Old Gratitude House
5944 Lawton Ave.
Rock Hall, MD 21661
410-639-7448
www.oldgratitudehouse.com

It’s all about the water. Anyone who’s familiar with Rock Hall, Md., will tell you it’s true. This old fishing village has almost as many boat slips (about 2,000) as it has people (about 2,400). Its dozen or so marinas are spread along the village’s winding shoreline, which also boasts several waterfront restaurants.

A particularly scenic slice of this shore is occupied by the Old Gratitude House, which might best be described as a large waterfront deck with an attached house. The house is a frame structure dating to the nineteenth century and has the narrow foyer and low ceilings of an old house. But the modest foyer leads to a large, comfortable sitting room that in turn opens onto the inn’s best amenity, a rustic 1,000-square-foot deck overlooking the Chesapeake. The partially covered deck is where breakfast is usually served, and where cushioned settees invite you to spend the afternoon with a book in your lap as you watch boats transit a channel 100 yards away. It’s also a great place to open your own bottle of wine at sunset. On our recent visit, a rain shower spoiled the show, but we did find a decent shiraz at the nearby grocery store and retreated to our room to listen to the rain.

THE INNKEEPERS Sandy and Hank Mayer came to the bed-and-breakfast business about ten years ago, starting with a B&B in Annapolis, and are now beginning their fifth season in Rock Hall. “We used to stay in a lot of bed-and-breakfasts,” Hank says. “So we knew what we liked. And Sandy was looking for something else to do.” Helping to welcome guests are two West Highland Terriers and two cats. 

THE ROOMS Four rooms have private waterfront decks. A small fifth room—the Navy Blue and Gold—overlooks the street. The largest and most expensive room, the Orient Escape, is decorated in an Asian theme, with a queen-size platform bed and an in-room jetted bathtub. The Tuscany, which my wife and I stayed in, is a generous-size room with two armchairs and an electric fireplace. Furnishings inside and out are warm, traditional, and comfortable, with lots of dark woods, plush upholstery, and rich-looking wallpapers.

SPECIAL TOUCHES/DIVERSIONS Check local listings for the time of sunset; you’ll want to be on either the large communal deck or the one off your room. The time between breakfast and sunset can be spent using one of the inn’s eight kayaks. The inn also has one tandem and eight cruiser-type bicycles that some guests use to visit the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, about six miles south of town. “What we find,” Sandy says, “is that on the first visit here, people kayak and bike and explore the area. On the second visit, they do it less. And on the third, they just sit and watch the boats go past.” One outing that almost all guests make, she says, is to Waterman’s Crab House where a large deck draws crowds in summer to hardshells.

WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST Coffee is available as early as 7:30 a.m., but breakfast is at 9. It might start with juice, banana-nut bread, and baked pineapple, followed by crab quiche and croissants
or perhaps bacon and pancakes. It’s a good bit of food but not the over-the-top fare that some inns serve. 

ROMANCE FACTOR Rock Hall is hardly a big honeymoon destination, but the Old Gratitude, its private decks and the cinematic sunsets are the right ingredients for a romantic weekend getaway. 

COST Rooms range from $150 to $250 per night. There’s a two-night minimum on weekends.