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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.

Henry Highland Garnet, born in Chesterville, Maryland
Born in Chesterville: The First Black Minister to Address the U.S. Congress  CharactersWay Back Machine

Born in Chesterville: The First Black Minister to Address the U.S. Congress 

    Starting Point: Kent County, Md. Heading west out of Millington, Maryland on Route 291 you will soon come to a sign announcing that the road is dedicated to the memory of Henry Highland Garnet, whose life story has as many interesting twists and turns as any African American man in the 19th century. The fact that the first black minister to ever address…
January 30, 2018
Grover Cleveland Fishing
CHARACTER OF THE DAY: The President Who Shot Ducks (and Marbles) on Hog Island Characters

CHARACTER OF THE DAY: The President Who Shot Ducks (and Marbles) on Hog Island

After Grover Cleveland made history in November of 1892, the first thing he did was reward himself with a trip to Hog Island, just off of his beloved Eastern Shore. Cleveland had just become the first person to win non-consecutive terms in the White House. He had won the election of 1884, and he had lost the one in 1888. (Donald Trump became the second…
April 25, 2017
Remembering Doris Mae
Shore Classic: Down Home Cooking with Doris Mae CharactersWay Back Machine

Shore Classic: Down Home Cooking with Doris Mae

I wrote this for a magazine in 2008, shortly after Doris Mae passed away. She is still missed by a whole bunch of folks around my town. Thinking about Doris Mae these days, and the joint she used to run in downtown Cambridge, I find myself seeing scenes in my mind’s eye out of an imagined black-and-white Hollywood movie from the 1930s. It’s about a pretty…
December 18, 2016
Jehu Camper, Master Whittler of Delaware
Harrington Character of the Day: The Master Whittler of Delaware CharactersWay Back Machine

Harrington Character of the Day: The Master Whittler of Delaware

This piece about Jehu Camper, the master whittler of Delaware, is a free excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips: 27 One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. t's from a Road Trip that visits a trio of interesting little museums in Dover, including one that features works by Mr. Camper. Here goes: Over the course of a long life stretching across 91 years, Jehu Camper jumped from this to…
December 5, 2016
Linda Harrison
Berlin, Md. Character of the Day: Linda Harrison Characters

Berlin, Md. Character of the Day: Linda Harrison

The Sun and Surf Cinema in Ocean City has slated a bit of Way Back Machine fun for the evening of Wednesday, July 27, 2016. They will be screening the classic 1968 version of “The Planet of the Apes,” starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, and Linda Harrison. That last name may not be as familiar to some of you as the first three,…
July 19, 2016
1914 Nace's Day Parade in Trappe on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Uncle Nace’s Day: An Eastern Shore Tradition Since 1867 CharactersWay Back Machine

Uncle Nace’s Day: An Eastern Shore Tradition Since 1867

There are a couple of different places along Route 50 between Easton and Cambridge to stop and consider the fascinating life of Nathaniel “Nace” Hopkins, a native son of the Eastern Shore whose journey began in slavery and included stints in jail and the Union Army before he launched one of the oldest and sweetest civic traditions on the Delmarva Peninsula—Uncle Nace’s Day. Highlighted by…
October 5, 2015
Black Elvis from the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Meet Black Elvis, the Pride of Itty Bitty Painter on Virginia’s Eastern Shore Characters

Meet Black Elvis, the Pride of Itty Bitty Painter on Virginia’s Eastern Shore

    From the interviews I've seen, it seems that Clarence Giddens is rather cagey on the subject of his age, so there is no nailing down a detailed time frame for the day quite a few years ago when he was at a cousin's house and Elvis Presley flashed across the television screen. About the only thing we can say for sure, time-wise, is that the image…
July 18, 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
MIles Hancock of Chincoteague, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia
CHINCOTEAGUE CHARACTER OF THE DAY: Decoy-Carving Legend Miles Hancock CharactersWay Back Machine

CHINCOTEAGUE CHARACTER OF THE DAY: Decoy-Carving Legend Miles Hancock

The amazing life that Miles Hancock led could never have unfolded the way it did if he had lived anyplace else in the world. Born in Williamsville, Delaware in 1887, he was one of four children in a farming family. When he was seven, his parents moved to Chincoteague.   Miniature Black Duck by Miles Hancock That’s when things got tough. First, his mother died.…
February 5, 2015
The Freedom House in Cambridge
The Freedom House in Cambridge CharactersDestinations

The Freedom House in Cambridge

The story of this fabulous piece of folk art begins with my friend Branden Spear. A young home-improvement contractor in Cambridge, he got locked up in a dispute with the officials on a local historic-preservation board about whether he could use a certain type of window on the hard-to-see back side of this house. First, the decision got delayed over and over and over again.…
December 5, 2014