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A walk through Solomons Island
Friday, Aug. 28, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Solomons Island as seen from the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge.
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Just off the side of Solomons Island Road, across the street from the northern edge of the boardwalk and the Patuxent River, two umbrellas shade three benches in front of Jillian's, a drink stand carved into JJ's Tackle Shop.
Here, the signature offering — among smoothies, ice tea, frozen drinks and snow cones — is icy, uber-sweet lemonade. JJ's, meantime, stocks everything a fishermen needs, from rods and reels to bait and ice and beer. Across the road, one finds Bunky's Boat Rentals, a longtime family business.
"Are you guys local?" asks the woman holding down Jillian's. "Nope, D.C.," I say.
Today, our territory is what one might refer to as Solomons' downtown — everything from here running south to where the boardwalk ends and the road curves around past The Tiki Bar on Solomons Island and runs beside the Patuxent River. Frankly, that means no Calvert Marine Museum, no C.D. Café and The Next Door Lounge, no destinations along Dowell Road. As well, these out-of-towners are not exactly into fishing (or at least not good at it) or boating (unless someone else is driving).
How, then, do they spend several hours in Solomons? For starters, it depends on the time of arrival.
If it is after 5 in the afternoon, or close enough to 5, I vote for The Tiki Bar. Or Calypso Bay Raw Bar across the street. Or Catamarans, with its NFL-flavored upstairs bar and outdoor decks and downstairs restaurant. Or Solomons Pier Restaurant and Lounge, with its always-busy bar on the water. Or, marina-side, Stoney's Kingfishers Seafood House.
Now, though, the hour is more like 3 and my wife, Emily, has wisely put the kibosh on early afternoon cocktails.
We have been here for perhaps two hours, and that is yet another reason we are at Jillian's — sunglasses on as the sun blazes and the breeze offers only a small respite — for a cold drink even children can enjoy.
In the fall, Jillian's will break out a new menu with apple dumplings. For now, though, in the middle of August, it's all about giant snow cones served in cups allowing for a serving comparable to a block of ice.
Still, we could have snagged a cool treat on the boardwalk at Cone Island, a family spot arranged near a playground.
Toward the end of the island, the long dock belonging to the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory juts out into the river. The Calvert Marine Museum's bugeye, the Wm. B. Tennison, heads out for an afternoon cruise.
To the left: the river flowing out to the Chesapeake Bay. To the right, across the river: Patuxent River Naval Air Station. As I've learned on previous visits, Solomons, which once hosted a U.S. Navy amphibious training base, has a serious military history of its own.
In town, one finds churches, not to mention a yacht club and a sailing association. Shoppers will find numerous nautically themed gifts shops as well as an outlet for resort clothes. There are also practical businesses — a dentist's office, even — and it really is too bad we didn't bring our 6-year-old mutt to Clipper's Canine Café.
Kim's Key Lime Pies is enclosed by a white picket fence, and there are chairs in the small front yard. The breeze blows through the screened-in front porch, stirring the wind chimes.
Inside, one finds a gift shop and a homey dining room. Near the counter, there is a table with CDs by local musicians such as Ben Connelly, who recently organized a benefit concert for the 13-year owner Kim Mowrer, who is critically ill with cancer.
The house pie, without food coloring or a meringue topping, is truly sublime (pun intended), and held together by a graham cracker crust. The coffee is good, too, and if you linger long enough on the front porch, the house will feel like your own.
Another front porch worth visiting belongs to Carmen's Gallery. There, the array of paintings should convince someone to open the front door and head in, stopping first at a small shrine of sorts paying homage to Buckaroo. Known as the "mayor of Solomons," owner Carmen Sanders' cat died in May.
Though the prices here are fairly high-end, the art's sheer quality makes a drop-in worth it. Abstract works are stimulating; realist painters are masters of technique. Upstairs one finds the Harlan Suite, a room full of work by Stephen James Harlan, a digital artist from Prince Frederick. There is a couch in the room, and the idea of digital art sparks a discussion. Now another place feels like home — but the hour has finally come.
From a corner seat at the Tiki Bar, we can see sunlight striking the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge, the 1977 construction project that ended this island's era of isolation. Behind us, a photo shows the throngs of people who attend the seasonal opening.
The music is Bob Marley, then Beach Boys. Shells, holding down the napkins, bear Buffett lyrics. Out comes a bowl of popcorn.
Even if the new thing is Corona in cans, if you have time for one drink here, make it a mixed concoction in a plastic cup.
We watch the bartender make an "orange crush" with freshly squeezed juice. But the house drink is a powerful mai tai, and I know from Connelly's song "Tiki Bar Blues" that one is more than enough. That and the Bosko artifacts, some might say, is what makes this open-air establishment a real tiki bar.
Connelly, as it happens, is setting up his equipment in the backyard beach. Around the bar, the staff hangs up pirate skulls with Jack Sparrow-like locks to prepare for the annual costume party.
It makes you want to stay awhile — maybe "run the board." Home, though, is an hour away, and it's time for dinner. It's time, in fact, to leave the island and test out Southern Maryland's new brewpub.
