WASHINGTON (AFP) - First came Donald Rumsfeld, then Dick Cheney -- and now the coyly chic Maryland town of St. Michaels might get its first "royalty": the King of Pop Michael Jackson.
Local media reported that Jackson helicoptered last weekend into the 17th century Chesapeake Bay-front village on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where the US vice president and former defense secretary keep holiday getaways, to cruise the real estate market for his own digs.
Washington's Examiner newspaper reported Tuesday that he checked into the luxurious colonial manor house Inn at Perry Cabin -- though the innkeepers weren't talking -- while the local WBAL television showed footage from the air of a mysterious person hiding behind white sheets as he got into a stretch limousine at the hotel.
The Washington Post said Wednesday that Jackson's Washington-based publicist Raymone Bain confirmed the visit to "scout out some summer houses."
"He's always admired the properties on the East Coast because they have a lot of land. Neverland (Jackson's shuttered California estate) has 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) -- he likes privacy. You can't find as many properties like that on the West Coast," Bain said.
If he does buy in St. Michaels -- a romantic tourist town in an area of corn farmers, crab and oyster fishermen and duck hunters -- he will be trading the flashy Hollywood elite he knows well for Washington's grey-suited powerful and privileged.
In 2003 Rumsfeld paid a reported 1.5 million dollars for a 19th century brick house quaintly named "Mt. Misery," while in 2005 his longtime friend Cheney paid 2.6 million dollars for a house and waterfront acreage minutes away.
Also in St. Michaels are White House spokesman Tony Snow, former Treasury secretary Nicholas Brady and a slew of other Washington political insiders.
But the Examiner reported that the idea of Jackson and his eccentric entourage -- seemingly peripatetic since he was tried and aquitted of child molestation charges in California in 2005 -- settling in the area has locals aghast.
"God, I hope he doesn't move here," one resident told the paper.
