drive south

Along Highway 301, south of La Plata, there is a huge billboard that says \"Captain Billy\'s Crab House \".
It contains information about steamed crabs, soft shells, oysters, shrimp, operating time, and more words you can read when you exceed the speed limit (ahem).
But one sentence jumped out: \"The beautiful view of the Potomac River bridge!
\"My right foot moves from the throttle to the brake.
I turned north on 301 and wanted to take another look at the sign.
Potomac River bridge. Hmmmm.
I took out the AAA map of Charles County.
Well, look there. A bridge. The Gov. Harry W.
Nice Memorial Bridge
Now, I have been living in Washington on and off for more than 30 years, and it is impossible for me to tell you about the existence of the government. Harry W.
Nice Memorial Bridge
The scope of my ignorance is bubbling in my brain.
Shame is coming soon.
What kind of Washington am I?
I stared at the map where I was holding the steering wheel.
As far as I know, South Maryland may be Zimbabwe. Port Tobacco. Cobb Island. Pomonkey. Nanjemoy. Ironsides. Mason Springs.
I was annoyed by the names.
It\'s obviously time to broaden my horizons. I\'m on a late-
Rally at Budds Creek in the evening (another first)
But I\'m determined to go back and look at this mysterious bridge and learn more about what people in this area of Maryland do when the sun goes down.
When my traveling partner and I finally walked down Pope Creek Road along the arrow of the billboard, most people in Charles County seemed to be lining up for crabs. It\'s a three-
Drive from 301 miles to Captain Billy\'s house, passing through the dry cornfields, tall and Brown.
After a roadside marker, it says the passage of John Wilks booth to the river before 135.
I guess they are.
His name suddenly came out, but we kept reading his story. We\'re hungry.
The gravel parking lot was packed with passengers waiting for more than an hour for a table at Captain Billy\'s (
11455 Pope Creek Road, Popes Creek; 301/932-4323)
And its neighbor, Robertson Crab House (
11455 Pope Creek Road, Popes Creek; 301/934-3300)(
Both are owned and run by Captain Billy Robertson).
Who has such a time? I wonder.
Obviously, a lot of people.
Life in Southern Maryland is a little slow, and Captain Billy is a great place to learn this lesson.
The hostess told us we could order at the bar.
We found some stools and bellies.
It takes a long time to wait for food, but crowded restaurants can distract you.
People have been tearing up Billy Robertson\'s blue crab since 1949, about a few 50-
Annual regulars in the crowd tonight.
Crab cakes are acceptable, and if no exception, when they disappear, the sound of people beating crab legs with a gavel suddenly becomes overwhelming.
There are too many trays for crab bodies.
It\'s time to go out and see the real reason why captain Billy is so popular: location.
Surprisingly, few people eat on the deck overlooking this Big Bend of the Potomac River.
No Air, yes.
Air conditioning outside but view!
In fact, the Potomac Bridge is there, and a huge span is heading into the fog of Virginia.
The real show is on the right. Sunset.
We sat on the dock in front of Captain Billy and watched the thick orange sun ball sink into the red clouds.
Its reflection on the water makes the river shine.
Soon passed, and the night began in Southern Maryland.
Captain Billy is open every night until 10. m.
In fact, it makes it as a night destination as anywhere in Charles County, but it\'s not really a night life destination.
I heard it coming out of the parking lot.
The story of nightlife: drums.
There was a trap drum hit over and over again.
Then kick the drum. Then cymbals.
This is a sound check!
Where did it come from?
A quick 100 yards drive from captain pyrenia to downstream gave us the answer: Pier III crab house and Beach Club (
11535 Pope Creek Road; 301/259-4514).
Owner Tom Jenkins has been here since 1988 and announced his union \"undiscovered gems in Southern Maryland \".
\"Well, maybe not a gem, but it\'s a great place to watch the sunset and listen to live music.
Crab cake (
I found another night)
It\'s delicious if it\'s a bit salty.
The beer is cold.
Jenkins takes a page from a large amount of sand by truck from Seacrets in Ocean City, bringing dozens of palm trees from Florida each year, building an outdoor \"beach\" playground children\'s area, band stage (
Mainly some predictable bands like Jimmy Buffett and Bob SEIG)
A bar on an old ship.
Twist your toes on the beach and it\'s very easy to watch the river roll.
I think I got the hang of Southern Maryland.
Ten miles west of the third pier, at St.
Mary\'s County line is badcrick and is home to three different tracks, but I visited the Maryland International Track (
No. 27861 badxi Road; 301/884-9833)
Owned and operated by Royce Miller for the past 10 years.
It was a Friday night, and the Mir held the \"speed unlimited midnight crazy street car series\" in its quarter\"Miles.
It was a night specially designed for locals, with only \"street legit\" cars racing and they were able to drive fast on this street in about 13 seconds.
You can give them soup but not too much.
Cars are registered in the parking lot.
Up to 250 vehicles come every Friday (Until October)
In order to get the trophy and a little cash opportunity.
Obviously, most drivers are regulars and the game is friendly.
Open at 6: 30 on Friday and start the knockout match at 10. m.
Until midnight.
One person who is there almost every week is Rick Bolton of the Chaney tire Motor Company, one of the night\'s sponsors.
\"I\'m from Southern Maryland and was born and raised within 10 miles of the track,\" he said proudly with a strong local accent.
\"I came here for the first time when I was 16 and drove my mother\'s Plymouth rage wagon.
\"Did she know what he was doing when he borrowed her car?
\"Oh, no, but she finally figured it out.
So my aunt gave me her 63 years.
I ran away when the door was hard.
Bolton still play at \"speed unlimited E\" on Saturday nightT.
The series is basically the local semi-finals. pro night (
The game ends around 10: 30 on Saturday night).
\"But even if I don\'t play, I will come out and give the kids toys, beach balls and oil to the lost driver. I like it here.
He refers to sitting in the section marked \"family: there is no alcohol other than this.
\"Look, they do everything they can to make it a place for the whole family.
I don\'t drink, I don\'t take drugs.
I\'m not from a nightclub.
This track is the choice of night.
Children can stay away from trouble and they can see everything up close.
You can\'t go to the back of the bar or the DJ booth at the nightclub.
Here you can walk into the pit, talk to the mechanic, talk to the driver, on the tower and learn how everything works.
I like this place.
Just like the little specialty we hide here.
\"There is a small shed for your belly where you can buy food (
Burgers, dogs, chicken wings, pizza)and drinks (beer and soda).
To get a huge boost, you might consider heading to the Mir this Saturday for the national jet car competition
That\'s how it sounds.
You go 301 north, running through-
Motel and liquor store with drivein windows (
A standard function in this part of the world).
You can stop at Apehangers (
Belorton highway 9100 Crain; 301/753-1650)
The local Harley rider party, which offers some classic rock shows by the snake bite band.
About a mile south of La Plata, there is a roadside landmark worth stopping: Twin kisses (7415 Crain Hwy. ; 301/934-4025)
One of the burgers-and-
It looks like an ice cream stand there forever.
Drive until 10. m.
Every night, whenever I drive past, people wait in line for a huge whirlpool of soft ice cream or a batch of batter --
Dip onion rings (
Worth traveling by yourself).
At La Plata, turn left at 301 of Port Tobacco Road.
You are crossing one of the once most prosperous areas of Maryland.
If you are there during the day, you will still see evidence of this boom in old tobacco warehouses scattered across the countryside.
In the past, Port Tobacco itself was a busy little shipping point where ships would load local tobacco crops and ship them to Baltimore.
On the right, after about five miles, you will see a masonry building that is home to the Blue Dog salon (
7940 Tobacco Road; 301/932-1740).
This is a charming two.
Room bar with stage and several pool tables.
Old license plates hung on the wall, and the employee \"Biff\" Cline ensures people behave.
\"Be careful Biff,\" said boss Bryon Creech with a smile . \".
\"He\'s in the Boxing Hall of Fame in Washington.
\"It was just a month ago that Creech took over the work of the owner, but he has used his daily work skills as a general contractor to achieve his own results.
\"We signed up,\" he said . \"
\"Never signed up before.
\"What is the Blue Dog?
\"Well, this is a local legend,\" he prepared for the story.
\"When the tobacco port is a busy port, there is a lot of money flowing.
There is a gentleman who always has a blue tick hound around him.
One night he walked into a nearby pub and showed a lot of money to the people around him.
When he left that night, some people jumped him and killed him, and I\'m not sure if they killed the dog as well, but I think they must have killed the dog.
\"They hid the money under a stone on the Rose Hill Plantation and ran away.
One night, they came back to take the money, and the next day, the people in the plantation found the body next to the rock.
The ghost of the Blue Dog killed them and let them lie by the rock. \"Wow.
Are the hounds still wandering around here?
\"Of course, you may hear him howling some nights.
\"Is this the pub where the man\'s cash is flashing? \"Oh, no.
About six or seven years. . . .
The building is only 70 years old and the legendary age is much larger.
\"At the club, the spirits are on the stage, playing the Southern rock cover to the admiring crowd.
Don\'t be confused with the Texas band of the same name about 15 years ago, and these psychic also took their names from William Faulkner\'s novels (
Jim Morris, the band leader, said, \"Hey, Faulkner!
\"I can write it down when he tells me the name of the band).
But after singing a few songs, it\'s time to go.
North of the Blue Dog, near the Indian Head Highway, you will find the lonely star Cafe (
4300 Hawthorne Road; 301/743-3931).
Inside, there is a band playing. The name is Roadhouse. It is here.
When I asked the bartender for a Bud, she had an eye.
The rows of regulars in the bar also looked at me with fun.
The bartender asked me for my ID.
She slowly brought it back and I finally got my beer.
The room in front was packed with people playing billiards.
When I slipped past them into the back room where the band was playing, I was very careful not to hit any of them, \"tell it this is the case, \"It\'s enough for some couples to move slowly on the dance floor.
I found a dark corner and bugged: \"You have to take me out if they play the\" linkless plot \"because I will cry too much, I promise --damn-tee it.
\"The word comes from a tall blonde with feather hair.
For serious dance and slightly better live music, please return to 301 north of Waldorf.
You will find the Spurs (
Waldorf field South Mall, Waldorf Astoria; 301/843-9964)
A Country and Western dance club in the corner of a large shopping mall.
Cowboy murals in the Sonoma Desert overlook rows of lines --
The night I was there was packed with dancers on the huge dance floor.
The music comes from the midnight rodeo, a lean band that seems to like the George channel songs.
The decoration scheme of this place is equivalent to small Christmas tree lights and Keno Screens.
Very little smoke. No rowdiness.
According to manager Yvonne Zywusko, although the big square bar at the front door is full, there is not much wine to drink.
This fact is causing trouble to the club.
\"People come to dance and don\'t drink, so this place can\'t make the money it\'s supposed to make,\" she said.
There was a leaflet saying, \"the Spurs may have to close ! \"
We need your help!
\"There is a group called\" Friends of the Spurs \"to hold a meeting to find ways to stay open.
There is a website (www. olg. com/spurs)
Help bring believers together.
In addition to the countryside, there are dance classes and music to attract more people.
Given the club\'s mall atmosphere, it\'s hard to feel comfortable at Tottenham unless you don\'t mind the decor.
But if it disappears, it will be sad, and still sad for stable customers who just want to dance without any nonsense. Speaking of no-
Nonsense dancing, this is what happens on the R & B road like Ford\'s Wonderbar (
No. 4595 Livingston Road; 301/283-5324)
Night clubs and picnic venues in Lamont (
No. 4400 Livingston Road; 301/283-0225)
In bomonki, the route 224 kilometers from India\'s first highway is several miles away.
One of the best soul/blues bands in the Washington area, Hardway Connection, and one of the most popular bands in Southern Maryland, they were playing when I first visited Ford. It\'s a Sunday (
They start the last Sunday of each month from 4. m. )
When I got there at 6 in the eveningm.
The place is lively and crowded with people on the dance floor.
The two ceiling fans rotate on the dancers, who are exhausted on the felt floor.
Most men wear very sharp straw hats.
\"We will meet a lot of people on Sunday,\" said Robert Owens, the leader and guitarist of the hatway band.
\"People, they come from their little church, they come to Ford and start their little dance, and then they go home, it won\'t be too late, you know?
\"They\'re definitely dancing their little dance, and between their little dances, people skip the next door to the P, S & G soul and the Seafood Hut (
No. 4595 Livingston Road; 301/283-0200)
Order the best chicken wings I \'ve ever tasted. Fried fish--
Fish, bones--
Almost as much as praiseworthy).
Dorsey Ford opened his Wonderbar in the legal slot machine era in 1942.
\"I remember going there to see him and play with those machines,\" said his daughter Iris, who has been with her partner Jim gourby since her father died in 1993.
\"People say, \'Hey, little girl, take some coins.
I will be very excited to hear the machines ringing.
But it\'s all over after 60.
\"We keep the old set.
No conflict, no one is trying to prove themselves.
This is a family.
\"One way she found to encourage older people is to never replace the record machine.
\"If you leave the old blues there, young kids won\'t be interested.
\"She\'s still strict 25-to-enter policy.
Ford only has live music from hardiway.
It\'s a DJ or a record player when they don\'t play.
\"Everyone will dance with the record machine,\" Iris said . \"
\"People just want to dance.
\"I think a lot of older people ---
Not a child, you know. -
Just wanted to rekindle the feeling of juke Union.
They remember how much fun they used to have, and they wanted to do what they used to do: eat fried chicken, listen to the Blues, and dance their little dance at juke joints.
\"Right on the side of Ford, it\'s the nightclub and picnic place in Lamont, which has been run by Lamont Savoy since 1990.
Lamont\'s is a curious hybrid that is open from Thursday to Sunday (check the name)
This is explained by its past.
\"It\'s called the Pomonkey ball diamond,\" said Savoy . \".
\"There is a large venue behind, and the venue is purchased by a group of referees who want to go out to play in one place.
They built a small food and soda vending machine here, and then added seven times to it, making the building bigger and bigger.
I have changed two rooms since I came here!
\"The venue is a popular picnic spot for the weekend, and Lamont hosts a party for car and motorcycle enthusiasts at the hotel (
\"I am the president of the Southern Maryland Motor Association and the business manager of the East Coast motorcycle club, so we have people everywhere,\" he said . \")
But when the sun sets, the music inside is regular (
This and the food: The kitchen in Lamont will also fry some great fried chicken, not to mention the pork feet and pork chops).
Music includes hard connections several times a month and other Washington-
Regional performers such as Bobby Parker, Chuck Brown and Nap Turner.
\"Since I own this club, I have so many performers here and I dream of meeting them,\" said Savoy . \" He once owned two record shops and was a professional DJ.
Tyrone Davis, Percy slidge, Clarence Carter, Gene Chandler.
I often eat Orioles.
I like the music here.
\"He said he is building an outdoor stage so that by next summer he can hold Festival events to attract bigger names. (Starting at 4. m.
On Saturday, Savoy will hold a Lamont Thanksgiving Day for his customers.
There will be live music until late at night. )
Savoy is facing fierce competition in the outdoor festival market of Wilmer\'s Park (
Brady 15710 times. , Brandywine; 301/888-1600), a long-
About 20 miles northeast of Lamont, concert and music venues have been set up.
In recent years, after 80
Acre park has become a paradise for jam bands playing their new work
Take part in a full day concert under the open sky, which is the idea of hippie.
But that\'s not how Wilmer\'s Park started.
In 1947, Arthur Wilmer, the owner of the black restaurant, bought the land as a personal hunting tour.
In 1952, he built a music station and a motel and restaurant on the website and began to introduce such wells.
The well-known names are Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, the Supremes, Ray Charles, and James Brown.
But with the end of legal isolation, other venues have opened their doors to black entertainers and spectators, making it harder for Wilmer to attract them to his somewhat distant outdoor venue.
In order to keep the balance of payments, Wilmer began to book the white screen, which is still the majority of music products.
Arthur Wilmer died in February and the park under his name was in the hands of his heirs.
\"I want to continue in the name of my dad,\" said daughter Leslie Parks . \".
\"Now we\'re just trading in a day --to-day basis.
We need a lot of repairs and improvements to the property, but I hope we can leave it at home.
\"If you know how to pray, pray for Wilmer\'s Park,\" she added a little ominous . \".
Hundreds of young people.
Between the ages of ten and halftwenties)
The night I visited, who was in Wilmer\'s Park, was full of local bands playing on two stages, such as Sev, Jepetto, Modern and Boogiehawg
There is a small stage, it is the original Wilmer Park stage, full of history, and there is a larger stage, about 200 yards on the sloping hill, a good stage natural amphitheater is provided.
Music is 1999 fusion of punk, metal, hip hop
At the turn of the millennium, jumping, fear and noise define young people in music.
The children are spinning the glowing lamp poles.
They\'re showing off new piercings.
They are preparing for the carnival planned after the live band. I can\'t stay.
I\'m going to the branch on Clinton Street.
A small block in the store is the Clinton Inn (
9806 Old Branch Road; 301/868-2363)
There are ubiquitous hard connections every Friday night.
The light inside is low and the dance floor is small, but you can make room if you really want to shake it.
Drive to old Blanche Avenue and I\'m looking for Sam\'s Crab House. 301/868-4373).
The address is 7911 Lewis Spring Avenue.
But it\'s not on my map.
I called and was told to look for the logo. About a half-
An hour later, I found the sign south of Coventry Road, a small piece of cardboard with a magic mark that says \"steamed crab or live crab in Sam\'s Crab House.
Along the sign I followed basically an alley and after the camp spa radiator service I found Sam in the middle of a large parking lot.
When you walk into Sam\'s restaurant, you will be hit by a taste, a taste like the old club at 9: 30.
The smell of a club has passed its golden age, but people still swear by the crab here and the secret seasoning thrown in by owner Sam Habib while steaming small animals.
Habib has been selling crabs from this website for 37 years, first of all from carry-on
Then, after he and his friends invested in construction workers for several months, he came out of a restaurant from 1966.
Habib said: \"My wife and I, Patricia, will be sitting there with our friends, playing poker or pinochi, waiting for customers.
Three customers. Six customers.
Fifteen customers.
It only grows by word of mouth. \" (
I would like to suggest that a better signage might be helpful, but this suggestion seems to be 37 years late. )
Habib began booking live music in his restaurant in 1968.
One of the first actors he hired was a young guitarist named Danny Garton.
\"Danny, he\'s my band.
I hired him over the weekend.
I first invited an accordion player, then a great singer named Smokey Mike, and then Danny.
But you know what?
I had to fire him three weeks later.
\"It\'s clear that there are so many musicians who come to watch the teen guitar show and don\'t drink and the waitress doesn\'t make any money.
\"He came back and played many times,\" Habib said . \".
When I visited a Sunday, the stage played the old country songs and their own honky downk secrets that sounded like the old country songs.
They stood in front of a sparkling curtain that was almost fun and tacky, but there were very few people in the club and looked a little worn out.
A few older couples were not very elegant on the floor.
People sitting in the bar care more about the TV screen.
There are several pool tables around the scene.
But somehow it feels comfortable.
These people are real people. They have worked hard.
They make as much money as they want: some steamed shrimp and some cold beer.
While I was drinking another beer myself, I was glad Sam was still here to get me to find it.
It won\'t be here forever, though.
Sam, 66, admitted he was considering the day to say goodbye to the bar and restaurant business.
He knew there was a change going on in southern Maryland and he wasn\'t sure he wanted to keep up.
Housing development is destroying corn fields.
Strip malls is replacing the old road room for Line 5 and Line 301.
But people can still go out with friends and loved ones to \"dance their little dance\" and share the beer.
This is a salute and a prayer for those places in Southern Maryland where I found them.
I promise I will be back.