And, a bit farther down Route 5, we were fortunate enough to stumble upon an Amish market, "Zimmerman's Greenhouse", that has nearly perfect plants and an egg bread that is to die for. Needless to say, we came home with a wonderful mother lode of goodies, some of which ended up in our neighbor's hands (a neighbor who now includes us in her will; well, almost).

Our garden, meticulously maintained by Tom, is now replete with gorgeous pansies from the Amish market, and for the past few weeks, the egg bread has been an integral part of our evening meals. Their banana nut and pumpkin breads were as good as it gets. All these breads were baked by the Huber family, according to the hand-printed label.

Subsequent to our purchase, we sought out the artist's name from Ms. Marlin and shortly received a brochure from Linda M. Epstein, the artist - the brochure was from an exhibit of Linda's paintings and displayed 14 of her works.

She enclosed a note, explaining that this show was held at the North End Gallery in Leonardtown. When we expressed an interest in seeing more of her work, she invited us to visit her studio.

We fell in love with several of the paintings from the brochure and purchased "Two Good Horses" (above) and a second one ("Hunter") during our visit with Linda at her home, which also serves as her studio.

On a subsequent trip to the North End Gallery late in March 2006, we purchased our fifth Epstein painting - two hounds entitled "What's This?"

We collect paintings, and our collection includes works from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Linda's oils are among our favorite and add a sporting life character to an eclectic palette of religious, genre, and contemporary art. We have included images of our five Epstein paintings on this site.

As described on their web site, the North End Gallery is owned and operated by Southern Maryland artists and features original and limited edition fine art.

The gallery's mission is to “promote and encourage an appreciation of the arts and art education in Southern Maryland".

Their art includes oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings, hand-pulled serigraphs, drawings, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, decorative art, painted silk scarves, photography, stained glass and digital images.

St. Mary's County has been making history since the Ark and Dove arrived here from England in March, 1634.

Maryland was the 4th successful English colony in the new world and St Mary's is known as the Mother County of Maryland.

The St. Mary's County Historical Society is currently using two unique buildings in Leonardtown.

Historic Tudor Hall, located at the end of Tudor Hall Lane and within Tudor Hall Circle, houses their business office, research center, book store and gift shop, information center, and museum collection.

The Old Jail serves as an Information Center for St. Mary's County during certain times of the year. This building also serves as a museum which contains many artifacts relating to the history of St. Mary's County.

The first floor became the quarters of the jailer and his family. The south room was a living room, dining room and kitchen, while the north room was a bedroom. On the second floor were three cells.

The north one was a large cell used for black men, the southeast cell was used for white men and the small cell on the southwest was for women.

Located in an uncompromised setting above the Patuxent River, Sotterley Plantation has been described as "older than Mount Vernon, older than Monticello, {and} older than the nation itself" (Sotterley Foundation brochure).

This magnificent eighteenth century structure enjoys an unparalleled setting graced with rolling lawns and fields, towering trees, a romantic Colonial Revival garden, and period as well as Colonial Revival support buildings.

St. Francis Xavier Church located off Route 243, near Leonardtown, Maryland was constructed in 1766 to replace an earlier 1662 church near this same site.

Architecturally significant and rare are its two octagonal shaped brick ends.

St. Francis is the oldest Catholic Church in continuous use in English-speaking America and today occupies a site on a 700 acre modern Jesuit farm off of Newtown Bay.

Its setting conveys the feeling of isolation that must have been present in the Colonial period, and its survival shows the dedication and spirituality of the southern Maryland Catholic community.

In April, 1766, two acres of land, called Waldrums' Old Field, were purchased from Samuel Bellwood for five pounds currency as a site for a new church - St. Andrew's Episcopal Parish. Little is known of the architect of the church, Richard Boulton. He was an indentured servant to Colonel George Plate of Sotterley Plantation, an important parishioner of St. Andrew's, and crafted the woodwork at Sotterley.

The only other building known to have been constructed by Boulton is All Faith Church near Charlotte Hall. Boulton designed the church’s brick exterior with an unusual inset portico, a large Palladian window, and two towers.