Thursday, August 22: This morning, my sister Joan and I lounge around her house in Salisbury, chatting and drinking coffee. After we’re tired of being totally lazy, she suggests we take a little trip to Berlin, Maryland. Before we go, I set the self-timer and take a picture of the two of us in front of her backyard pool.
The town of Berlin had its start around the 1790s, part of the Burley Plantation, a 300-acre land grant dating back to 1677. The name Berlin is believed to be derived from a contraction of “Burleigh Inn,” an old tavern. Berlin incorporated as a town in 1868.
We head straight for lunch at the Hotel Atlantic. I order the most delicious crab cake sandwich; this one has no filler and is broiled instead of deep-fried. It’s absolutely perfect.
Since the late 1980s, Berlin has undergone considerable revitalization of its historic downtown commercial district and adjacent residential areas. Berlin’s historic residential areas feature nearly two centuries of architectural heritage from three distinct periods: Federal, Victorian, and 20th Century. Forty-seven of these structures have been noted in the National Register of Historic Places as well as the historic commercial district. Berlin has also been designated as a “Main Street Community” by the State of Maryland.
Berlin’s claim to fame is that its Main Street and some of the outlying areas were altered to become the fictitious town of Hale, Maryland in the 1999 film The Runaway Bride, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.
For the 2002 movie Tuck Everlasting, starring Sissy Spacek, Ben Kingsley, and William Hurt, alteration of the streets and sidewalks transformed Berlin into the fictitious town of Treegap (Wikipedia: Berlin, Maryland).
After lunch, Joan and I wander through the little shops, each of us buying a few trinkets. I’m enticed by the little cupcake shop, Cupcakes in Bloom.
The walls are decorated with pretty cupcake liners.
And the glass case is full of enticing and pretty cupcake creations.
I buy some cupcakes to take home to the family: S’mores, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Lemon and German Chocolate.
Other shops in the town are cute little enticements.
After we finish our wanderings, we drive back to Salisbury, where I say goodbye to my darling little sister and head back home to Virginia. On the way, I make a stop at a farmer’s market, where I load up on watermelons, cantaloupes, and fresh corn, and admire the colorful Adirondack chairs displayed out front. 🙂
