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Dorchester County

Jack Messick Memories of Life on the Choptank River Lighthouse
Sweet Memories of Life on the Lighthouse CharactersWay Back Machine

Sweet Memories of Life on the Lighthouse

A sad introductory note to this post that originally went up in 2020: Jack Messick passed away in July 2024. May he rest in peace. My friend Jack Messick is probably the last living person who spent a lot of time in the original Choptank River Lighthouse. In the late 1940s, when Jack was around 10 years old, his father asked a question that would…
December 31, 2020
JM Clayton in Fog Featured Photo
PICTURE THIS: On Cambridge Creek, the Oldest Crabpacking Plant in the World Characters

PICTURE THIS: On Cambridge Creek, the Oldest Crabpacking Plant in the World

Crabs weren’t always a big deal on the Eastern Shore. All the way through the 1800s, the oyster was the unrivaled king of Chesapeake seafood. Crabs were an afterthought. People rarely ate them—and when they did, they had to catch them, because nobody was selling crabs or crabmeat on a commercial basis. This iconic Delmarva scene up top here—it’s the work of Jill Jasuta Photography,…
November 1, 2020
First Steamboat on the Chesapeake Featured Image
How Capt. Edward Trippe Brought the Steamboat Revolution to the Chesapeake CharactersWay Back Machine

How Capt. Edward Trippe Brought the Steamboat Revolution to the Chesapeake

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
Cambridge Dodgers Featured Image
About That 1945 Day When Baseball Hall of Famer Branch Rickey Went Fishing on the Choptank River 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
TV Appearance Television
On WBOC-TV, Secrets of the Eastern Shore talks about the Prohibition Era 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
Harriet Tubman the Christmas Escape
TUBMAN TRAVELS: Flying for Freedom on Christmas Eve (the Christmas Escape, part 3) 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
Sunset atBlackwater 2013 Featured Image
TUBMAN TRAVELS: Love Stories at Buttons Creek (Christmas Escape, Part 2) 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
Ship of Zion Harriet Tubman
A TUBMAN TALE: “The Good Ol’ Ship of Zion” (Christmas Escape, Part 1) 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
Tubman Travels Book Cover Art
TUBMAN TRAVELS Book Excerpt: Kessiah Bowley’s Flight From The Auction Block 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