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Chincoteague

Sunset atBlackwater 2013 Featured Image
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
Sunset atBlackwater 2013 Featured Image
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
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
Featured: Thomas Downing of Chincoteague, Virginia
On WBOC-TV, Secrets of Eastern Shore talks about the Chincoteague-born ‘Oyster King’ of NYC The Newsroom

On WBOC-TV, Secrets of Eastern Shore talks about the Chincoteague-born ‘Oyster King’ of NYC

Secrets co-founder Jim Duffy recently went on WBOC-TV’s Good Day Delmarva to tell the tale of Thomas Downing, a black man whose life journey in the time of slavery took him from his birthplace in Chincoteague, Va. to New York City, where he became an entrepreneur who opened a groundbreaking new kind of restaurant and became known as the "Oyster King" of New York. You…
February 21, 2020
Featured: Thomas Downing of Chincoteague, Virginia
Chincoteague Character of the Day: Thomas Downing, the ‘Oyster King’ of NYC CharactersWay Back Machine

Chincoteague Character of the Day: Thomas Downing, the ‘Oyster King’ of NYC

Growing up in Chincoteague, Va. in the 1790s and the first decade of the 1800s, Thomas Downing spent much of his time fishing, oystering, digging up clams, and catching terrapins. He must have spent a good bit of time around the kitchen as well, considering the way he grew up to become one of the most famous restaurateurs in New York City—the “Oyster King of…
February 9, 2019
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You slide your feet around in the mud like you’re dancing a Bojangles sand-dance” Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You slide your feet around in the mud like you’re dancing a Bojangles sand-dance”

    “I am, like my daddy was, and his daddy was, a waterman.” So begins Chincoteague Summer of 1948: A Waterman’s Childhood Stories, a little wisp of a book that is both odd duck and fun read. It presents itself in quite authentic fashion as the recorded childhood memories of waterman Thurston Watson. But then the author, Ed Waterhouse, a Chincoteague native who had…
March 22, 2018
Downtown Chincoteague, Virginia on the Eastern Shore, 1910
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Chincoteague in 1913–The Times They Were a Changin’ Quote of the Day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Chincoteague in 1913–The Times They Were a Changin’

    You know how some folks are always complaining about development and crowds and progress on the Eastern Shore, how they keep saying everything used to be friendlier and better back in the day? Inspiration Awaits! Click on the cover to learn more about this Secrets of the Eastern Shore book by Jim Duffy, Well, those same kinds of people were saying those same…
November 22, 2017
Secrets of the Eastern Shore Christmas
The Secrets Christmas Agenda 2016! The Newsroom

The Secrets Christmas Agenda 2016!

We are going to be busy little elves this holiday season! On top of filling customer orders for Eastern Shore-themed greeting cards and photo prints available here on our website, there is all of this coming up: • SIGNING #1: On Black Friday, Nov. 25, Secrets founder Jim Duffy will be at Sundial Books in Chincoteague, signing copies of the new Secrets guidebook, "Eastern Shore Road…
November 21, 2016
Downtown Chincoteague on the Eastern Shore of Virginia
The Throwback Joys of Chincoteague and Its Famous Ponies 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…
October 3, 2015