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Character of the Day: The Delaware Housewife Who Invented the Modern Chicken Industry

As a deeply religious young woman, Cecile Long Steele probably didn’t let loose with a string of curse words when the delivery truck driver showed up at her farm that day in 1923. Cecile had ordered 50 baby chicks, but the deliveryman had 500 chicks instead. This being 1923, Cecile couldn’t call or text customer service to sort out this mix-up on the spot. The…
May 28, 2020
CharactersWay Back Machine

A Whaleyville Wonder: How Delmarva’s Dale Wimbrow Made a Difference in the World

What was Dale Wimbrow thinking on the day in 1934 when he put those words on paper? He could not have known in that moment how his words would spread in the decades that followed like inspirational wildfire, giving strength to hundreds, then thousands, and then millions of men and women as they stood up to life’s challenges. Those words are still doing good works…
May 23, 2020
CharactersFrom the BooksRoad TripsWay Back Machine

JOURNEYS: The British Teenager Left Behind to Live with the Indians in 1608

Every chapter in my book, Eastern Shore Road Trips 2: 26 More One-Day Adventures on Delmarva, is a mix of fun places to visit and interesting stories from days gone by. This free excerpt is from one of the road trips set on the Eastern Shore of Virginia--the book also includes lots of trips in Delaware and on Maryland's Eastern Shore, of course. Thanks for…
May 3, 2020
CharactersWay Back Machine

A Delmarva Town’s Unlikely Love Affair with a Chinese Laundryman, Early 1900s

Judging by their last names, the men who climbed into a "large touring car" and left Cambridge, Md. on a Wednesday in late May of 1910 hailed from the upper crust of Dorchester County society. There is a Mount Rushmore aspect to the collection of surnames--Brannock, Hopkins, Hearn, and Willey. All those families loom large in local lore and civic leadership across the centuries. We…
April 29, 2020
CharactersWay Back Machine

Somerset Journey: The Steak Knife Was Invented in Crisfield, and That Story Begins on Marumsco Creek

The story behind the creation of the steak knife in your kitchen drawer involves a bit of manufacturing ingenuity, but there is more to it. Think romantic sleigh rides, a devastating fire, steadfast religious faith, and then—a Christmas gift from a friend that changes everything. This Somerset County, Md. tale begins with a farm boy who hated farm work. He much preferred puttering around in…
March 31, 2020
CharactersDelmarva WisdomWay Back Machine

Inspiring Journey: “Black Harry” Hosier’s Climb from Slavery and Illiteracy to America’s “Greatest Orator”

We are all born with gifts. We all strive in our own way to nurture and share those gifts. Harry Hosier faced longer odds than any of us in this regard. He was born into slavery. He was illiterate. But he managed nonetheless to carve a path through life that saw him seize every opportunity to put his God-given gifts—a prodigious memory and a flair…
March 23, 2020
CharactersWay Back Machine

SUDLERSVILLE CHARACTER OF THE DAY: Hall of Fame Slugger Jimmie Foxx

One of the excursions in my book Eastern Shore Road Trips (Vol. 2): 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva is a tour of baseball greatness with stops honoring five major league greats who hailed from the region, including four Hall of Famers. This excerpt is the section of that trip dedicated to slugger Jimmie Foxx. Itty bitty Sudlersville, Md. is the first stop in this…
December 3, 2019
CharactersWay Back Machine

WAY BACK MACHINE: On the Trail of Lady Eglantine, the Miracle Hen of Greensboro

This excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva is a bonus section that comes at the end of a road trip chock full of other interesting stories that are set along the backroads of Caroline County, Md. between the towns of Preston and Denton. Pretty little Greensboro, Md. lies just a few miles north of Denton. That this place…
August 8, 2019
CharactersQuote of the DayWay Back Machine

WORDS OF DELMARVA WISDOM: “What may be the manhood and history [ahead for] a plain boy in rural life?”

Think about this question the next time you pass by a couple of kids working the water’s edge with fishing poles or crab nets. Such scenes remain quite common along the backroads of Delmarva, of course, just as they were when John Fletcher Hurst was growing up in Dorchester County, Maryland in the 1840s. Despite suffering from occasional debilitating bouts of asthma, young John loved…
February 28, 2019