Up a Creek Seems Mighty Fine

At lunchtime, David Lytwynec strolls the short distance from his office to Amos Garrett Park to savor nature's bounty. "On any given day," declared the telecommunications engineer, looking across at the bobbing sailboats on Spa Creek, "I can see osprey hunting in pairs on the water. And great blue heron. It's a neat place to see birds." Lytwynec, who lives outside Baltimore, said he would like to live in Murray Hill -- if he could afford it.

"There's a lot of rehab going on," he added, pointing to a rambling house with a bright red roof. "It's absolutely gorgeous."

Like many Annapolis residents, Kevin Mills, 44, an engineer in Crystal City, faces a long commute to his job. To avoid westbound Route 50, which clogs early, he is out the door from 4:30 a.m. to 5 a.m., returning home most days by 4 p.m. For relaxation, the family keeps a home on the water in Southern Maryland.

"We go there on weekends when it gets too crowded in Annapolis," Emily Mills said.

The city, with its salty sea breezes, certainly attracts crowds. Along with annual sailboat and powerboat shows, January brings state lawmakers who descend to debate issues during the 90-day session of the General Assembly. Come June, Commissioning Week at the U.S. Naval Academy brings hordes of beaming parents; this year, President Bush delivered the featured address at graduation.

Bonnie Gale adds one more regular event to her calendar. On many autumn Saturdays, when she wants to leave her Murray Hill home to go grocery shopping across town, she has learned to wait. "I just know I don't go when the midshipmen are marching to football games [at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium] from the Naval Academy."

Her husband, Hamilton, who owns a boat towing business (motto: "We don't charge an arm and a leg, we just want your tows"), said his grandparents settled in Murray Hill in 1904. Whenever his grandmother would head downtown to shop, she would be gone for three hours, "because she knew everybody" and would stop and chat.

"She was also proud of the fact that she was the first woman driver in Annapolis. She would drive all day to avoid a penny parking meter," he added with a laugh.

Standing in cutoffs under the shade of an 80-foot oak tree in his front yard, Gale grumbled that he is paying $12,000 a year in taxes to the city and county. "Sooner or later, the taxes are going to drive us out of here," he said.

In 1998, Denise Worthen and her husband moved from Bowie to Murray Hill. Life in Bowie, which she described as "the very essence of a family neighborhood," left her not knowing many of her neighbors. "In Murray Hill, we are closer to our neighbors both physically and emotionally," said Worthen, who, like her husband, works as a contractor at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

"I can't tell you how many times the four or five families at the end of my street end up talking out on the sidewalk. Everyone's kids are running around and the dogs are barking. It's just a normal summer evening spent socializing with your neighbors," she said.

"From my perspective, Murray Hill sits at the 'sweet spot' in Annapolis. We are close to the historic district, but not too close. . . . We sit on Spa Creek, and even if you aren't lucky enough to live on the water, we have several small waterfront parks where you can sit or even launch a kayak."

One recent afternoon, Agnes Mamzer and Regine Haas, au pairs from Germany, relaxed on a beach towel in the front yard of a house on Monticello Avenue. "I like the neighbors and the water," said Mamzer, 22. "I don't live close to the water in Germany."

Haas, 21, a graduate of Anne Arundel Community College, said: "I like the water, too, the people and the seafood. But I have to go home in October," she said, sighing.