008) I was told that the Pier St. Restaurant was sold and has completely changed the menu and it's style. I don't know if the Rockfish entertainment is included in the new restaurant style. |
 Sunrise over the town of Oxford as we
head down the Tred Avon on our return to the Patuxent River. |