The "Easter at the Bay" Story

It was an ordinary day. And ... a belated Happy Easter to everyone. Carol and I celebrated Easter early with our family. Our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters were traveling during Easter Sunday, so we celebrated Easter with a meal and egg hunt three weeks ago. For the first time in as long as we can remember, we had nothing to do on Easter Sunday, so after our 8:00 AM church service at St. James Episcopal Church, we changed and headed to the Chesapeake Bay for dinner. We had made these arrangements about a month ago and had planned to take ouryoungest son, Tad, with us as well as our friends Pat and Dale K. I called one of our favorites in Chesapeake City, Maryland, the Bayard House Restaurant, and made reservations for 1:00 PM. All was set! Well, middle of the week Tad called and said he was going to have lunch with a friend that was moving out of the area and had forgotten to tell us. On the phone to the Bayard House to change the reservation to 4 people. Then Saturday evening Pat called and said that Dale was in the hospital. He was helping others get a tree off a truck and somehow he fell on his chest and the balled tree fell on top of him. Ruptured his adrenal gland that sits on top of your kidney and it was hemorrhaging. Quick trip to the emergency room and they had to keep him overnight to make sure that the bleeding didn't start again. An evening call to the Bayard House to change it to 2 people. Beautiful Easter service with fantastic weather in the 80s. The meal was fabulous. The Filet and Crab Cake Combo topped with caviar for Carol and the Stuffed Anaheim Peppers for me. Semi-spicy long narrow peppers stuffed with shrimp, scallops and crab in a lobster sauce. Both had scalloped potatoes and asparagus as veggies. Chesapeake City was founded in 1839. It had been called "The Village of Bohemia" which dates back to 1764. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal passes through the middle of Chesapeake City. The Bayard House is considered to be the oldest building in Chesapeake City, having been founded in the 1780s. Over the years it had been a hotel, inn, tavern, general store and restaurant. In 1985 the Bayard House was restored as well as the basement Hole-in-the-Wall Lounge. Called the Hole-in-the-Wall because the original building had a basement hole in the wall where drinks were passed through. Today we ate in the lower level, right next to the Hole-in the-Wall Lounge and it's historic bar. Neat place! This was not our traditional Eater, but none the less, an enjoyable day. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are: Bayard House as it appeared as a general store, photo as it appears today with the Hole-in-the-Wall Lounge under the flag of Maryland, lower level eating area where we dined on Easter, and the overall view of the Bayard House with the C & D Canal and bridge in the background. PPS - Dale is doing much better!