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Accomack County

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Book Signing in Chincoteague! Wed., Aug. 20 The Newsroom

Book Signing in Chincoteague! Wed., Aug. 20

Jim Duffy of Secrets of the Eastern Shore will be holding court and signing books at Sundial Books in Chincoteague, Va. from 10:30am to noon on Wed., Aug. 20. The co-founder of Secrets of the Eastern Shore has written six books about travel, history, and culture on the Delmarva Peninsula. His latest is Ordinary Heroes of Old Delmarva: Inspiring True Tales of Courage, Kindness, and…
July 10, 2025
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Delmarva Storytelling Comes to Chincoteague, Va. on Tue., Aug. 19 The Newsroom

Delmarva Storytelling Comes to Chincoteague, Va. on Tue., Aug. 19

Author and storyteller Jim Duffy of Secrets of the Eastern Shore will spin fun and fascinating true-life "Delmarva Tales" on Tue., Aug. 19, 2025 in an appearance at the popular Tuesday Night Lecture Series at the Museum of Chincoteage Island. The show begins at 6pm. Admission is $8. Free to museum members. The talk will include stories from Duffy's new book, Ordinary Heroes of Old…
July 10, 2025
Hardest Days Work Saxis Island from Almost an Island FEATURED PHOTO
EASTERN SHORE QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Hardest day’s work I ever did in my life …” Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

EASTERN SHORE QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Hardest day’s work I ever did in my life …”

Ellsworth Linton never forgot "the hardest day's work I ever did in my life." It came in the midst of the Great Depression, 1937. The buyboat J.C. Drewer pulled into Saxis Island one morning with 2,180 bushels of oysters that had been harvested from across the Chesapeake Bay in the James River. He and just one other worker spent that entire day shoveling oysters into…
April 21, 2025
Family Farm Life: Making Cider in Days Gone By Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

Family Farm Life: Making Cider in Days Gone By

This fascinating recollection of cider making on a family farm in autumn days gone by was written by Henry A. Wise. Born in Accomack County in 1877 he grew up to become a schoolteacher and a school administrator. In his retirement years he turned his attention to history and culture of his native Eastern Shore, writing two books, Over on the Eastern Shore and Yesteryears…
October 20, 2024
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CIRCUS ACTS: Strange and Ridiculous Happenings Under the Big Top! Way Back Machine

CIRCUS ACTS: Strange and Ridiculous Happenings Under the Big Top!

The traveling circus was a staple of small-town life on the Delmarva Peninsula in the early 1900s. Here are three stories that show just how strange things could get with those shows and their performers. Circus Act #1! The brawl in Seaford, Del., 1908 (with flying snakes!) You’ve seen old Westerns, right? The ones with scenes where two guys start fighting in a tavern and…
October 13, 2023
Road Trips Book Excerpt! Oceanside Virginia DestinationsFrom the BooksMiscellanyRoad Trips

Road Trips Book Excerpt! Oceanside Virginia

This is a free excerpt from my book, Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. More info about that and my other books exploring the history, travel, and culture on the Eastern Shore and in Delaware here. At the risk of going all Buddhist on you, here is a piece of advice when it comes to wandering the backroads of Virginia’s Eastern Shore:…
August 8, 2023
Mirror of the Almighty Tangier Island Camp Meeting Featured Image
Way Back Machine: ‘A Mirror of the Almighty’ on Tangier Island, 1828 Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

Way Back Machine: ‘A Mirror of the Almighty’ on Tangier Island, 1828

The modern-day tourism trade on Smith and Tangier islands dates to the 1960s, when tour boats first started shuttling curious daytrippers out into the middle of the bay. But visitors have actually been flocking to these islands for centuries. In 1821, one observer reported seeing more than 400 boats anchored around Tangier. He estimated the crowd attending that year’s Methodist camp meeting at more than…
June 22, 2023
Dream Come True: The Long Journey to Chincoteague in 1912 Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

Dream Come True: The Long Journey to Chincoteague in 1912

In wandering through old newspapers I sometimes come across a piece of writing that kinda blows my mind. Such is the case with the story novelist Lucy Meacham Thruston wrote for the Baltimore Sun on July 21, 1912, in which she tells the tale of what happened when she decided to make one of her travel dreams come true. Some extended excerpts: STARTING OUT: THE…
May 21, 2023
William Major Parker: The Pioneering Black Keeper at Killick Shoal Lighthouse 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…
February 25, 2023
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Six Bridges Over Troubled Water: A Dreadful Day in Chincoteague, 1922 Strange & WondrousWay Back Machine

Six Bridges Over Troubled Water: A Dreadful Day in Chincoteague, 1922

NOTE: This is an excerpt from my book You Wouldn't Believe: 44 Strange and Wondrous Delmarva Tales. More on that one and my other books here. Oh, the hours of preparation and work that must have gone into the celebration planned for Chincoteague, Va. on Nov. 15, 1922! Local newspapers promised it would mark “the beginning of a new era in the history” of a…
April 26, 2021