Crownsville, MD (Baltimore, Columbia, Annapolis: real estate market, condos, low crime)

[pkoons]

Crownsville is best characterized as an Annapolis suburb, located directly northwest of the state's capital along the Severn River. Most people access neighborhoods and businesses in Crownsville along Generals Highway (Rt 178), which doglegs near the Veterans Cemetary just off of State Route 97. Crownsville is approximately 15 minutes from downtown Annapolis (just 5 minutes from Annapolis Mall), 25 minutes from Baltimore, and 40 minutes from Washington DC.

Crownsville provides a great mix of affluent and blue-collar suburbs that are relatively convenient to most of Maryland's high-job density ares (Annapolis, Baltimore, Columbia, DC, Ft Meade). Older neighborhoods such as Herald Harbor, Palisades, and Sunrise Beach were originally built as vacation communities along the Severn River, and now a lot of people make their primary residences there. They are great boating neighborhoods and homes range from $300,000 all the way up into the multimillions for waterfront properties with great river views. Newer neighborhoods such as Cranberry Woods, Sherwood Forest, and Eisenhower Country Club command $1 million plus for beautiful homes on huge lots. If you look at the city-data listing, the average Crownsville home was approaching $500,000 6 years ago - I'd bet it is in the $800-900K range nowadays.

One of the biggest draws in the Crownsville area is the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds off of Rt 178, which hosts the annual Renaissance Fair. This remarkably popular event hosts jousting tournaments, arts & crafts, and most importantly plenty of roast turkey legs to eat in Dark Ages-style. Crownsville is also the site of a large hospital complex that housed mental patients for many years.

As far as commerce in Crownsville, you may be better off taking a hike down to Gambrills (Waugh Chapel Center) for the basics or Annapolis for really good shopping and dining. That said, there are some independent businesses that dot Generals Highway including pet services, pubs, and a craft store near the Herald Harbor neighborhood. Other shopping essentials such as a dry cleaner and liquor store are found farther north by the Sunrise Beach community.

Maryland (and Rehoboth Beach in Delaware) are home to a really good chain of restaurants/bars/entertainment venues, the Ram's Head empire. Luckily, one of the best of the bunch lies in Crownsville - the Ram's Head Roadhouse. There are lots of great beers, plus they do a 100-beers of the world club that promotes "beer education" - very cool. Great cream-of-crab soup and sandwiches also. There are a few other places to grab a brew - Sonny's Lounge, the bars at the intersection of Generals Hwy & Veterans Hwy. You used to be able to hit up the sadly missed Herald Harbor Lounge (the "Hoot") as well, now it's just a convenience store. Best dining option? The aforementioned Ram's Head may take the cake, but there is a really cool & kitschy upscale casual place called Sputnik (look for the hand painted sign and the trinkets in the lawn).

Crownsville residents are quite opposed to new construction and overdevelopment, keeping housing costs higher and lot sizes much larger than the average city in the DC-Baltimore metro area. As it stands, Crownsville is a great place to live with relatively low crime, some great communities, and wonderful views of the Severn - all this 15 minutes away from the bustle of downtown Annapolis.

[Corgimom]

My hubby was born and raised in Herald Harbor and told me this interesting fact. Did you know that lots in Herald Harbor were originally given if you bought a subscription to a Washington newspaper? Many people owned lots down there that never even set eyes on them. 35 years ago when I used to hang out down there it was a place with a rather bad reputation ( but I think the locals spread that rumor to make it sound cool ). The houses were nothing to look at and many were just shacks. Today the real estate market is much different there and they are putting up some beautiful homes. Unfortunately some are situated next to "hold-outs" living in one of the shacks. I think the bar is probably still the gathering place. I have not even driven down to Herald Harbor in years (even though I live about 3 minutes away) but I have always thought it was a beautiful place.

[kmf]

Hello,

I'm getting ready to move to Maryland and not sure if I should go to school or what the job force is like. My soon-to-be husband and I will probably be moving around Pocomoke City - can you tell me if there is a newspaper or some other kind of way to get info about the area??

Hope you can help.
Thanks

[pkoons]

Corgimom, you are correct - Herald Harbor got it's name from the Washington Herald when the lots were given away as a subscription bonus. The whole promotion was done very haphazardly and lots were not surveyed well - lots are diagonal, L-shaped, etc. to this day, and have caused a lot of quarreling between neighbors. As for being a "rough area", I think that's pretty much all in the past - maybe the closing of the neighborhood bar helped this change. The neighborhood is primarily families, retirees, and military couples who work at nearby Ft. Meade.

Kmf, Pocomoke City is probably one of the better places to work on the so-called lower shore as the city houses a fair amount of light industry (gun manufacturers, chemicals & plastics, etc) along with retail outlet centers, a historic downtown area with other shops and restaurants. There are trails, docks, and parks along the Pocomoke River waterfront. If you are considering moving there, there is a new condo development with boating facilities - you will likely see more appreciation on these than the turn of the century homes throughout the rest of the city. You can snag a nice 3BR, 2BA for about $300K, which is unbelievable for a 2006-built water access property on the Eastern Shore (similar neighboring Crisfield condos, while bayfront instead of riverfront, are pushing $500K).

Nearby, you have Crisfield (22 miles away), which is known as the "crab capital" of the Eastern Shore, and many commercial fishermen live and work in the area. The resort town of Ocean City is about 35 miles away and has excellent nightlife (Seacrets for the party animals) and a host of good, if not great, seafood restaurants. I wish I could recommend a newspaper or website to give you more info - I hope this helps.

[Corgimom]

So they DID finally close the bar down in HH. We were down there last night delivering a van we sold and when we came out on the "one-way" we noticed the bar was dark. My husband and I were wondering if it had closed. We're wondering where all the locals are going (no names mentioned). Rams Head is too "upscale" for some of them. (They are old friends of ours and some have not progessed since the old days).