Reviews: Town of Vienna Waterfront Park (Emperor's Landing)

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Town of Vienna Waterfront Park (Emperor's Landing)

Vienna, MD 21869
Nanticoke River

Lat / Lon: N 38° 28.958' / W 075° 49.401'
Phone: (410) 376-3442 ; Town Office
Website: [email protected]

5.00

(2)

5.00 out of 5 stars

Review for Town of Vienna Waterfront Park (Emperor's Landing)

Reviewed by: Capt. Mac Rubel, Cruising Editor on Oct 26, 2025
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.0'

Rating: 5

The term "Vienna Free Dock" does not the facility justice; the proper name, "Town of Vienna Waterfront Park (Emperor's Landing)", fits it so much better. There is no sarcasm or humor meant in the above sentence, the Landing is one of the lovliest places we have ever had the pleasure to stop. We will expain why.

First, the trip up the river, through over 20 miles of pristine marshland is a remarkable journey in itself. The channel is deep and well marked and, if possible, is best run with a following tide as the current can reach 2 mph at full flow. Behind the two mile wide riverbottom marshland is nothing but agriculture but it does not impose on the meandering journey up the Nanticoke. As you come around the last bend in the river the first thing that you will see on RDB is a manicured park with a 300 foot river bulkhead that looks like it was just finished. In the middle of the park is a lovely gazebo, freshly painted. At the upriver end of the park there is a small house with a boat slip large enough for a 40 foot trawler. Further upstream there is a boardwalk with two floating aluminum docks, each with four slips inside and "T" heads, each long enough to accommodate a 50 foot boat. The boardwalk continues to another park area next to a well designed boat launch. Behind the park lies Water Street with ten of lovely homes, all facing the river.

The aforementioned bulkhead and the two "T" heads make up the landing space for visitors. There is more than 15' depth MLW on the floating docks and, although we only aproached to within 4' of the bulkhead, there was over 10' MLW on our depthsounder. There is no water or power on the docks or the bulkhead and there is no lighting or security for any of the property and there is no city Wi-Fi. On the other hand, there is an outdoor grill and picnic table, the is also several covered trash cans and small house on the green is the most amazing "Bathroom (no Shower)" that should be called the "Captain's Lounge" instead. It is a three room meeting place with a proper bathroom (clean and fully stocked), delightfully furnished and decorated. Tucked in to the corner of the green is a barbecue grill and a picnic table. There is a 3' tide on the Nanticoke at Vienna and, at full flow, there is a current that approaches 2 mph. If you are tied to the bulkhead, make sure that you are tied to accommodate the tide's rise and fall as well as compensate for the reversing currents. There is some boat traffic but there is barge traffic that comes by at all hours of the day and night, going upriver with supplies from gravel to chicken feed for Purdue Chicken in Seaford, DE. The barges, when loaded, will leave a wake. The river is pretty provides good protection from winds and waves as there is so little fetch.

There are few amenities in town, with only one restaurant (well reviewed but only open Wednesday through Sunday) and a small convenience store. We spent two nights here and could not find anyone who did not wave and say "hello". There is interesting river above Vienna and we actually took a day trip up into Deleware just to sightsee. If we had had more time this would have been the kind of place that we would love to just stay at and decompress. It is definitely a place that we will remember fondly.

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Review for Town of Vienna Waterfront Park (Emperor's Landing)

Reviewed by: Gale on Jun 4, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 34'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 5

Easy to access floating docks. Also room on bulkhead. Plenty of room for large vessels. Fun, small town to visit. Great people and good food at Millie's Roadhouse. Don't miss the pies and bakery at Mandala Pies. All within easy walking distance from the docks. Clean restrooms available, no showers. No electric at docks.

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