Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary

Back in March 2012, we hiked in the Jug Bay Natural Area of Patuxent River Park.  In our blog entry on that hiked, we noted that the area was still bare of vegetation from winter, and we expressed the hope to get back shortly when the area was greener.  Well, it's only been 8.5 years, and today, August 9, 2020, we finally got back in the middle of leafy summer.  Rereading our original blog entry, we found that it was pretty spare.  It didn't give a very good idea of the beauty of this area.  We'll remedy that shortcoming this time.

We drove over to Jackson Landing on Jug Bay after completing our hike in the Glendening Nature Preserve (see our prior blog entry on that hike).  The day was so hot and muggy, that we decided to eat our lunch in the Jeep before venturing out in the midday sun to take a look at Jug Bay.

It sits only a few miles south of our campground, and within an easy paddle from where we last put our kayaks into the Patuxent River to paddle the Patuxent Wetland Park on August 2.  So, this view of the Patuxent River seemed comfortably familiar as the river flowed lazily toward the Solomons at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay:

This is a paddler's paradise.  While we were standing at the overlook, we spotted numerous paddlers on the water, and a number more getting ready to put in.  On our drive to Jug Bay, we must have passed three or four cars carrying kayaks out of the park after completing their morning excursions.  We hope to bring our own kayaks over soon and explore Jug Bay itself, which lies beyond the grasses past which this fellow is floating:

This area is also part of the the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve designated in 1991 as one of 29 protected areas that make up the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, which was established to promote informed management of the nation's estuaries and coastal habitats and protects more than 1.3 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitats for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship.

We decided to hike the main boardwalk trail out to an observation platform.  Much of the boardwalk brought us close to the unique ecosystem of coastal estuaries:

As we turned one corner, Kathy's knees were pleasantly surprised to run into their Cypress cousins!

And, again, the lush, colorful, late summer blossoms greeted us at every turn:

Our path took us through a lilypad-filled lagoon --

-- and out another boardwalk through water grasses and water-friendly trees:

The sinuous arms of the Patuxent River tickled our paddling fancies and made us wish we'd brought our kayaks with us!

The first red leaf of Autumn!

We worked our way around the estuary on another boardwalk trail, and then climbed a hill out of the wet areas, and, to our surprise, popped right out into the center of the Patuxent Rural Life Museums, where we met up again with historic buildings we had seen in 2012, such as the Duckett Cabin, built in the late 19th century, which is a rare surviving example of a tenant farming family's home:

According to local oral history, it was built by Charles Duckett, a former slave on their farm who served in the Union Navy during the Civil War. Three outbuildings are located next to the Duckett Cabin: a one-hole wooden privy from the early twentieth century, a chicken coop, and a meat house. The meat house contains stretchers for drying animal hides and was used to store smoked meats. These outbuildings were brought to the complex from farms in Prince George's County where they were no longer in use and in danger of being destroyed.

Then, of course, we also had to say hello to the Sears Roebuck and Company 1923 Simplex sectional house, which was also the subject of our March 2012 blog entry.  This classic house was moved to Patuxent Rural Life Museums from Clinton, Maryland in 2004 in order to save it from demolition. A pre-fabricated mail-order house originally purchased by Lowe Steed for $443, it contains three rooms with no plumbing or electricity. Sold by Sears Roebuck and Company, sectional houses served the needs of working-class families in rural areas. The house is furnished with period pieces.

By this time, the hot August sun had worn us down and we were sweaty and in need of a shower and some hydration.  We hiked back to the Jeep and returned the few miles to our campground, while trying to match today's impressions of Jug Bay with the few, sketchy memories we have of our visit to this place over eight years ago.

But, of course, that is one of the main purposes of our blog:  to serve as our memory, where we record our travels and experience for those times when perhaps we can't remember all the details.

Now to turn to what our next adventure might be...