Photography by Scott Suchman
The Tilghman Island Inn
21384 Coopertown Rd.
Tilghman, Md.
410-886-2141
http://www.tilghmanislandinn.com
The last time I visited The Tilghman Island Inn, a bird, ahem, dropped a “present” on my shoulder. I was standing on the inn’s dock overlooking Knapps Narrows when my companion turned to me, glanced at my shoulder, and suddenly started laughing. I never did see the overhead offender.
I looked at the incident as both a positive and a negative. The optimist in me figured that anytime you get pooped on, it usually signifies an abundance of avian wildlife about. The negative, well, that’s obvious.
It only makes sense that a bird—specifically a blue heron—is part of the logo of this causal inn and outpost of fine dining on Tilghman Island. I have never seen so many blue herons in one place than along this marshy section of Knapps Narrows, the ribbon of water separating the island from the mainland.
When it opened nearly twenty years ago, The Tilghman Island Inn was one of a scant few restaurants that served gourmet cuisine in Talbot County. In the years since, it has garnered notice from Travel & Leisure, Gourmet magazine, and its book-length wine list has been the recipient of Wine Spectator awards for the last dozen years.
So with a healthy appetite—and a clean shirt— I embarked on another visit to The Tilghman Island Inn. This time, I would be keeping an eye on the skies.
Innkeepers
“Chemical engineering and cooking are not terribly different,” David McCallum is telling me in the inn’s bar/lounge, complete with faux zebra-skin rug, working fireplace, and baby grand piano that takes a beating from Daryl, the piano player, every Saturday night. McCallum’s dramatic career change from biomedical engineer (and college professor at Georgetown and Columbia universities) to executive chef and innkeeper may sound unlikely, but as McCallum describes it, it only made sense. “I grew up in the kitchen,” he says of his childhood in South Carolina. “My first toy was a piece of biscuit dough.”
Years spent eating in Washington and New York restaurants honed his palate, and cooking for myriad dinner parties helped refine his skills in the kitchen.
He and his partner, Jack Redmon, purchased the twenty-room inn as a “passive investment” in 1989, but it soon became an all-encompassing endeavor. “I’ve never worked so hard to make people think I wasn’t working,” says McCallum.
The Rooms
Others have told me (and I agree) of feeling somewhat disappointed when approaching the inn from its dusty gravel driveway. I’ve never been terribly impressed by the inn’s beige vinyl exterior and unused, cluttered greenhouse. The lobby, with its stained drop-tile ceiling and unkempt office, is decidedly more family motel than French chateau. The guestrooms, however (once you get beyond the stained carpet in the second-floor hallway), have recently been redone and feature clean, white walls with bird-themed prints and dark wooden furniture. The best rooms boast gas fireplaces, whirlpool tubs, luxe linens, and great views of Knapps Narrows from comfortable second-floor balconies.
Special Touches
I’ll wager that few inns reviewed by both Travel & Leisure and Gourmet magazines allow guests to bring their dogs, but the Tilghman Island Inn is a very pet-friendly place. Guests with canines get a first-floor room and freedom to romp around the gardens and grounds.
You won’t be able to ignore Blanche de Boid, a citron-crested cockatiel that lets out occasional screeches, particularly as the sun begins to set. There’s also Spot, the cat, and Jasmine, a black standard poodle, that mingle with guests at check-in. Add the fish in the koi pond out front and “we’ve got the whole food chain,” as McCallum says.
Diversions
The Tilghman Island Inn is one of those places where you can do as much or as little as you want. You can borrow a kayak and explore the Narrows, as I did. You can drive fifteen or twenty-five minutes north and go shopping in St. Michaels or Easton. Or you can just sit in an Adirondack chair on the inn’s rear lawn with a drink and watch the blue heron poke around for fish.
You will likely eat in the inn’s restaurant, Isabel’s, “an American restaurant named for a once in a hundred year visitor,” as its menu says. Executive chef McCallum and his chef de cuisine, William Dickey, have put together a Chesapeake-centric menu, featuring local seafood and produce. My day boat scallops dusted with vanilla sea salt surrounding a mound of peach risotto were delicious, as was the house specialty, black-eyed peacakes, an obvious ode to McCallum’s Southern roots.
The inn also hosts monthly, themed wine weekends. Wild game is the theme for the weekend of November 15, and author Susan Pinkard’s new book, A Revolution in Taste: The Rise of French Cuisine, 1650-1800, sets the backdrop for recipes during the December 13 weekend.
What’s For Breakfast
McCallum mixes up breakfasts daily, but you can count on fresh fruit in season, freshly baked muffins, and usually at least one “hot plate” breakfast entree. On the morning of my visit, McCallum whipped up a cheese strata that was as light as a down pillow.
Romance Factor
Recently, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and his young “lady friend” spent a night at the inn. (Room 12, if you must know.) We figure that a guy who wrote “Whole Lotta Love” knows a thing or two about romance—or at least how to get the girl.
What It’s Going to Cost
November 1 through March 31, $125-$250 per night; April 1 through October 31, $175-$300. Two-night packages, which include dinner, start at $320 during the off-season.
