Sandaway Suites & Beach
103 W Strand Rd
Oxford, MD
Where the Eastern Shore hands you a porch, a beach, and a sunset.
About Sandaway Suites & Beach
The main house grew up as a grand Victorian mansion in the 1870s, one of the handsome waterfront homes that rose when Oxford was reinventing itself from colonial port to summer retreat. Over the years it wore many hats, serving as a private residence, a yacht-club anchorage, and even a small college, before the Gibson family took it in hand and restored it as a waterfront inn. Their touch runs through the property in the small, sincere ways that matter: fresh coffee, a light breakfast left at your door in a hand-painted basket, and the sense that the whole place is being loved rather than merely operated.
Today the estate spreads beyond the mansion to include Michener's Cottages and rooms that trace back to the original carriage house, where horse-drawn carriages once parked for the night. It all shares one purpose now, which is to put you as close to the water as a building can get.
What Sandaway Suites & Beach Is Known For
The private beach and its west-facing sunset are the thing. Almost every guest comes back to the same image: a rocking chair on a screened porch, the Tred Avon going pink and orange, and the day letting go of you completely.
Amenities
- Breakfast Included
- WiFi
- Private sandy beach on the Tred Avon River
- Screened private porches with rocking chairs
- Water-view suites with clawfoot tubs and four-poster beds
- Light breakfast delivered to your door
- Cottages and carriage-house rooms in addition to the mansion
- Oxford-Bellevue Ferry landing at the property
- Waterfront lawns and communal shoreline seating
- WiFi
What Guests Love
- A genuine private sandy beach, rare on the Eastern Shore
- Water-view suites with their own screened, private porches
- West-facing sunsets over the Tred Avon River
- Deeply quiet, unhurried village setting
- Historic Victorian character with clawfoot tubs and four-poster beds
Worth Knowing
- The tone is romantic and grown-up, a favorite for couples and anniversaries rather than a busy family resort.
- This is lodging, not a full-service hotel; breakfast is a light offering left at your door and there is no on-site restaurant.
- It is a historic multi-floor building, so rooms vary and some involve stairs.
- Oxford itself is small and quiet by design, which is the point, but dining and shopping options in town are limited.
The Room
Rooms are spread through the mansion's several floors and out into the cottages and carriage quarters, and the ones people remember are the water-view suites with their own screened porches. Inside, the Old World character is intact: four-poster beds, clawfoot tubs, chandeliers, and plush armchairs that suit a slow morning. Most porches look straight out over the Tred Avon and the wider Chesapeake beyond, and they are arranged so cleverly that your rocking chair feels private from your neighbor's.
The Grounds
The heart of the place is the private sandy beach, a rare thing on this part of the Shore, running right up to the lawns with the water lapping just past the grass. Old-fashioned rocking chairs line the screened porches, and a scattering of communal spots along the shore invite you to trade a book for a sunset. Because everything faces west across the river, the grounds do their best work at the end of the day, when the light goes gold and everyone drifts down toward the water without saying much.
The Experience
A stay here moves at the pace of the tide. You wake to breakfast at your door, take your coffee to the porch, and watch the ferry cross the Tred Avon. Days are for strolling Oxford's tree-lined streets and gardens, catching the little ferry to Bellevue, or simply not leaving the beach at all. It is deeply quiet, unhurried, and honest about what it offers, which is water, air, and time.
Details
Oxford, MD 21654
The Boutel designation is earned, not purchased. Boutels is editorially independent and has no financial relationship with any listed property.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Sandaway Suites & Beach serve breakfast?
Yes, Sandaway Suites & Beach includes breakfast.
Does Sandaway Suites & Beach have WiFi?
Yes, Sandaway Suites & Beach has WiFi.
What is there to do near Sandaway Suites & Beach?
Oxford-Bellevue Ferry: 0.1 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk. St. Michaels: 10 miles, about a 20 minute drive. Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum: 10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
How far is Sandaway Suites & Beach from Oxford-Bellevue Ferry?
0.1 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk.
How far is Sandaway Suites & Beach from St. Michaels?
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
How far is Sandaway Suites & Beach from Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum?
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
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Things to Do Near Eastern Shore
Oxford-Bellevue Ferry
0.1 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk.
One of America's oldest privately run ferries, crossing the Tred Avon River since the 1680s, with a landing right at the property.
St. Michaels
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
A historic Chesapeake harbor town of galleries, waterfront dining, and sailboats, reachable by ferry and back roads.
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
A waterfront museum in St. Michaels devoted to Bay history, working boats, and the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse.