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Frenchtown New Castle Railroad Featured Photo
Way Back Machine

A Railroad Milestone, with Doomed Cow, Peach Baskets, and a Modern Cocktail

As I was putting this piece together, railroad safety was front and center in our 21st-century news media. Two big train derailments, one spewing toxic chemicals in an Ohio town. Who’s to blame? What should be done? How can railroad safety be improved? I don’t have answers to those questions, but I can tell you about the birthplace of railroad safety—the very first place in…
John H Muiholland Featured Photo
CharactersFrom the BooksWay Back Machine

This Milford, Del. Man Helped Ice Cream Parlors Take Off in the 1920s

This is a free excerpt from my book, You Wouldn't Believe! 44 Strange & Wondrous Delmarva Tales. That's right, the book has 43 other stories like this one. Info on the book here. The only folks who screamed for ice cream when that delicacy first came on the market were the filthy rich. The history of the ice cream parlors we know today dates back…
Month of Fundays Happy Dog Featured Photo
Good Times & Fun Events

MONTH OF FUNDAYS! March 2023

March has arrived, and so has the newest issue of Month of Fundays--your guide to fun times, cool events, and great stories about the Eastern Shore and Delaware. See the new issue at this link. Highlights: • A guide to 20+ St. Patrick's Day parades and parties • An Eagle Festival at Blackwater • A Chocolate Crawl in St. Michaels • A new Seafood Jamboree…
CharactersWay Back Machine

William Major Parker: The Pioneering Black Keeper at Killick Shoal Lighthouse

Stories from the golden age of lighthouses in the 1800s tend to be white-men-only affairs for sad and obvious reasons—slavery, discrimination, and prejudice. But tantalizing exceptions to this rule are out there, including the remarkable story of William Major Parker and his career as a keeper on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. We’ll meet him in a moment. First, a smidgeon of scene-setting. The work…