Kent County (Md.) Archives - Secrets of the Eastern Shore

Way Back Machine

The Last Gasp of Legendary Steamer “Emma Giles”–Tolchester Beach, 1936

In the photo that appears both up top and nearby here the steamboat Emma Giles is arriving at the Tolchester Beach Resort on Maryland's Upper Eastern Shore. It's a summer day in 1936. She is at the end of the line when it comes to her passenger-service days--this is the closing stretch of a long, storied career. In her prime, the gorgeous sidewheeler made steamboat…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreApril 29, 2026

Spring Sailing Options Delmarva Featured Photo

Destinations Road Trips

Sail Away! 20ish Easy Ways to Get Out on the Water

You don't have to own a boat to get out on the water on the Delmarva Peninsula. Here are a few easy options, available in ticketed fashion rather than by putting a group together and chartering a vessel. • THE STEAM FERRY: The Patriot is a replica 1930s steam ferry that offers narrated cruises on various themes along the Miles River, sailing out of St.…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreApril 22, 2026

Betterton Beach 1890s Quote Featured Photo

Quote of the Day Way Back Machine

A Perfect Daytrip to Betterton Beach, 1897–with bonus photos!

The photo up top here and the text below don't quite match up, but it's close. The family shown in that photo is from Philadelphia, and they are aboard an Ericsson line steamboat on their way to the then-popular summer resort of Betterton Beach, Md. The date is 1898. (The photo is repeated below, so that you can see it without headline type in the…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreJuly 18, 2024

Steamboat Emma Giles to Tolchester Featured Photo SIZED

Way Back Machine

HOP ABOARD! What It Was Like Taking the Steamboat Emma Giles to Tolchester

I spent some quality time recently with a wonderful old book by historian David C. Holly, Steamboat on the Chesapeake: Emma Giles and the Tolchester Line. Among the highlights in my reading was this glorious description of what it was like to board that steamboat in Baltimore's Inner Harbor and, bound for a daytrip to the famed-but-long-gong upper Chesapeake Bay resort at Tolchester Beach in…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreApril 18, 2024

Characters Destinations From the Books Road Trips

ROAD TRIP! Visiting with Tallulah in Kent County, Md.

This is an excerpt from my book, Eastern Shore Road Trips #1: 27 One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. The full trip here is titled "The Road to Rock Hall" and includes stops at Caulk's Field, Rock Hall, the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, and other spots. Here goes with the Tallulah section: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, which lies to the left (or southwest) on Sandy…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreMarch 4, 2021

Characters From the Books Tubman Travels Way Back Machine

TUBMAN TRAVELS: The Other Harriet’s Wild Ride to Freedom

This is an excerpt from my book, Tubman Travels: 32 Underground Railroad Adventures on Delmarva. The book tells keystone stories about the Underground Railroad, with each story attached to place or places that you can go visit. More info about the book here. BIG PICTURE: A Ride for the Ages American history has its share of famous horseback rides. There is the “Midnight Ride” of…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreMarch 4, 2021

Destinations

Upper Maryland Eastern Shore: Turner’s Creek Park

This is an excerpt from the coming-soon book, 181 Great Events on Delmarva, which includes more than 100 suggested side trips that are located nearby one of the featured events. The backroads of Kent County of Maryland's Upper Eastern Shore always make for scenic wandering. A little way east of the historic beach-resort town of Betterton is 147-acre Turner’s Creek Park and postcard-pretty Turner’s Creek…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreMay 31, 2020

Fashions in Chestertown, Maryland in the Mid-1700s

Quote of the Day Way Back Machine

Quote of the Day, Mid-1700s: “Foppery, Idleness & Dissipation are Striding Briskly On” in Chestertown, Md.

In his book Rivers of the Eastern Shore, the writer Hulbert Footner travels up this waterway, down that one, and then another, reporting on what he sees and discussing the history and culture of the towns he comes upon. Here is a little bit of what he had to say while sailing up the Chester River, on the Upper Eastern Shore of Maryland, about Chestertown…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreNovember 3, 2019

Quote of the Day Way Back Machine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Traveling to Tolchester Beach in 1879

In 1879, a Baltimore company called A.P. Lloyd worked up a travel guide for boaters and travelers called The Chesapeake Illustrated. Below is what they had to say about one famous old-time destination, Tolchester Beach in Kent County, Maryland. And below that are some photos of how things looked at Tolchester back in the day. TOLCHESTER BEACH, THE NEAREST and probably the most popular of all the…

Secrets of the Eastern ShoreAugust 19, 2018

Henry Highland Garnet, born in Chesterville, Maryland

Characters Way Back Machine

Born in Chesterville: The First Black Minister to Address the U.S. Congress

Starting Point: Kent County, Md. Heading west out of Millington, Maryland on Route 291 you will soon come to a sign announcing that the road is dedicated to the memory of Henry Highland Garnet, whose life story has as many interesting twists and turns as any African American man in the 19th century. The fact that the first black minister to ever address…

Helen HutchinsonJanuary 30, 2018