Robert Lambdin House (401 Water Street)

On the corner and fronting the harbor is the one-and-a-half story house built by shipbuilder Robert Lambdin. Lambdin had learned the shipbuilding trade as an apprentice in Saint Michaels during the War of 1812, and though he was then too young to serve in the militia, he witnessed the British attack on the town in 1813. Lambdin left to build vessels in Baltimore, employing Frederick Bailey—who later became the famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass—as a ship caulker until he disguised himself as a sailor and made his way to freedom in 1838. Lambdin returned to his native Saint Michaels around 1840, building his house and renting the end of the adjacent street for his shipyard. Here, Lambdin built schooners, pungies and bugeyes—the common oyster dredging vessels of his day—until his sons took over the operation.