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Dorchester County Archives | Secrets of the Eastern Shore

CharactersWay Back Machine

How Capt. Edward Trippe Launched the Steamboat Revolution

In tumultuous times, we sometimes miss the forest for the trees. Wartime news ruled the day during the summer of 1813. Nearly 40 British ships prowled the Chesapeake Bay. The bad guys burned a pair of Maryland towns, Fredericktown and Georgetown, and attacked another, St. Michaels. A vessel named Chesapeake dominated newspaper headlines that June--she was a U.S. Navy frigate captured by the bad guys…
June 28, 2020
CharactersWay Back Machine

A Delmarva Town’s Unlikely Love Affair with a Chinese Laundryman, Early 1900s

Judging by their last names, the men who climbed into a "large touring car" and left Cambridge, Md. on a Wednesday in late May of 1910 hailed from the upper crust of Dorchester County society. There is a Mount Rushmore aspect to the collection of surnames--Brannock, Hopkins, Hearn, and Willey. All those families loom large in local lore and civic leadership across the centuries. We…
April 29, 2020
Way Back Machine

About That 1945 Day When Baseball Hall of Famer Branch Rickey Went Fishing on the Choptank River

Fred “Fritz” Lucas was a baseball man through and through. The New Jersey native toiled for teams in nine different minor-league cities during the 1920s and 1930s. He had a proverbial cup of coffee with the big-league Philadelphia Phillies in 1935, getting 34 at-bats as a pinch hitter and reserve outfielder. He returned to the minors the next year, but his time on the playing…
March 17, 2020
The Newsroom

On WBOC-TV, Secrets of the Eastern Shore talks about the Prohibition Era

Secrets co-founder Jim Duffy recently went on WBOC-TV’s Good Day Delmarva to tell stories about the era of Prohibition on the Delmarva Peninsula. The 100th anniversary of Prohibition taking effect landed on Jan. 17, 1920. Have you heard the one about the guy in Wachapreague who set up a secret compartment under his kitchen floorboards so that booze would pour out of one of his…
January 16, 2020
From the BooksTubman TravelsWay Back Machine

TUBMAN TRAVELS: Flying for Freedom on Christmas Eve (the Christmas Escape, part 3)

This is an excerpt from my book, Tubman Travels: 32 Underground Railroad Journeys on Delmarva. It’s the third of three chapters in the book devoted to The Christmas Escape of 1854, one of the most famous of the escapes engineered by conductor Harriet Tubman. Each chapter in the book is a self-contained story that’s linked to a place you can visit today in Delaware or…
December 17, 2019
From the BooksTubman TravelsWay Back Machine

TUBMAN TRAVELS: Love Stories at Buttons Creek (Christmas Escape, Part 2)

'Love Stories at Buttons Creek' is an excerpt from my book, Tubman Travels: 32 Underground Railroad Journeys on Delmarva. It’s the second of three chapters in the book devoted to one of the most famous of the escapes engineered by conductor Harriet Tubman. Each chapter in the book is a self-contained story that’s linked to a place you can visit today in Delaware or on…
December 12, 2019
From the BooksTubman TravelsWay Back Machine

A TUBMAN TALE: “The Good Ol’ Ship of Zion” (Christmas Escape, Part 1)

‘The Good Ol' Ship of Zion' is an excerpt from my book, Tubman Travels: 32 Underground Railroad Journeys on Delmarva. It's one of three chapters in the book devoted to one of the most famous of the escapes engineered by conductor Harriet Tubman. Each chapter in the book is a self-contained story that's linked to a place you can visit today in Delaware or on Maryland’s Eastern…
December 5, 2019
From the BooksTubman TravelsWay Back Machine

TUBMAN TRAVELS Book Excerpt: Kessiah Bowley’s Flight From The Auction Block

‘Flight From the Auction Block’ is an excerpt from my book, Tubman Travels: 32 Underground Railroad Journeys on Delmarva. Each chapter in the book is a self-contained story from those Underground Railroad days. Each story is linked to a place you can visit today in Delaware or on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, but they are also perfectly fit for armchair reading in the comfort of your home. …
November 19, 2019
DestinationsRoad Trips

The Lighthouse that Lived Three Different Lives and is Still Going Strong

Many folks think of the Choptank River Lighthouse in Cambridge, Md. as a newish thing, and, in a way, they’re right about that. The replica was constructed seven short years ago, but the stories that beacon is built on go clear back to before the Civil War—in fact, you might say that this seven-year-old lighthouse is celebrating its 161st birthday this year. In the photo…
October 29, 2019