Choptank Retreat

This waterfront property is situated on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and serves as a peaceful retreat from the busy pace of life in DC. The owner is thoughtfully reshaping the property as an integrated farming compound, expanding the primary residence, renovating the guest cottage and building new outbuildings. Architectural enhancements are paired with new, contemporary landscapes for outdoor living: a dining terrace, an outdoor kitchen, a swimming pool, a fire pit and a restored beach for seasonal swimming in the bay. Close to the house, the terrain is subtly manipulated to elevate the residence for greater resiliency in the face of future storm surges and sea-level rise. Low retaining walls of large, dry-stacked stones create a modest plinth for the house with a fringe of native perennials and grasses. New hedgerows and holly groves provide beautiful, all-season screening from adjacent properties. The edges of the property are being replanted as living shoreline and the interior of the site, as acres of restored Chesapeake Bay habitat: salt marsh, native meadows and a riparian woodland. Central to every aspect of the design is ecological stewardship and bay conservation.