Salisbury

About 30 miles from the coast, Salisbury is the largest city on Maryland's Eastern Shore. But this city of 32,000 people somehow manages to feel big and small at the same time. "We're a very small, quaint town, but as far as the Eastern Shore is concerned, we're one of the biggest cities here," says local Realtor and Salisbury native Charlene Spence with Keller Williams. "Downtown Salisbury has a lot of amenities, lots of restaurants and nice shops. It has an old town feel." Downtown Salisbury offers a lively, walkable community for residents who want to be near the shopping and dining but still enjoy a small-town neighborhood. Residents are just minutes away from popular shops, restaurants and parks and can walk to many city destinations. Residents have easy access to several popular restaurants downtown. Brew River is a waterfront eatery serving seafood and craft beer. Locals enjoy the crab cakes and crab dip at this restaurant, which also doubles as a nightclub for those who like to stay up late. Market Street Inn is another waterfront restaurant with a large outdoor patio known for its jerk chicken and jambalaya. Residents can shop for discount groceries at Save A Lot on Cypress Street. There is also an ACME Market south of the neighborhood on South Salisbury Boulevard. Main Street is lined with brick and stone buildings home to local shops, such as Breathe Interiors, Veronica Blooms and Lurking Class Skate Shop. The city recently started a new program called Downtown Ambassadors. These volunteers can give people directions to shops and restaurants and even give people rides on their golf carts. Homes in Downtown Salisbury are often Victorian-style houses with spacious front porches that wrap around the home and turret windows. There are also large Colonial Revival homes and traditional foursquares with symmetrical facades. Homes come in many colors, including white, yellow, blue and red. Houses are pretty close together, but some have good-sized yards. Sidewalks line the streets, which are shaded by mature trees on each side. Homebuyers can find a four-bedroom home under $100,000 if they're willing to put in a little work to fix it up. Well-kept houses in the area typically cost between $250,000 and $350,000. Condos in the commercial areas of the neighborhood cost around $150,000 for one bedroom or $250,000 for two bedrooms. There is always something going on in Downtown Salisbury for residents to enjoy. "We have a lot of events going on. Every month, we have an arts event called Third Friday. Vendors set up outside, and we have a band and other activities relating to a theme," says Vanessa Junkin, the Marketing and Outreach Manager for the city's Arts, Business and Culture Department. "We have a summer concert series at the amphitheater called Friday Night Live." The city also hosts the Hops on the River beer-tasting event and the Maryland Folk Festival, which features live performances, food vendors, and a marketplace. Residents can visit popular outdoor recreation areas like Salisbury City Park. This extensive riverside park offers room for fishing, tennis courts, walking and biking paths and playgrounds. Residents can bring a picnic and gather with friends and family at one of the pavilions or picnic tables. The Salisbury Zoo is located in the middle of the park and hosts several species of animals, including monkeys, bears, bison and wolves. City Park also has a small skate park where skating enthusiasts can work on their skills. Residents looking to spend a day on the water can put a boat in at the Riverside Boat Ramp, just off Riverside Drive on the river's south bank. Residents can stroll along the river on the Salisbury Riverwalk, a concrete path that follows the water. Salisbury Parkway is the main east-to-west road through town and gives Downtown Salisbury residents an easy way to get around. The road connects to U.S. Route 50 on either side of the city, giving residents a route east to the shore or west inland towards Annapolis and Washington, D.C. Residents can also use Shore Transit to get around if they prefer public transportation. Students in Downtown Salisbury might attend West Salisbury Elementary School, North Salisbury Elementary School, Salisbury Middle School and Wicomico High School. North Salisbury Elementary is rated an A-minus by Niche, while West Salisbury is rated a B-plus. Salisbury Middle School gets a B-minus rating, and Wicomico High is rated a B overall. The high school serves approximately 1,200 students with a student-teacher ratio of 14-to-1. The school offers a JROTC program and an Interactive Media career program. Students in this curriculum learn software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere to produce photos, graphic design and videos.

During the era of racial segregation, Church Street-Doverdale was the core of Salisbury’s Black community, with flourishing churches, businesses and schools. After U.S. Routes 13 and 50 were built in the ‘70s, much of the neighborhood’s original structures were destroyed, though a few remain. For instance, the Charles H. Chipman Cultural Center was once a Methodist church that’s now a museum with rotating exhibits on the neighborhood’s history and Maryland’s slave trade. A mural of influential former residents, like World War I veteran Sergeant William A. Butler, adorns the side of a building at the corner of Church Street and U.S. Route 13, where locals will also find a small pocket park. Aside from the neighborhood’s historic element, David Willman, a Realtor with eXp Realty and Salisbury local, says the neighborhood also has metropolitan convenience. “Walkability is a huge selling point here. You’re basically right next to downtown Salisbury and Salisbury City Park.” Both less than a mile south, downtown Salisbury has cozy bars and art galleries inside Italianate-style storefronts, while Salisbury City Park offers 100 acres of green space wrapped around the lily pad-covered Wicomico River. There are homes built between the 1920s and ‘50s along Church Street-Doverdale’s sidewalk-lined roads. National-style homes and Colonial Revivals sit on unfenced 4,000-square-foot lots, often shaded by a mature white oak tree. Grass and gravel driveways typically lead to detached one-car garages behind three-bedroom Cape Cod cottages. Willman says most houses here are initially sold as investment properties, a factor driving the market. “Almost every house that hits the market is meant to be remodeled or already has been because of their age. Once a house gets that fresh coat of paint and new appliances, they sell much quicker.” Compared to a Salisbury home’s average $300,000 selling price, non-renovated homes in Church Street-Doverdale usually start at $125,000, while renovated homes here may reach $250,000. Residents should be advised that the neighborhood receives a motor vehicle theft score of 7 on the Cap Index, higher than the U.S. average of 4. The yellow and orange equipment at the Church Street Playground on East William Street includes monkey bars and other climbing structures. Kids play basketball on Truitt Community Center’s red and blue court every Saturday during the open gym time. Playgrounds, vintage lampposts and black metal benches dot nearby Salisbury City Park’s green space around the Wicomico River. At the park's core, bison, bobcats and 100 other animals roam the naturalistic enclosures of the Salisbury Zoo, which has no admission fee. Tennis balls whack against rubber courts, and chain link fencing encloses the dirt terrain dog park nearby. Kids often sled down City Park's hilly spots every winter, but Willman says it’s still busiest during the summer. “There’s a concert series in July, and it’s really popular. People will bring picnics and bottles of wine while they sit in the grass and listen to music.” At these events, American flags hang from the white and green bandstand, where sounds of flutes and trumpets played by the Salisbury Community Band members fill the air. Ocean City Beach, lined with Ferris wheels and rollercoasters, and Assateague State Park, known for its white sand shoreline and wild horse herd, are less than 35 miles east of Church Street-Doverdale. Named for a former local high school principal, the Charles H. Chipman Cultural Center hosts a few events, including a Juneteenth celebration, inviting local jewelry makers, DJs and food trucks to the parking lot every year. The neighborhood also has several churches, including the red-brick Grace United Methodist Church on Barclay Street. Christian Shelter is a food bank and homeless shelter on the same street. Parkway Church of God’s white steeple towers over Edison Street, and the Cathedral of Love has an outdoor service every Wednesday night during the summer. Children can attend East Salisbury Elementary School and Wicomico Middle School, both earning a C-plus from Niche. They may continue to B-rated Wicomico High School, where Advanced Placement classes include German, music theory and mechanics. Japanese Maple trees and Georgian-style buildings fill Salisbury University’s 200-acre campus, just 3 miles southwest of the neighborhood. The school offers over 60 undergraduate degree programs, ranging from exercise science to elementary education. Gas stations, fast-food restaurants and a post office can be found along U.S. Route 50 on the neighborhood’s southern edge. Rainforest murals adorn the walls of La Tolteca, a two-story regional Mexican chain that’s been on Truitt Street since the 1990s. Save-A-Lot is the closest grocery store, less than 2 miles west on Cypress Street. As locals walk the red-brick sidewalks of downtown Salisbury, they’ll come across even more restaurants. For instance, string lights stretch across the riverside patio behind Market Street Inn, a former 1940s seafood shack now known for its extensive wine menu and live music on Friday nights. At the end of September, harmonica players, fiddlers and acoustic guitarists perform at the Maryland Folk Festival, closing most of the downtown area to car traffic for the weekend. Though the neighborhood is walkable, it’s also convenient for several types of travel. U.S. Route 50 is about 3 miles north of the neighborhood, making Annapolis about a 90-mile drive west and Washington, D.C., and Baltimore 120 miles in the same direction. A Shore Transit bus stop is off North Salisbury Boulevard in front of the ES Adkins Business Center. Traffic occasionally backs up on streets intersecting with the Delmarva Central Railroad in the neighborhood’s northern region. Semi-trucks are common around the neighborhood due to the presence of a few construction supply warehouses, like Shore Distributors and Bay Steel. Residents may also hear sirens frequently as the Salisbury Fire Department is on Brown Street. TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, the closest hospital, is about 2 miles southwest of the neighborhood, and the Salisbury Regional Airport is 5 miles east, offering daily flights with American Airlines.

In the somewhat industrial Doverdale, about 3 miles northeast of downtown Salisbury, residential streets weave around storage facilities, auto repair shops and construction supply warehouses. Freight trains whistle as they drive along the Delmarva Central Railroad in the western and southern regions of the neighborhood. Kids can play basketball in the Truitt Community Center and learn lacrosse skills at Doverdale Park, while nearby Salisbury City Park has over 100 acres of green space wrapped around the lily pad-covered Wicomico River. Though houses here can be over a century old, David Willman, a Realtor with eXp Realty and a Salisbury local, says that factor lowers the average selling price. “Houses in the Doverdale area almost always need to be gutted and repainted, but that’s why it’s more affordable than the rest of Salisbury.” Compared to a Salisbury home’s average $300,000 selling price, buying in Doverdale usually costs between $125,000 and $225,000. Weeds grow through the neighborhood’s cracked sidewalks, lined with homes built between the 1920s and ‘60s. Bungalows painted in shades of beige and white sit on 6,000-square-foot lots, often dotted with mature white oak trees. Chain link fencing typically encloses American Foursquare houses' front and backyards. Gravel driveways lead to detached one-car garages alongside three-bedroom Cape Cod cottages. There's also the Moss Hill Townhouses complex, which has Colonial Revival units available to rent in the neighborhood’s northeastern corner. Residents should be advised that the neighborhood scores a 7 on the Cap Index for motor vehicle theft, higher than the U.S. average of 4. Locals can walk to Doverdale Park on Vaden Avenue, where the red and white playground includes a twisty steel slide. The Doverdale Lax Youth Lacrosse Program is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from March through May on the park’s green space, inviting local kids to learn the sport’s basic skills free of charge. Every Saturday, the Truitt Community Center hosts open shootarounds inside on its rubber-surfaced blue and red basketball court. Even with these two recreation hubs, Willman says Salisbury’s downtown park is the most popular green space in the city. “Salisbury City Park is the most active park we’ve got, no matter where you live. There’s a dog park, a zoo and a bunch of picnic tables. People also come here to sled when it snows.” Black steel benches and vintage lampposts surround Salisbury City Park’s riverside walking paths and loblolly pine trees shade nature trails. The Salisbury Zoo at the center of the park has over 100 animals, including two-toed sloths, capybaras and Nigerian dwarf goats. The area has day-trip options too. Both less than 35 miles east of Doverdale, Ocean City Beach’s boardwalk is covered in Ferris wheels and rollercoasters, while Assateague State Park is known for wild horses that gallop across its white sand beaches. A few essentials are available at the Family Dollar and the La Mexicana II grocery store off North Salisbury Boulevard, also home to a Pep Boys tire shop, an AutoZone and a U-Haul storage facility. Save-A-Lot is the closest supermarket, less than 3 miles west of the neighborhood on Cypress Street. Fresh caught crab and rockfish sit atop ice behind the glass counter at the shack-style storefront of Skip Jack Seafood, located on Old Ocean City Road on the neighborhood’s southern edge. A bright blue contemporary-style building on the same street houses Johnny’s Sub Shop, a family-owned spot known for cheesesteaks and bacon bagel sandwiches since 1990. Semi-trucks drive in and out of the ABC Supply roofing warehouse on Moss Hill Lane. Riverfront breweries, cozy coffee shops and art galleries occupy the Italianate-style buildings of downtown Salisbury. A portion of Market Street in the downtown area shuts down every Saturday during the summer for the Shore Fresh Growers Farmers Market, where vendors sell wildflower bouquets, artisan bread loaves and seasonal produce. Children can attend East Salisbury Elementary School and Wicomico Middle School, both graded a C-plus by Niche. Though East Salisbury Elementary is located on Old Ocean City Road in Doverdale, Willman says most students don’t walk to school because the street is too busy for pedestrians. Students may continue to B-rated Wicomico High School, where Advanced Placement classes include Japanese, macroeconomics and human geography. Wicomico Day School is a private prekindergarten through eighth-grade option also on Old Ocean City Road. Light pink crape myrtle trees and red-brick Georgian-style buildings fill Salisbury University’s 200-acre campus 3 miles southwest of Doverdale. The school offers 60 undergraduate degree programs, including nursing, marketing and elementary education. Though residents can walk to local parks, Doverdale is a car-dependent community. U.S. Route 50 is 2 miles north, making Annapolis a 90-mile drive west and Washington, D.C., and Baltimore 120 miles in the same direction. The closest Shore Transit bus stop is off North Salisbury Boulevard in front of the ES Adkins Business Center. Salisbury Regional Airport, about 5 miles southeast, offers flights with American Airlines. The closest hospital, TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, is less than 3 miles southwest.

As Salisbury’s southernmost suburb, Eden offers a pastoral setting with easy access to metropolitan conveniences. “This area is about as rural as it gets for Salisbury,” says Michele Pompa, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, who has sold several homes in the area. “That’s what people want when they move here, though. It’s really quiet, and you have to drive a bit to get just about anywhere.” Midcentury homes sit across the street from wide-open fields and soybean crops, traversed by above-ground power lines. Greenhouses, flower fields and a small clapboard-facade shop make up The How Sweet It Is Produce Market & Garden Center, one of several farmers market-style shops in the area. Locals can kayak along the Wicomico Creek, spanning the neighborhood’s western edge, or go to the white sand beaches of nearby Assateague State Park. Seafood restaurants, art galleries and cozy bars fill Italianate-style storefronts in nearby downtown Salisbury, and U.S. Route 13 at Eden’s core leads to several East Coast cities. <br><br>Homes built between the 1950s and ‘70s line Eden’s winding asphalt roads. Beige and white manufactured homes sit on 1-acre lots, often dotted with American beech and white pine trees. Gravel driveways stretch alongside three-bedroom Cape Cod cottages with unfenced backyards. Custom-built New Traditional homes have also started popping up on 2-acre plots within the last decade, a trend that Pompa says drives the market. “There’s a lot of opportunity to buy empty land and build your own house in Eden, and that’s slowly making the area grow. I’ve heard of plots selling in less than five days.” Buying a house or land site here typically costs between $125,000 and $400,000, a range similar to a Salisbury home’s average $250,000 selling price. Heavy rainfall often causes Wicomico Creek to overflow, putting houses closest to it in a flood zone. <br><br>On the western shore of Wicomico Creek, Douglas Nichols Park has picnic tables shaded by oak trees and a blue and red playground with slides, seesaws and a swing set. After launching a kayak or canoe here, locals can follow the waterway about 5 miles southwest to reach the Wicomico River, lined with marinas, breweries and other pocket parks. Playgrounds, dog parks and a free zoo surround the portion of the river spanning Salisbury’s core. But even with these recreational hubs, Pompa says going to the beach is the most popular outdoor activity for residents. “Proximity to the coast is the main reason a lot of people move to the Salisbury area. Assateague State Park is about an hour away, but people still drive to it on the weekends.” With a $5 entry fee per car, Assateague State Park is 40 miles east of Eden. Wood slat fencing and American beach grass surround the sandy shoreline, where wild horses are often seen galloping. Visitors can also hike atop sand dunes or across boardwalk routes traversing salt marsh terrain. <br><br>Children can attend Princess Anne Elementary School, rated a B by Niche, and Somerset Intermediate School, earning a C. They may continue 8th through 12th grade at C-rated Washington High School & Academy, where dual enrollment classes with Wor-Wic Community College include public speaking, French and American history. Salisbury University’s 220-acre campus is 8 miles north of Eden, while the historically Black University of Maryland Eastern Shore is 6 miles south. <br><br>Local honey, Delaware-made wine and seasonal produce stock the wood shelves inside How Sweet It Is on Stockyard Road. Outside, the garden center has mulch piles, fields of perennial flower bushes and rows of young trees. Located in a renovated wooden chicken coop, Coops to Co-op is another nearby farmers market, where vendors sell goods like stained-glass art, dried elderflower and handmade clothes every Saturday from May through October. While locals can grab a few essentials from Dollar General, Walmart Supercenter is the closest big-box grocery store, just 4 miles north on U.S. Route 13. Black vintage lampposts and young ginkgo trees line the red-brick sidewalks of Salisbury’s Main Street. Red, white and blue umbrellas shade black iron tables on the patio at Roadie Joe’s, where locals enjoy bar food and live music every night. Rows of wine and whiskey bottles sit behind the mahogany bar at Mogan’s Oyster House, a contemporary eatery known for fried oyster sliders and cream spinach-covered oysters Rockefeller.<br><br>Eden is a car-dependent community as there are no bus stops, and residential streets don’t have any sidewalks, but Pompa says locals rarely have to drive far. “Most people who live in Eden work in Salisbury or the surrounding small towns. Long commutes aren’t super common, but it’s still nice to be near big cities.” A 150-mile drive north on U.S. Route 13 and Delaware Route 1 puts drivers in Philadelphia. Washington D.C. and Baltimore are 130 miles west via U.S. Route 50. The Salisbury Regional Airport offers daily flights with American Airlines, and TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Hospital is also located near Salisbury’s core.

As the Eastern Shore’s largest reservoir, Johnson Pond and its surrounding residential pocket offer residents a lush, forested setting less than 3 miles north of downtown Salisbury. Loblolly pine and white oak trees tower over midcentury houses, some of which have kayak launches and fishing docks backing up to the pond. And it’s this wooded environment that separates the neighborhood from others, according to Diana Whitney, a Salisbury resident and the owner-broker of Whitney-Wallace Commercial Real Estate Services. “Everything feels very private and quiet in this area compared to most neighborhoods so close to downtown. Houses sit on quarter-to-half-acre lots, and that’s a decent size for Salisbury because most houses here barely have 10,000 square feet.” Seafood restaurants, cozy bars and art galleries fill Italianate-style storefronts in downtown Salisbury, where locals will also find playgrounds and walking paths surrounding the Wicomico River at Salisbury City Park. Homes built in the 1960s and ‘70s line Johnson Pond’s wide, asphalt roads. Cape Cod cottages sit on quarter-acre lots covered in fallen pine needles and blue hydrangea bushes. Ornamental shrubs typically surround long driveways leading to two-car garages under split-level homes. Kayak storage racks often sit behind red brick ranch styles with three bedrooms on Johnson Pond’s dirt and grass shoreline. The Johnson Pond Dam near Isabella Street prevents the waterway from flooding. Buying here can cost between $225,000 and $400,000, a range similar to a Salisbury home’s average $300,000 selling price. Whitney says pond frontage and lot size contribute to the neighborhood’s low housing stock. “It’s a beautiful area because of the water, and there’s tons of space for kids to run around. Families buy here and stay here, so houses almost never go up for sale.” Children can attend North Salisbury Elementary School, graded an A-minus by Niche, and Salisbury Middle School, earning a B-minus. They may continue to B-rated Wicomico High School, where dual enrollment classes with nearby Salisbury University include Korean, concert band and earth and space science. “People here are usually really into kayaking and fishing,” Whitney says. “If they don’t have private access, they drive to the Westside neighborhood for the public spots.” Named for a local civil rights activist, Billy Gene Jackson Sr. Park is about 3 miles away on the pond’s western shore. Anglers can catch bluegill, black crappie and largemouth bass from the wooden fishing pier here. Rainbow-colored picnic tables are under the pavilion, painted with a mural of the green space’s namesake. The park is also home to the Salvation Army Richard Hazel Youth Center, where kids compete in basketball leagues on the court inside and play baseball games on the diamond outside. Red, white and blue Adirondack chairs surround the lifeguard-protected swimming pool, which has swim lessons every summer morning. In May, the Salisbury Kwanza Club hosts a Community Field Day, where locals compete in potato sack races, listen to live DJ sets and enjoy snow cone food trucks. Local jewelry makers, artisan bakeries and voter registration tents fill the green space for the Juneteenth celebration put on by the same club. A paddle boat launch is near the park off Rose Street. Heading north, kayakers will pass waterfront houses and Parsons Cemetery, ultimately ending at a cypress tree-filled swamp. While swimming in the pond is prohibited, numerous Maryland beaches are about 35 miles east of the neighborhood. For instance, Ferris wheels and funnel cake stands line the Ocean City Beach and Boardwalk, while wild horses run around Assateague State Park’s white sand shoreline. Black vintage lampposts, bike racks and ginkgo trees dot the red-brick sidewalks of downtown Salisbury. Locals can eat from the raw bar at Mogan’s Oyster House, located in a renovated 1920s hotel, and then walk to The Brick Room, a speakeasy-style spot known for its hand-crafted cocktails and blues music nights. Rotating local photography and impressionist paintings hang on the white walls of Salisbury Art Space, a gallery that’s been here since 1954. In the downtown’s southern area, the 3-mile Salisbury Riverwalk loops around the Wicomico River, connecting several pocket parks and the Salisbury City Park, home to tennis courts, a castle-themed playground and the Salisbury Zoo. A Walmart Supercenter, Barnes & Noble and Lowes are less than 5 miles north of the neighborhood in the U.S. Route 13 shopping corridor. There are no sidewalks or public transportation options around Johnson Pond, making it a car-dependent community. The U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 13 interchange is about 4 miles north of the neighborhood. A 120-mile drive west on U.S. Route 50 leads to Washington D.C. and Baltimore, while 105 miles north on U.S. Route 13 reaches Wilmington. Residents may hear freight train horns from the Delmarva Central Railroad on the neighborhood’s eastern edge. Salisbury Regional Airport offers daily flights with American Airlines, about 6 miles southeast of the neighborhood. Located in a Georgian Revival-style building, Deer’s Head Hospital Center has an 80-bed nursing home, a kidney dialysis unit and a hospice facility in the neighborhood’s southwestern corner. The closest emergency room is 2 miles away at the TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Hospital.