Michelle Combs Radez St. Mary's County Tourism

St. Mary's County - REAL PEOPLE - Michelle Combs Radez [music] I had read in a magazine about another women doing something very similar, having a barn sale, and so I decided to try it out. I was young and kind of naive, I just thought, "yeah, it'll work out. I'll do a good job and it'll work out." I mean I had my own canoe, I got my boating license when I was 13. I had my own 14 foot skip, I was out, you know able to go out on my own. So I would go and dig up old Limoges plates, and bring home these broken treasures to my mother, as if it was the most wonderful thing in the world, but I did that all summer long now. And honestly that when I go into antiques and vintage furniture. And it's exciting, because every time you come back in it's new, and it's different, it's fresh. we try to keep it on trend with whats going on, now, in fashion and in decorating. I would say we have a very eclectic mix. We have the formal antique people, we also have primitive, rustic and the cottage look which goes very well around here since we are so close to the water. I am drawn to things with original paint, and that are a little more primitive and rustic. maybe from the mid to late 18, late 18 hundreds. One of my favorite pieces was a nine foot harvest table, an old farm table. And you just know that, just think of the hundreds and hundreds of meals that someone had at that table. And just how smooth and worn down, and all the gouges are just, you know. It's just, it just has lot of history. To think that you're going to carry that on with your family. Many people come from Alexandria and from Washington D.C. who are on a day trip, and not so much that they stumble by, but they've heard through word of mouth about the store, and they'll outfit entire cottages they have, because that is the style we cater to, and so that's fortunate, but it's also just great that I think people are willing to leave the city for an hour and a half drive and come down and check us out. Okay so if you were coming to St. Mary's County, I would suggest you go to Leonardtown. And they have lots of community events that are extremely family friendly so if you have young kids, there's a lot going on for them. There's great restaurants and pubs. I love to go to Cafe des Artistes in Leonardtown, I think it's great that we have an authentic French restaurant. Places to explore, we have beautiful water front that you can take your family to. And even the local Amish goods, visiting them and getting produce on a weekly basis, and where else can you do that? It's ever-changing and always evolving, and I think that St. Mary's tries very hard to step back and not move too fast, but yet keep up with the pace of other, of other counties and in other states. [music]