Pawpaws, A Box Turtle, And A Crab Cake At The Susquehanna River’s End In Havre de Grace

We don’t have pawpaws or  blue crabs near my home in Luzerne County in Northeastern Pennsylvania.Pawpaws are a new experience in my life. I only had my first paw paw a few years ago. A friend gave me one. I immediately loved it and learned about this native  fruit so few people  know about or tasted. Two years ago, on a visit to Havre de Grace where I found a lot of pawpaw trees.

I became familiar with blue crabs about 1/2 a century ago . My aunt Annie and uncle Julius  would bring some up from Delaware when  they visited my aunt Mary’s  every Summer.  I would watch my uncle Alex and aunt Betty  “pick” the crabs for years. It wasn’t until I was college that they thought me how to “pick” and eat the crabs.  I started to bring some  blue crabs on my way home from Washington D.C. while in law school and shared them with my brothers.  We began to get a bushel  on Labor Day and the tradition has continued for 40 years now. So this past week I drove to Havre de Grace for pawpaws and blue crabs.

It wasn’t a pleasant 3 hour drive. I ran into severe thunderstorms most of the way. Road were flooded, a few were closed,  and there were many trees down. Thankfully the storms stopped when I arrived at Havre de Grace. I love this historic and scenic little town.  There is more information on it’s history in my previous blogs. ( which can found using the search tool on my blog). I  drove to North Park and began a hike on the Joe K Trail  near the Susquehanna River.

I knew the storms passed here too, by the flooded trail and downed trees.

I came to a new neighborhood of groundhogs  along the trail.

And saw one of it’s residents. It was after the pawpaws too.

I saw it nibbling on one of the many on the ground. There were many still on the trees.

I found some ripe ones and enjoyed the delicious naive fruit. The fruits have a creamy custard-like texture and have a banana/citrus flavor, getting sweeter as they ripen. They have large seeds in the middle. I found the best way to eat them is to remove all  the thin, outer peel, pop the entire  fruit in my mouth, suck off the flesh and spit out the seeds.

I had five of them. They are delicious.  They were very popular among the Native American tribes. The Native Americans had no candy, soda, or sugar. I often imagine the delight of  a young Native American child trying his or her first pawpaw.

I left the pawpaw tree and followed the trail to the Susquehanna River and the Route 40 bridge that spanned the river and over which I just crossed on my drive.

I walked down to the ancient Susquehanna River. It is between   270 and 340 million years old  and is one of the oldest rivers on our planet. It is my favorite river. I have hiked along the river from it’s source in Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York to here, where it ends and empties into  the Chesapeake Bay. My favorite hiking trails are along the river in the Susquehanna Wetlands  in Luzerne County.

There is a small pond in the park and it is surrounded by native wildflowers, including orange coneflowers ,

American burnweed

and  woodland sunflowers.

The sun broke through the clouds, and the still strong September sun  brought out bees, wasps and butterflies attracted to the wildflowers. . I spent some time watching the insects and butterflies as I walked along the river. There were  many species I am familiar with from my hikes in Northeastern Pennsylvania, including common white butterflies,

 Peck’s skipper butterflies,

and a few monarch butterflies.

I also saw a species I haven’t seen before and  what I believe is a Huron sachem skipper butterfly on a purple coneflower. I am not an expert on birds, insects or plants and rely on my iPhone apps and Google images for my identifications. Please feel free to correct me if I misidentify anything on my blog.

There were a  few birds  around the pond and river.  A couple of  lesser black-backed gulls, this is an adult,

and this a juvenile flying overhead.

An eastern king bird was perched in a tree above the pond,

and there was also a great blue heron  on the pond, 

that flew away as I approached.

I walked around the pond and came to the historic Lock House.    Built in 1840 it served as the home of a lock tender on the Susquehanna and Tidewater canal.

It is situated  above one of the locks from the almost 200 year old canal.

 I walked back around the pond and then   and followed the North Park Loop / Mason -Dixon Trail. The trail follows an old railroad right of way below a ridge and above the Susquehanna River.  It was flooded  in some areas from the heavy rains that passed through earlier.

The trail took me through a second growth woodland of mostly American beech, sweetgum and silver maple trees and past a small pond, appropriately named Frank’s Pond.

Here I saw a cool six spotted fishing party on the pond,

while a few blue dasher dragonflies darted above the pond or were resting on a leaf stem. 

Crawling across the trail was a colorful  eastern box turtle. We  have box turtles in Northeastern Pennsylvania.. One of my earliest, if not my earliest memory , was my maternal grandfather showing me a box turtle, well I think it was a box turtle, so I was told. I was 2 years old. I knew it was a turtle and in a box.  I have shared my experience with my baby brother Mike, my nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews, always taking   the turtle to the exact location I found it. This fellow was safe from a kidnapping to Pennsylvania.

It was a beautiful creature and was one of my first encounters with the beauty of nature. It wasn’t long until my dad had me out in the woods looking for edible “red top”   (aspen saber bolete) mushrooms.  I was very surprised there were no mushrooms growing on this trail along the river.

I also saw a painted turtle in  the pond.

There were  wildflowers and plants growing along the trail that I was familiar with from my hikes back home, including white wood asters,

pale jewelweed

and woodbine or Virgin’s bower wildflowers all native  to Maryland and Pennsylvania.

The native spicebush shrubs had already produced their berries which will turn a bright red when fully ripe and will be a  good source of food for the local wildlife.

There were are some invasive plants growing along the trail including oriental bittersweet,

and perilla mint.

Ferns also grew in the moist soil near the river including sensitive ferns,

intermediate wood ferns,

and Christmas ferns.

I followed the shaded trail for about 3/4 of  mile, past some large silver maple trees,

and came to a railroad bridge that spanned the Susquehanna River.  There were many pawpaw trees here and I enjoyed eating few more of the  free and  delicious pawpaws strewn on the ground. Many had been chewed on by the local wildlife. 

Here I saw a few more insects  along the trail , this stink bug,

and a red spotted purple butterfly.

I continued for another 1/4 mile before turning back, and just past the railroad bridge took a fork on the trail that took me above the banks of the Susquehanna River.

It was a nice walk under  much taller and older trees, mostly tulip trees with some oak, maple and sycamore trees.

There were many paths leading down to the river which, it appeared,  where made by folks fishing in the murky waters. I walked  down a few to enjoy a view of the river I have come to love from it’s source to it’s end.

While taking in the view, and reflecting on the history of the river  I  saw this bald eagle fly from a  tree, I imagined  welcoming me to the area, but  probably just  looking for fish in the river.   It’s also  a good sign to see a bald eagles soaring overhead on my hikes. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the  wildlife I saw on my hike.  Havre de Grace Maryland wildlife September 2 2026.

It was now late afternoon when I finished my 3 mile hike. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from  my hike.  Havre de Grace Maryland  September 2 2026.

I still had a 15 minute drive to the historic and   quaint town of North East. I wasn’t staying  in the town but on the outskirts in a Comfort Inn.  I checked in after 5 p.m.  It was a nice , clean, modest hotel. I quickly unpacked showered and was looking  to eat again.   I love to eat and share my dining experiences here on my blog. I decided to try some crab at Woody’s Crab House.  It was good choice. I started with a delicious and hearty bowl of Maryland crab soup.

For my main course I had fresh local corn, boiled potatoes, and a  delicious crab cake, which was mostly crab.

And, as usual I had desert. This time my I tried a Maryland version of my Florida favorite Key lime pie. It was good but not as good as the Key lime pie I have had in Florida and not as good as the delicious  crab soup and crab cake.  Clouds had moved in again so I wouldn’t see a sunset. I returned to my hotel and edited some photos. I retired early, looking forward to waking up early and exploring more of North East and  nearby Elk Neck State Park.

 

Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.

Come on, boys [or girls, or kids], let’s go find her,
Come on, boys, let’s go find her,
Come on, boys, let’s go find her,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.

Pickin’ up paw-paws, puttin’ ’em in her pockets,
Pickin’ up paw-paws, puttin’ ’em in her pockets,
Pickin’ up paw-paws, puttin’ ’em in her pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.

The Paw Paw Patch
Traditional folk song