Once home to a bustling lumber port, the timber-loaded barges of yesteryear have now been replaced by fishing craft, sailing boats and motor-powered runabouts, leaving the dock to explore the winding inlets, coves and bays that surround the city. From here you will explore La Trappe Creek, where you can fish for channel catfish, Spanish Mackerel or striped bass, spy blue herons, cormorants and black-bellied whistling ducks, or simply take it easy to soak up the picturesque and peaceful surrounds. Head further out onto the Choptank River to fish for flounder, or traverse beyond the iconic Sharps Island Lighthouse to pick up the breeze on Chesapeake Bay itself, arguably America’s premier sailing destination.
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The main marina facility close to town is the Dickerson Harbor Boatyard, located on a cove at the uppermost point of La Trappe Creek. This full-service facility, based at an old boat-building yard, offers 25 floating wet-slips, linear dock space and 100 dry storage lots, 50 of which are covered. For a more budget-conscious alternative in this area take the side-road from the Harbor down to Trappe Landing public boat-ramp for direct access onto the water, or head to the Windyhill public boat-ramp to spill out onto the Choptank River near oyster beds and blue crab feeding grounds. Also located in town is the impressive Ferry Point Marina, a full-service destination in an artificial harbor that sits in the shadow of the imposing Choptank River Bridge, a 1.6-mile-long feat of civil engineering. At this marina you can expect 112 wet-slips, boat-lifts, refueling and repair options, a marine store and a popular on-site seafood restaurant, TL Morris, that is famed for its fresh crab dishes. Head a bit further afield to discover five more full-service marinas in nearby Oxford, where a few hundred slips and close access to Chesapeake await. Alternatively, cross the Choptank to explore colonial Cambridge, an historic town famed for its links to Harriet Tubman, where you will find a range of marinas including the Cambridge Yacht Basin, the area’s largest with 246 wet-slips.
Trappe has had a vibrant boat-building sector for the best part of a century, and was home to the legendary brand Dickerson Yachts until the firm’s dissolution in 1987. Manufacturers of distinctive mahogany-framed, two-masted ketch sailboats, Dickerson models still fetch a handsome price on the used market to this day thanks to their sublime lines, fine build-quality and vintage appeal. Today Trappe hosts the headquarters for Composite Yachts, a renowned family-owned builder of high-end center-consoles, Downeast-style boats and luxury sportfishers with fiberglass hulls and a classic finish.
