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From the BooksRoad TripsWay Back Machine

Road Trips #1 Excerpt: The ‘Petticoat Regime’ that Ruled Ocean City Back in the Day

This free excerpt about Ocean City's "Petticoat Regime" is from the first Secrets guidebook, Eastern Shore Road Trips: 27 One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. The trip here, from the chapter on beaches & beach towns, focuses on the boardwalk in Ocean City. Other chapters cover small towns, the great outdoors, backroads journeys, interesting museums, and Shore classics, such as lighthouse and skipjacks. Ocean City took its…
Unionville Road in Talbot County Backroads
Road TripsWay Back Machine

Road Trips Excerpt: The Ride Down Unionville Road

This is a free excerpt from the chapter, "Talbot County Backroads," in Eastern Shore Road Trips: 27 One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. In addition to this section on Unionville Road, the chapter features stops in Bozman, Neavitt, and Claiborne, as well as at the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry, the Pickering Creek Audubon Center, and more. Let’s start in Easton, at the intersection of the bypass and Route 33. Turn toward…
Storm Clouds over the Choptank River Lighthouse on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Road Trips

BUCKET LIST: Take a Lighthouse Cruise

There is a chapter in my book, Eastern Shore Road Trips, that is all about visiting lighthouses on the Eastern Shore and in Southern Delaware. Running from Turkey Point Light up in Elk Neck State Park to Assateague Light down in Chincoteague, that trip really is a road trip, covering beacons that are accessible by land. There are lots of other lighthouses out there, of course,…
Downtown Milford in Southern Delaware
Road Trips

Downtown Milford: A River Runs Through It

  The people of Milford seem to be one determined bunch. Consider, for example, the Riverwalk project. A clean and sweet piece of urban design, it weaves up, down, hither, and yon along the banks of the Mispillion River as it winds through downtown Milford and beyond, stretching from pretty Silver Lake on one end to the start of a nature walk on Goat Island…
Downtown Chincoteague on the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Road Trips

The Throwback Joys of Chincoteague and Its Famous Ponies

  I write about lots and lots of different places on Facebook and for the Secrets website, so I’m speaking from long experience when I say that there is one town in particular on the Eastern Shore that generates the most passionate and enthusiastic response from people. The winner, hands down, is Chincoteague, Virginia. What is the secret to the town’s success in winning over…
Sunset at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
DestinationsNatural WondersRoad Trips

Experiencing the Natural Wonders of the Eastern Shore at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

  For my money, there is no better place than these 30,000-plus acres and their surrounding back roads to get a first-hand feel for why the marshlands of the Chesapeake Bay rank as a natural wonder of the first order. The scenery is breathtaking, the wildlife is abundant, and the landscape is chock full of fascinating bits of history. For many of the 150,000 people who…
Bathtub Races in Berlin, Maryland
Road Trips

Daytripping in Berlin: Peaches, Bathtubs, Glassblowing and more in America’s “Coolest” Small Town

  As old-time Main Streets go, Berlin is first-rate, blessed with a postcard-pretty streetscape, lots of interesting shops and adventurous restaurants, and a history chock full of fascinating characters. Bonus: Berlin knows how to throw a party. My theory in such matters is that you can’t go wrong in a town that makes a big production out of its annual bathtub races. Here, they close…
Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk
Road Trips

Rehoboth: The Beach Town with Something for Everyone

  As beach towns go, Rehoboth Beach tends to be a shape shifter, ready at every turn to morph into the destination any one visitor might be looking for. If you have the kids in tow and you’re looking for beach fries, boardwalk arcades, and mini-golf, you’ll find them in abundance. If you’re an outdoors lover coming in search of bike paths, paddling expeditions, and abundant green spaces,…