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One-of-a-kind people on the Delmarva Peninsula–the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and Delaware.

Holly Wreath Memories in Virginia Featured Photos
The Holly-Wreath Traditon: Memories from Atlantic, Va. CharactersWay Back Machine

The Holly-Wreath Traditon: Memories from Atlantic, Va.

Back in 2004 the writer Brice Stump made the most of a priceless opportunity. While working for the Salisbury Daily Times, he got to join a pair of elderly siblings from Atlantic, Va. as they relived old family memories by sitting around the kitchen table and making a holly wreath in the old-school way. Norman Davis, then 85, and Leuvenia Watson, then 84, had spent…
November 25, 2020
JM Clayton in Fog Featured Photo
PICTURE THIS: On Cambridge Creek, the Oldest Crabpacking Plant in the World Characters

PICTURE THIS: On Cambridge Creek, the Oldest Crabpacking Plant in the World

Crabs weren’t always a big deal on the Eastern Shore. All the way through the 1800s, the oyster was the unrivaled king of Chesapeake seafood. Crabs were an afterthought. People rarely ate them—and when they did, they had to catch them, because nobody was selling crabs or crabmeat on a commercial basis. This iconic Delmarva scene up top here—it’s the work of Jill Jasuta Photography,…
November 1, 2020
Tench Tilghman 5 Things Featured Photo
HEROES OF DELMARVA: 5 Things About Col. Tench Tilghman, Revolutionary Star CharactersWay Back Machine

HEROES OF DELMARVA: 5 Things About Col. Tench Tilghman, Revolutionary Star

Tench Tilghman served in the Revolutionary War as a top aide to George Washington, who praised the Talbot County, Md. native generously for his advice, loyalty, and trustworthiness. After the British surrendered at Yorktown, Washington assigned to Tilghman the task of making a mad dash to the nation’s capital in Philadelphia to deliver official word of the triumph. (1) That Weird First Name The tench…
October 24, 2020
Man o War Featured Photo
Berlin, Md. Character of the Day: Man o’ War! CharactersWay Back Machine

Berlin, Md. Character of the Day: Man o’ War!

This is an excerpt from the trip to Berlin, Md. in 2nd edition of Eastern Shore Road Trips #1: 27 One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. This section wasn’t in the first edition, alas, as I learned about it after the book came out. But I couldn’t resist adding it when updating that 2016 book for the 2020s. The most famous Berlin resident of them all was…
October 3, 2020
Gilbert Lare of Federalsburg Maryland Featured Image
The Legend of Gilbert Lare, aka “The Del-Mar-Va Bandit” of the 1930s CharactersWay Back Machine

The Legend of Gilbert Lare, aka “The Del-Mar-Va Bandit” of the 1930s

The criminal career of Gilbert Lare, aka "The Del-Mar-Va Bandit,” began with a seemingly minor affair. Wilmington News Journal, Dec. 27, 1926: Gilbert Lare, a young man of , was arrested by Constable Thomas Nichols breaking into store on South Main Street Wednesday night and removing two slot machines. … The machines were found early the following morning along the river shores, broken up, and…
June 30, 2020
First Steamboat on the Chesapeake Featured Image
How Capt. Edward Trippe Brought the Steamboat Revolution to the Chesapeake CharactersWay Back Machine

How Capt. Edward Trippe Brought the Steamboat Revolution to the Chesapeake

In tumultuous times, we sometimes miss the forest for the trees. Wartime news ruled the day during the summer of 1813. Nearly 40 British ships prowled the Chesapeake Bay. The bad guys burned a pair of Maryland towns, Fredericktown and Georgetown, and attacked another, St. Michaels. A vessel named Chesapeake dominated newspaper headlines that June--she was a U.S. Navy frigate captured by the bad guys…
June 28, 2020
St. Michaels Character of the Day: The Crazy Life of James Michener, Millionaire & Cheapskate CharactersWay Back Machine

St. Michaels Character of the Day: The Crazy Life of James Michener, Millionaire & Cheapskate

This is an excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. At the end of each trip in the book, there is a postscript section that tells a bit of historical or natural lore attached to the trip. This is at the end of the chapter about visiting St. Michaels, Md. By the time Chesapeake was published in June of…
June 10, 2020
Sunset atBlackwater 2013 Featured Image
When Accomac, Va. Put the Baptist in Jail, 1778 CharactersDelmarva WisdomWay Back Machine

When Accomac, Va. Put the Baptist in Jail, 1778

This excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva comes from a trip centered on Accomac, the seat of Accomack County, Va. The town played an important role in the life of the preacher Elijah Baker (1742 to 1798), who helped get the then-fledgling Baptist faith off the ground and spreading through America. The most famous structure on the square…
May 30, 2020
Cecile Steele of Ocean View, Delaware Featured Image
Character of the Day: The Delaware Housewife Who Invented the Modern Chicken Industry CharactersDelmarva WisdomWay Back Machine

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
Thomas Savage Eastern Shore of Virginia Featured Image
JOURNEYS: The British Teenager Left Behind to Live with the Indians in 1608 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