10 things to do at Blackwater Bend before you drive anywhere

Guests arrive with a list. Blackwater Refuge, the Tubman center, crabs in Cambridge, maybe Hoopers Island if there’s time. All good. But the most common thing we hear at checkout is some version of we didn’t leave the property as much as we planned to.

So before the itinerary, here is what’s already here.

1. Take the kayaks out at sunrise

The Little Blackwater is tidal but barely moves, and at six in the morning it is glass. Three kayaks, paddles and life jackets live under the trees by the dock. Push off from the lawn, go left, and paddle until the marsh closes in.

Bring the coffee with you. Nobody is out there.

2. Fish off the dock

Perch, catfish, the occasional rockfish. Nothing you need a boat for. The dock has a picnic table, which makes this a very civilized way to spend a morning.

3. Swim before ten

The pool is open Memorial Day through October, runs three to eight feet, and holds heat well into September. It faces east, so the early swim gets full sun and no crowd.

One serious note: the pool is not fenced. Kids and inexperienced swimmers need eyes on them, every time.

4. Ride the farm loop

Six bikes in the barn. The roads out here are flat, straight and mostly empty — you can ride two abreast and hold a conversation. Do the loop before breakfast or take them the whole way into Cambridge if you’re feeling ambitious.

5. Find the sika deer

Sika are not native — they’re a small Japanese elk released on James Island in 1916 that took to the Dorchester marsh better than anyone expected. They come out at dawn and dusk near the field edges. They bugle in the fall, which is a strange and excellent sound to hear from the porch.

6. Run the pool table tournament

The riverfront sunroom has a pool table on one side and a ping-pong table on the other. Set a bracket on the first night. It will run all week.

7. Cook one real meal

The kitchen opens onto a walnut table that seats eight, with two more at the counter. Buy crabs on the way in, steam them, and eat outside at the table for ten with a mallet and a roll of paper towels. This is the correct use of this house.

8. Build a fire

There’s a wood-burning fire pit out on the lawn and a wood-burning fireplace inside. From October on, use both.

9. Look up

There are no streetlights for miles. On a clear night the sky out here is genuinely dark — Milky Way dark. Walk out to the middle of the lawn, let your eyes adjust for ten minutes, and lie down.

10. Sit on the dock and do nothing

Listed last, done most. Bring a book you don’t finish.

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Every one of these is free, and none of them require leaving the driveway. When you are ready to go somewhere, the area guide is where to start.