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Dorchester County

Choptank River Lighthouse Featured Image
The Lighthouse that Lived Three Different Lives and is Still Going Strong 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
Wheelmen in the 1890s
1896: When Thousands of Racing “Wheelmen” Descended on Cambridge Way Back Machine

1896: When Thousands of Racing “Wheelmen” Descended on Cambridge

Nearly 2,500 athletes are in Cambridge, Md. on the weekend I am posting this. They are here to tackle a grueling Ironman race that includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon. The hotels are full, not just in town but up and down the road in nearby towns, too. Lots of locals are renting out spare bedrooms. The YMCA has…
September 26, 2019
The New Hoopers Island Bridge
QUOTE OF THE DAY: A ‘Monument to Man’s Stupidity’ at the Hooper’s Island Bridge From the BooksQuote of the Day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: A ‘Monument to Man’s Stupidity’ at the Hooper’s Island Bridge

This excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva is a bonus section that comes at the end of a road trip chock full of backroads adventuring through remote South Dorchester County, Md. and out to remote Taylors Island and Hoopers Island. The story of how the modern Hoopers Island bridge came into existence is a tale of politics and bureaucracy.…
September 4, 2019
Featured Photo for John Fletcher Hurst of Dorchester County, Maryland
WORDS OF DELMARVA WISDOM: “What may be the manhood and history [ahead for] a plain boy in rural life?” CharactersQuote of the DayWay Back Machine

WORDS OF DELMARVA WISDOM: “What may be the manhood and history [ahead for] a plain boy in rural life?”

Think about this question the next time you pass by a couple of kids working the water’s edge with fishing poles or crab nets. Such scenes remain quite common along the backroads of Delmarva, of course, just as they were when John Fletcher Hurst was growing up in Dorchester County, Maryland in the 1840s. Despite suffering from occasional debilitating bouts of asthma, young John loved…
February 28, 2019
Secrets of the Eastern Shore featured on WMDT-TV News
Secrets of the Eastern Shore featured on WMDT-TV News Segment on Harriet Tubman The Newsroom

Secrets of the Eastern Shore featured on WMDT-TV News Segment on Harriet Tubman

Secrets of the Eastern Shore co-founder Jim Duffy was featured recently in a news story on WMDT-TV Channel 47 News in Salisbury, Md. Reporter Erica Murphy visited the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center in the countryside outside of Cambridge, Md. to explore the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman, the famed Underground Railroad conductor who was born here on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the 1820s.…
February 13, 2019
Secrets of the Eastern Shore Pop Up Shop in Cambridge, Maryland
The Secrets of the Eastern Shore Holiday Pop Up Shop, 2018! Good Times & Fun EventsThe Newsroom

The Secrets of the Eastern Shore Holiday Pop Up Shop, 2018!

The Secrets of the Eastern Shore Pop Up Shop is returning to downtown Cambridge! Open weekends through Christmas, the shop is located inside of the popular Jimmie & Sook’s restaurant, 527 Poplar Street. Designed as a celebration of the Delmarva region in images, words, and products, the shop is the creation of a local husband-and-wife team, the writer Jim Duffy and the photographer Jill Jasuta.…
November 16, 2018
Twin Bridges of Dorchester County: Harrington Bridge and Malkus Bridge
PICTURE THIS: The Story Behind the Twin Bridges of Dorchester County Way Back Machine

PICTURE THIS: The Story Behind the Twin Bridges of Dorchester County

You know how the traffic goes on Kent Island come summer weekends? The backups begin many miles before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Then a legion of goofballs make it worse by looking for shortcuts when they don’t have a clue where they’re going. The poor local people end up trapped inside their houses, afraid to even run a little errand. Things used to be like…
November 9, 2018
Civil Rights Movement in the Pine Street neighborhood of Cambridge, Maryland
GOING PLACES: The Historic Pine Street Corridor in Cambridge, Maryland DestinationsTubman TravelsWay Back Machine

GOING PLACES: The Historic Pine Street Corridor in Cambridge, Maryland

    When working on Tubman Travels, my Secrets of the Eastern Shore guide to the sites and stories associated with the Underground Railroad era on the Delmarva Peninsula, I also kept a bunch of notes on other African American stories in Delaware and on the Eastern Shore. Eventually, I put those together into a PDF document that’s available as a free download to everyone…
August 16, 2018
Mosquitoes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland
QUOTE OF THE DAY: ‘The mosquito,’ Dr. Tawes would say, ‘is one of the noblest creatures known to nature.’ Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: ‘The mosquito,’ Dr. Tawes would say, ‘is one of the noblest creatures known to nature.’

The late P.J. Wingate was, appropriately enough, from the little town of Wingate, which stands deep in the mosquito-ridden marshland of south Dorchester County, Maryland. (FYI: The local pronunciation is win-GIT, not win-GATE.) A chemist by trade, Wingate dabbled quite a bit in writing as well. This is from his 1979 book, Bandages of Soft Illusion. It’s full of little essays about his childhood days…
May 28, 2018
Foggy Spring Valley in Cambridge, Maryland
“The most beautiful place on the Peninsula,” 1872 Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

“The most beautiful place on the Peninsula,” 1872

In an article for Scribner’s Monthly magazine, the 19th-century writer George Alfred Townsend shared his impressions after a bit of wandering around Maryland's Eastern Shore. The article included the description below of what it was like to come up the Choptank River into Cambridge, Md. in 1872, just a few short years after the Civil War. When you come to the part about the shady…
April 5, 2018