For its size, Talbot County has a rich cultural background, which provides residents and visitors with classical and popular music events, live theater, historical treasures, fine arts and exceptional crafts. The local towns each sponsor many festivities that celebrate the legacy of the Eastern Shore. Sports and outdoor activities are immensely popular here because of our extended seasons and pleasant surroundings.

Golf – there are two public courses and two private courses in the county. The Hog’s Neck public links feature an 18 hole championship course and a 9 hole executive course. It is rated as a four star facility by Golf Digest. The Easton Club is a residential and golf community with an 18 hole public course as well as a clubhouse and a restaurant. In St Michaels, the Harbourtowne Resort takes pride in its Pete Dye 18 hole course along the Miles River. It is semi private, open to hotel guests, paid members and visitors. The Talbot Country Club, also an 18 hole course is private and play is limited to members and their guests.

Biking and Hiking – Urban Sprawl on the East Coast had made it difficult for many people to find quiet roads to ride or walk. As a result, bikers and hikers are turning to more picturesque and friendly destinations like the Eastern Shore. Bicycle tourism to our area is the perfect antidote to the hassles of traffic and people-congestion so that the cycling or hiking becomes an end in itself.

Arts and Leisure – There is hardly enough time to visit and see all of the art galleries, antique shops, clothing and specialty shops in Easton and St Michaels. This is your chance to escape from the “big box” stores and poke around in a leisurely fashion until you or your pocketbook wear out. Be sure not to miss the exhibits at the Academy Art Museum and The Talbot County Historical Society. If you are hungry, skip the fast food places and choose from a long list of eateries for culinary pleasures of all styles and origins, from the crab houses to American eclectic. Not all nationalities are represented, however, but there is a good restaurant in every price range. Many restaurants welcome families and casual attire is encouraged.

Boat lovers will really enjoy visiting the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels. The displays vividly bring to life the history of the watermen and their watercraft. There are so many realistic exhibits of boats, fishing, crabbing and water fowling that it is easy to understand how the museum brings out the “Walter Mitty” dreams in all of us.

One of the most important events on the Eastern Shore is the annual Waterfowl Festival, held on the second weekend of November. It attracts upwards of 18,000 people from around the country, who come to see the premier displays of wildlife art, decoys, wildlife seminars and demonstrations of retriever dogs, hunting and fishing.

For music lovers, the Eastern Shore Music Festival, in June, attracts prominent musicians and this event is considered to be a major musical show piece. The Academy of Art Museum sponsors several arts related shows and exhibits throughout the year. In addition to major traveling art exhibits, the Academy promotes a juried art and craft show, which is a very popular event for the sale of exciting works by notable craft persons. The old Avalon Theater in downtown Easton presents a long list of exciting stage productions, live music – pop – hip hop -  classical – you name it, and a myriad of shows all year ‘round.

Natural history buffs can spend many pleasant hours or even days wandering around the sizeable Pickering Creek Audubon Center, Northwest of town, or at the 1,000 acre Jean Ellen Dupont Shehan Audubon Sanctuary in Neavitt. You don’t have to be a bird lover to enjoy the incredible ecological diversity of fields, old-growth woods, marshlands and waterfront at both these sanctuaries. The Pickering Creek Center offers a wide range of nature classes and hands-on instruction for all ages.

Just a few miles south lies the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge with 23,000 acres of rich tidal marshlands, dedicated as a refuge for migratory birds. Blackwater is home to vast numbers of geese and ducks exceeding 50,000 during the winter layover. Blackwater is also a haven for the Bald eagle, Osprey along with countless marsh and shore birds. Visitors can observe most of the action by car, hiking the trails or boating in small craft.

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