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Destinations

Unique places to go & things to see on the Delmarva Peninsula–the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and Delaware

Chincoteague Pony Swim
Tracing the History of the Famous Pony-Penning Party in Chincoteague DestinationsWay Back Machine

Tracing the History of the Famous Pony-Penning Party in Chincoteague

Before I did a little research, I assumed that the Chincoteague’s big annual pony-penning festival became a big deal only after 1947, the year Marguerite Henry published “Misty of Chincoteague.” That story, of course, became a children’s classic and then a Hollywood movie. But it turns out that the story of pony-penning day actually dates back centuries, not decades. Local historians say that the earliest…
July 23, 2015
Who could mistake a manatee for a mermaid? Capt. John Smith, for one. CharactersNatural Wonders

Who could mistake a manatee for a mermaid? Capt. John Smith, for one.

    On July 12, 2015, there was a confirmed manatee sighting in the coastal waters off of Ocean City. That was the first such sighting in nine years, according to experts at the National Aquarium. Manatee sightings in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay are more frequent, usually coming in at the rate of one every year. These cuddly-looking mammals have been compared by some…
July 18, 2015
Simmons Center Market Exterior
Time Capsule: This Old Grocery Store Has 80-Plus Years of Stories to Tell DestinationsWay Back Machine

Time Capsule: This Old Grocery Store Has 80-Plus Years of Stories to Tell

Most folks nowadays get to experience old-time general stores only through the magic of books and movies. But if you venture off of Route 50 and head into the heart of Cambridge, you can still get a taste of the real thing. Simmons Center Market has been around for more than 80 years now. The store’s name honors the memory of the late James “Jimmy”…
April 1, 2015
Red Knots at Delaware Bay
10,000 Years and Counting: The Story of the Red Knot and the Horseshoe Crab DestinationsNatural Wonders

10,000 Years and Counting: The Story of the Red Knot and the Horseshoe Crab

Quick question: How much do you weigh? OK, now try to imagine the sort of marathon physical ordeal you’d have to put yourself through in order to lose half of your body weight. OK, now try to imagine that you’ve been through that ordeal, and you are suddenly facing a deadline—in just two weeks, you have to eat enough food to get back up to…
April 1, 2015
Strolling the Shifting Sands of Assateague Island DestinationsNatural WondersRoad Trips

Strolling the Shifting Sands of Assateague Island

  This gorgeous barrier island lies on the Atlantic coast right where Maryland meets Virginia. It's the kind of place where in the course of your wanderings you are quite likely at some point to take a look at your camera and say something like, “Geez, did I really just take my 374th picture of a horse?” The diminutive ponies that the 37-mile-long Assateague is famous for…
February 11, 2015
The Ward Brothers in Crisfield
Salisbury Gems: The Ward Museum and City Park DestinationsRoad Trips

Salisbury Gems: The Ward Museum and City Park

  “Two dumb country boys.” That’s how Lem Ward liked to describe himself and his brother, Steve. They were born in the last years of the 19th century and lived in Crisfield. Both were barbers by trade, just like their father. They shared a shop, in fact. And for fun, they sang in a little barbershop quartet. Darn if those two dumb country boys didn’t end…
February 10, 2015
English Cottage Gas Station in Cape Charles (JJP)
The English Cottage Gas Station that Has a Story to Tell in Cape Charles DestinationsWay Back Machine

The English Cottage Gas Station that Has a Story to Tell in Cape Charles

    Some empty buildings are just that, unfortunate bits of neglected junk on the Eastern Shore landscape. Others are something else altogether: Dilapidated, perhaps, but still graced with the ability to unravel fascinating secrets behind key turns in the life of the Shore—and even the country—in days gone by. Take this old guy, for example. He stands on the outskirts of Cape Charles, just…
December 5, 2014
C5 Galaxy at the Air Mobility Museum
The Biggest, Baddest Cargo Plane in the History of the World DestinationsWay Back Machine

The Biggest, Baddest Cargo Plane in the History of the World

Generally speaking, cargo planes are ho-hum workhorses that do not rise to the level of daytrip destination. But the C-5A Galaxy is no drab little workhorse. It is the biggest, baddest cargo plane in the history of the world. You can see one up close at the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover. If your timing is right, you'll even be able to climb inside…
February 5, 2015
Harbor Seal Wikicommons by Amanda Boyd USFWS
The Deal With Seals: What Brings Guys Like This To Our Beaches? DestinationsNatural Wonders

The Deal With Seals: What Brings Guys Like This To Our Beaches?

Seals tend to live farther up in the North Atlantic—off of Massachusetts, Maine, and Canada—but every year in the colder months between about January and April a good number of them embark on a hellacious journey to points south in search of more temperate waters. That’s when they land on our beaches—mostly on the Delaware coast and in the lower Delaware Bay, but sometimes in Maryland…
February 5, 2015
Marty's Playland in Ocean City
The Great Throwback Arcade on the Boardwalk in Ocean City DestinationsWay Back Machine

The Great Throwback Arcade on the Boardwalk in Ocean City

What will strike you most when approaching Marty’s Playland are the old familiar sounds from back in the day—the rumble-rumble-ka-thunk of skee-ball, the thwick-ding-ding of classic pinball, the spooky monotone of The Fortune Teller, and the pop-clack-THWACK-clack of an air hockey game. We are talking here about a veritable symphony of old-school childhood fun. There are quite a few fun arcades in Ocean City, but…
February 5, 2015