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Dorchester County

A Duel in Dorchester County, Maryland
QUOTE OF THE DAY: A Duel Solution in Dorchester Quote of the Day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: A Duel Solution in Dorchester

    “At this period political discussions partook of much personal rancor and vituperation …” Those words are meant as a description of America in the 1820s, though it seems to me that they might just as well have been written about the current political environment. James Stewart … Mr. Stewart’s views at this time on the national issues impressed him that the principles of the Democratic party…
September 5, 2016
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Coming Attraction: The Tubman Underground Railroad Visitors Center Destinations

Coming Attraction: The Tubman Underground Railroad Visitors Center

Chris Elcock first visited the future site of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitors Center in July of 2008. He’d come across the bridge from Baltimore that day in order to help decide whether his firm, GWWO Architects, would throw its hat in the ring when it came time to design the facility. Now slated to open in March of 2017, the center is the latest…
September 5, 2016
A Proposal on Holland Island
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Rev. Joshua Thomas Proposes to the ‘Ugliest Woman in the World.’ Quote of the Day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Rev. Joshua Thomas Proposes to the ‘Ugliest Woman in the World.’

    Ladies, is this the perfect time for a marriage proposal, or what? That question certainly popped into my head while reading up on Rev. Joshua Thomas during the work I did for my book, “Eastern Shore Road Trips: 27 One-Day Adventures on Delmarva.” Thomas was the famed “Parson of the Islands,” of course, and he traveled the Bay in a log canoe called…
July 8, 2016
Crab Pickers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Never before had seen a crab. No, they didn’t know what to do with it.’ Quote of the Day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Never before had seen a crab. No, they didn’t know what to do with it.’

    Local crab houses first started bringing in Mexican migrants as crabpickers in the early 1990s. A few years in, the historian Virginia Jenkins conducted a slew of interviews at Eastern Shore seafood houses to try and get a handle on how everything was going. Here is one thing she learned: Traditionally , women have taught their children or other family members how to…
June 13, 2016
The Day They Bombed Holland Island Bar Light on Maryland's Eastern Shore
The Day They Bombed the Old Holland Island Bar Light Way Back Machine

The Day They Bombed the Old Holland Island Bar Light

The old Holland Island Bar Light was one gorgeous piece of work. Built in 1889 to mark the way into Holland Strait and Tangier Sound, it was a screwpile affair topped with a hexagonal cottage. It stood a little ways south of Holland Island back when people still lived on that little scrap of land between Bloodsworth and Smith islands. On Feb. 19, 1957, Holland…
February 14, 2016
Sunset at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Experiencing the Natural Wonders of the Eastern Shore at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge DestinationsNatural WondersRoad Trips

Experiencing the Natural Wonders of the Eastern Shore at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

  For my money, there is no better place than these 30,000-plus acres and their surrounding back roads to get a first-hand feel for why the marshlands of the Chesapeake Bay rank as a natural wonder of the first order. The scenery is breathtaking, the wildlife is abundant, and the landscape is chock full of fascinating bits of history. For many of the 150,000 people who…
September 21, 2015
Simmons Center Market Exterior
Time Capsule: This Old Grocery Store Has 80-Plus Years of Stories to Tell DestinationsWay Back Machine

Time Capsule: This Old Grocery Store Has 80-Plus Years of Stories to Tell

Most folks nowadays get to experience old-time general stores only through the magic of books and movies. But if you venture off of Route 50 and head into the heart of Cambridge, you can still get a taste of the real thing. Simmons Center Market has been around for more than 80 years now. The store’s name honors the memory of the late James “Jimmy”…
April 1, 2015
Danny Killer Marsh Eating Raw Eggs
The Crazy Fun Day When Danny “Killer” Marsh Went After a New World Record Way Back Machine

The Crazy Fun Day When Danny “Killer” Marsh Went After a New World Record

These images you see in this post are blurry because they're screenshots from a grainy fortysomething-year-old video, but that video just so happens to be the greatest Eastern Shore footage I have ever seen. One commenter on the YouTube link posted below says: “This is the best thing I’ve ever found on the internet." Another: “Greatest YouTube video ever." They are not exaggerating. The year was 1980.…
March 30, 2015
Hand of Harriet Tubman Reenactor (HTURR Byway)
Finding Freedom Along the Harriet Tubman Byway Road Trips

Finding Freedom Along the Harriet Tubman Byway

  When it comes to gaining a sense for the story of the Underground Railroad, the Eastern Shore is about as good a destination as it gets in this country. It is, after all, the birthplace of Harriet Tubman and the site of her 1849 escape into freedom—and then of her many fearless journeys back into the danger zone to help others escape. Tubman, who…
February 16, 2015
Downtown Cambridge Scene with Crab Hats (JJP)
Cambridge, the Comeback Kid of the Eastern Shore Road Trips

Cambridge, the Comeback Kid of the Eastern Shore

    Cambridge is the comeback kid on the Eastern Shore these days. The restaurant and bar scene is hopping. The waterfront is getting spruced up. And best of all the town just seems to have character to spare these days—it’s the kind of place where they build downtown Christmas trees out of crab baskets, compete in crazy tricycle races while wearing goofy costumes, and throw…
February 12, 2015