Something is happening here. Kyra Kristof Pincheira noticed it the day she and her husband moved to town. It was a “second Saturday”—the second Saturday of the month—when downtown merchants stay open late, offering discounts and snacks to entice browsers. “We walked into the first store,” Kyra says, “and we didn’t leave. We were there for four hours. Everybody was really glad to see us. They were all excited to tell us about Cambridge.”

The town overlooks grand sweeps of water where the mouth of the Choptank River merges with the Chesapeake Bay. The 2002 opening of Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa & Marina, just up the Choptank, brought a lot of moneyed visitors. Along Cambridge Creek in the center of town, rusty industrial sites gave way to condos and town houses.

Chic shops sprouted, too. Joie de Vivre, Joy Staniforth’s appropriately named art and textile gallery, occupies a storefront on Race Street, in the heart of Cambridge’s classic brick downtown. With work by 30-some local artists and craftspeople, and a burgeoning clientele, it’s no wonder she’s happy. “Now we have people coming to Cambridge to see art,” she says. Joy creates soft, hand-dyed textiles, often wearable, usually colorful, always intriguing in their blending of the practical and the whimsical. “I don’t have a pattern,” she admits. “I just make things up.”

Kyra is a painter. She and several other artists show their work at 447 Studios & Gallery. A trek up a long stairway to the second floor reveals a high-ceilinged central gallery ringed by offices-turned-studios. Visitors find artists happy to chat as they dab or sculpt. Many leave their studios open even when they’re absent.

Cambridge shoppers can find treasures other than art. At Sunnyside Shop, Heidi Griebel sells vibrant jewelry, clothing, and decorative items. Gourmet food and kitchenware fill A Few of My Favorite Things. The antiques at Wm. G. Willikers are worth waiting out the shop’s erratic hours. All of those reside downtown—along with some vacant buildings hoping for the rising tide to lift them, as well. Dave Harp, who exhibits his art at his Chesapeake Photos gallery, likes to take visitors to the soothing, bird-filled Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, 12 miles south of town.

Cambridge’s water vistas will always exert a powerful pull. The town may even come to resemble Easton and St. Michaels, two neighbors on Maryland’s traditionally rural Eastern Shore. Once populated largely by hardworking watermen, both centers now bristle with boutiques, upscale B&Bs, and second homes for Washington, D.C., power brokers. But Cambridge has remained more blue collar than blue blood. Says Barbara Harp, Dave’s wife, “Cambridge still has some rough edges. Which is good.”

Portrait of Cambridge
Art: Joie de Vivre; 410/228-7000. 447 Studios & Gallery; 410/770-8928 or 447studiosandgallery.com. Chesapeake Photos; 410/901-1300 or chesapeakephotos.com.

Lodging: Rates at Cambridge House start at $125; 877/221-7799 or cambridgehousebandb.com. Rates at Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa & Marina start at $189; 410/901-1234 or chesapeakebay.hyatt.com.

Dining: If you get to only one place for dinner, visit Blue Point Provision Co. for great seafood and gorgeous water views; 410/901-1234 or chesapeakebay.hyatt.com. Canvasback Restaurant & Pub serves lunch and dinner daily; 410/221-5177. Cambridge Grill serves breakfast and lunch daily; 410/228-0833.

Shopping: Sunnyside Shop; 410/901-9009. A Few of My Favorite Things; 410/221-1960. Wm. G. Willikers; 410/725-1273.

Outdoors: Birds in Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge are most active in early morning and evening; 410/228-2677 or blackwater.fws.gov.

More Information: Dorchester County Tourism Department; 800/522-8687 or tourdorchester.org.

Also: Artists slide show