denton.

we had never been on the choptank beyond the bridge.  there were a lot of workboats on the water just beyond cambridge where the river was still pretty wide but after that, it was quiet of boat traffic with mostly marsh and farmland and houses further apart from each other as the river narrowed.  it reminded us a bit of the wicomico river going up to salisbury - pretty, but not very interesting, unlike the pocomoke river with its cypress trees and black water.  the river had lots of sharp little turns so you really had to pay attention.  when tom called the dover bridge tender (it is an open-on-demand swing bridge), he seemed reluctant to stop traffic just for us but even with everything folded down, we are simply too tall.  the upper choptank past cambridge is actually typical of what we've seen on the rivers we've traveled on the Eastern Shore.   the marina guy at denton seemed very excited about our arrival.  people waved enthusiastically from shore.  not too much boat traffic around there obviously.  the "marina" we stayed at was actually in west denton, across the choptank river from denton.  it was really more of a tiny repair yard called mathews landing but next to it was the choptank river yacht club's dock with three pontoon boats tied up to it.  as it turns out, the "marina office" is on the other side of the town of denton and the person tom had spoken to on the phone earlier did not communicate anything to anyone so the guy who came out to help had no clue who we were.  not that it mattered really as tom and i are more than capable of tying up by ourselves, but these people must get something like two transients a year!  in any case, it was exciting for folks to see the "big" boat come in (we are hardly big) but in this part of the river, little jonboats and pontoons are the norm.  we were probably the main excitement of the day.

to get to the town of denton, you have to cross the route 404 bridge.  the building that stands out is the district court which is probably responsible for denton's (barely) survival.  like most Eastern Shore towns, it is struggling to stay alive.  the large red brick building that can be seen from the marina is apparently a correction facility which is across the street from the district court. 

our "rustic" dock

the excitement of the weekend launching

pretty steep ramp at low tide

the next day, we dropped the dinghy and continued upriver to greensboro, MD.  the choptank goes on beyond it but we didn't bother.  compared to greensboro, denton is a thriving metropolis.  as the river got narrower, it reminded me of the movie, "apocalpyse now." and even though it was a rather chilly day with occasional drizzle, you could smell the earthy scent of summer.  we could conceivably have brought tadhana further up the river - there was plenty of deep water - but there were logs and fallen trees and you had to pick your way.  it really is small boat territory and an Eastern Shore way out in the sticks kind of place.

 

abandoned railroad bridge left in permanently "open" position

diving platform?  the river is deep.

"apocalypse now"

i seriously doubt that we will find our way back to denton by boat again although we very much enjoyed our stay at the rustic dock and talking with the locals, one of whom was actually a  transplanted south african working at the yard with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor about the deadness of the place.  the area just didn't have that much of a call to return but we're glad that we went anyway.