More than one hundred years ago, Chef Gwyn’s great-grandfather Mortimer Bowen purchased waterfront property on Solomons Island, Maryland. It was here in 1918 that he built Bowen’s Inn. This thriving hotel, restaurant, bar and marina quickly became one of the favorite fishing headquarters for many congressional and sports figures out of Washington, D.C.
Prominent among them was Sam Rayburn, longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives. The inn enjoyed a fine reputation for its good food (fried chicken & crab cakes) and played host to such notable figures as Arthur Godfrey, John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, and Robert Mitchum.