Places to Stay in Havre de Grace

If you would like to join us for SEO by the SEA, on the weekend of August 19, 20, and 21st, there are plenty of nice places to stay in, and around, Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Antiques Row is the nickname for the street in Havre de Grace named after George Washington, and it runs through a historic section of town. Washington Street even has a plaque which notes that Washington did travel down the street back in the times of the founding fathers.

But, you won’t find any “Washington slept here signs,” which is a good thing, because they would likely be a lie (well maybe you will, but I did warn you). When the British invaded Havre de Grace, during the war of 1812, they only left two houses and a church standing, after burning down the rest of the buildings.

There are places in town where Washington would have been happy to have stayed, though I’m not sure if he would have appreciated the high speed internet access some of them now proudly tout. Many don’t have high speed internet, but I’ve noted the ones that do.

Some of the bed and breakfasts in town are small, single party, lovely buildings, and some are larger. All of them appear to rank fairly high on the comfort side. The town has four full service marinas, and easy access to highways, and it is a relaxing and enjoyable place to spend some time.

I raided the Havre de Grace visitor’s center last week, and left with a bounty of a couple of handfuls of pamphlets and newsletters about town. Some of the web sites below don’t have as much information on them as the pamplets did, and I’ll try to point out some of the things I found in those documents that don’t appear on the web sites. If you want to see some more pictures of these places, let me know, and I’ll run around town with my camera and post some here.

Currier House Bed and Breakfast

The Currier House Bed and Breakfast has four air-conditioned bedrooms with their own private baths, and is filled with antiques and heirlooms handed down from the Currier Family, who arrived in Maryland in 1648. The web site doesn’t include the long history of the Currier Family that the brochure does, but it has some nice pictures of the House. One of the interesting tidbits not mentioned on the site is that the breakfast menu includes traditional breakfast foods and “watermen’s breakfast” items in season, such as sauteed oysters and Maryland Stewed Tomatoes.

The Currier House is at the juncture of the Susqhehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay, and is a block away from the Concord Point Lighthouse, the Maritime Museum, and the waterfront promenade which leads to the yacht basin. The decoy museum is a block away to the south, and Tydings Park is a block past that. I’ll describe some of these places in later posts.

La Cle D’or Guesthouse

If you are familiar with Johns Hopkins University, you might find yourself interested in the La Cle D’or Guesthouse, which is located in the Historic Hopkins House, in Havre de Grace. This is the 1868 home of the Johns Hopkins family (of Baltimore Hospital and University fame). The guest house has three suites, the Lafayette Suite, The De Grace Suite, and the Rochambeau Suite. The De Grace Suite is only rented to friends or family of the guests renting the Rochambeau Suite.

Spencer Silver Mansion

This mansion, built in 1896, is graced with Victorian decor, antiques and Oriental rugs. There are four rooms in the Spencer Silver Mansion, and a romantic carriage house suite (a stone two-story cottage) is available, featuring an in-room fireplace, spiral staircase, TV, whirlpool bath and kitchenette.

Mount Felix Manor

I suspect that this may be an expensive place to stay, but the Mount Felix Manor web site, and the pamphlet I received from the visitor’s center don’t mention a price. It’s one wing of a “circa 1830s Georgian federal style mansion.” Looks nice. it has 2,000 sq. feet of living space, two fireplaces, 2 large bedrooms, king sized beds, and kitchen, a dining room and living room, 1.5 baths, satellite TV nd DVD, DSL computer service, and is filled with antiques.

It also looks like a lovely place to stay, and in addition to some great looking gardens, features a school of wine where you can blend and bottle your own wine. While this isn’t within walking distance of many of the sights of Havre de Grace, it’s possibly the nicest looking place to stay.

Vandiver Inn, Kent & Murphy Homes

I’ve written about some of the smaller Bed and Breakfasts, and with the exception of the last, none of them appear to have internet access. This set of three buildings, the Vandiver Inn, Kent & Murphy Homes has 17 rooms altogether, and offers (with the exception of their overflow room) “private in-room baths, air-conditioning, full breakfast every morning, cable TV, phones w/data ports” and more. They look like a comfortable, relaxing choice. Looks like there is some spacious meeting space for corporate events held at this location. From their site:

Exclusive use of the Mansion can be made available if your group occupies the majority of the Mansion’s Guest Rooms, allowing you to brainstorm, socialize or just plain relax without interruption.

The White House of Havre de Grace

If you want something cozier and quieter, the The White House of Havre de Grace Guest House offers more privacy, and is very close to the center of historic Havre de Grace. A single party place, it seems small from the outside, but nice enough. A single queen sized bed, and the option of an additional folding bed upon request. Doesn’t seem to offer breakfast, but there are some very nice places to dine a short distance away.

The Crazy Swede

Back to the larger offerings in town, the Crazy Swede (link no longer available) has a number of nice, spacious guest suites available, fine dining, and offers high speed internet access in all suites. This is probably where we will gather for a Sunday brunch send off.

Waters Edge Guest Cottage and Guest Nest

The Waters Edge Guest Cottage and Guest Nest (dead link) look interesting. I haven’t seen the Guest Nest (have to go looking for it sometime soon) but the Guest Cottage is tiny. It’s also a very unique building, and may just have the best view of the water of any cottage in town. As they mention on the web site, it was once the telegraph office for the town. And yes, the “the homemade ice cream and candy shop right around the corner” from the Guest Nest is worth stopping at, especially if you’re a chocolate fan.

Hotels

There’s also a Super8 Motel on the Pulaski Hwy. (Route 40), and a Ramada Inn across the Susquehana in Perryville if you prefer staying in a hotel to a bed and breakfast.

Camping

If you want to rough it, camping is available at the Susquehana State Park:

The Susquehanna State Park campground contains two loops with a total of 69 sites, six of which are electric, and six camper cabins. Each loop has its own comfort station with hot showers. The campground is open May through the end of September. Pets are welcome but must be leashed at all times. Reservations are highly recommended for weekend camping. Reservations can be made by calling 1-888-432-2267.

A map of the camp ground. The Susquehanna State Park is three miles northwest of Havre de Grace off Route 155 in Harford County.

I’ll keep my eyes out for other accomodations, and try to provide some photos of these places between now, and August 20th. As I mentioned above, if you have questions, want me to take some photos of places, or even stop by some of these bed and breakfasts with questions, let me know. If you do book a place, please let me know that too, so that I can contact you for some of the events we are planning. Thanks.