Ocean City City/Region: Eastern Shore Ocean City is Maryland's number one summer resort with so many visitors during the peak summer months that it becomes the second largest city in the state for the season. It is not the place to enjoy a quiet vacation by the sea, especially on weekends or during the college holidays when hordes of students looking for a party swamp the town. But with more than 10 miles (16km) of white sandy beaches and pounding surf it presents itself as an attractive resort dominated by the famous old boardwalk that is lined with shops, bars and restaurants,
flashing neon signs and holiday condos. Among the ice-cream stands and all-night fast-food franchises are hotels dating back to the 1920s. The fishing pier at the end of the boardwalk has an amusement park with a huge Ferris wheel. There are plenty of activities including boating and deep-sea fishing, mini-golf courses, tram rides as well as the beaches. To escape the crowds the Assateague Island National Seashore just south of Ocean City is a 37-mile (60km) stretch of wild and undeveloped beach and marshland that extends into Virginia. Little brown and white ponies are the only inhabitants that roam the dunes and graze in the grassy marshes. The main roads and paths can be crowded in summer with people coming to see the legendary wild ponies, but a short way off the main routes will bring the peace one may be looking for. However clouds of mosquitoes tend to plague even the most intrepid explorers.
St Michaels City/Region: Eastern Shore With one of the prettiest harbors on Chesapeake Bay, St Michaels is also one of the oldest ports and has held onto its maritime tradition. Log boats were the first workboats used, fishermen came to sell their catch, and canneries and oyster packing plants started up around the harbor. The town grew into an important shipbuilding center during colonial times and today its marina is constantly filled with boats bringing visitors to admire its quaint streets and old buildings, art galleries, shops, cosy B&Bs and to experience its revered seafood restaurants. The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is filled with Bay history: exhibits on boat building, a Native American dugout canoe and Chesapeake sailboats specially designed to navigate the shallow waters of the bay, as well as the restored Hooper Strait Lighthouse. St Michaels is also known as 'the town that fooled the British' from the time the townspeople cleverly avoided being bombed by the British during the War of 1812. They blackened out the town and hung lanterns high up in the trees so the cannon overshot the houses and the town was saved. Only one cannonball hit the town, striking the chimney of a house that can still be seen today.
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