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Maryland Archives | Secrets of the Eastern Shore

Good Times & Fun EventsMonth of Fundays Newsletter

Month of Fundays April 2020: The Stay-at-Home Edition with Stories, Videos, & More

The April 2020 MONTH OF FUNDAYS newsletter is a little different. With all public events canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, this issue is designed to help you spend your time at home, with stories and photos and videos of days gone by on Delmarva. Click here to see the April 2020 edition. Here’s hoping it brings a little happiness into these crazy days. Thank you…
April 3, 2020
Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

“The Exile’s Song:” A Poetic Ode By a Homesick Eastern Shoreman

Aside from having a beard for the ages, Littleton Purnell Bowen was a lawyer, historian, preacher, and poet. Born in Worcester County, Md. in 1833, he did his early schooling at the Berlin (Md.) Academy, graduating in 1851. He later earned a law degree, but abandoned that career to become a Presbyterian minister. Early on, Bowen served as a pastor in Lewes, Del. and Pocomoke…
March 31, 2020
Way Back Machine

WAY BACK MACHINE: The Great Poplar Island Bootleg Booze Factory of 1929

On a Sunday afternoon in May 1929, Talbot County (Md.) Sheriff Thomas L. Faulkner and a team of local officers and federal agents sailed from Lowe’s Wharf, just up the mainland from Tilghman Island, heading past storied old Poplar Island and into the open Chesapeake Bay. But then the boat spun around and headed back for the island from the north. Poplar Island was a…
March 28, 2020
Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The stately looking steamboat … cautiously, almost stealthily edged her way into the locks” of the C&D Canal.

In 1881, the Wilmington (Del.) Morning News published one writer’s eloquent account of his steamboat journey from the old city of New Castle through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and on across the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore. Here are some highlights: Steamboats ran on the bays and rivers of Delmarva for a century and a half, from 1813 until 1962. This account of one brief…
March 28, 2020
CharactersDelmarva WisdomWay Back Machine

Inspiring Journey: “Black Harry” Hosier’s Climb from Slavery and Illiteracy to America’s “Greatest Orator”

We are all born with gifts. We all strive in our own way to nurture and share those gifts. Harry Hosier faced longer odds than any of us in this regard. He was born into slavery. He was illiterate. But he managed nonetheless to carve a path through life that saw him seize every opportunity to put his God-given gifts—a prodigious memory and a flair…
March 23, 2020
The Newsroom

On WBOC-TV, the fun story of the Great Poplar Island Black Cat Fur Farm of the 1840s

Secrets co-founder Jim Duffy recently went on WBOC-TV’s Good Day Delmarva to tell the tale of The Great Poplar Island Black Cat Fur Farm--a strange and ill-fated business venture in the 1840s. You can watch the segment here: Poplar Island Black Cat Story on Good Day Delmarva This is one of the scores of stories from days gone by that you can find in my…
March 19, 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
Good Times & Fun EventsMonth of Fundays Newsletter

Month of Fundays March 2020: Good Times & Fun Events on the Eastern Shore and in Delaware

The March 2020 MONTH OF FUNDAYS newsletter connects you with lots of fun events and cool happenings on the Eastern Shore and in Delaware. We are talking chocolate festivals, St. Patrick's Day, an eagle festival, music, history, beer, cocktails, and much more. Click here to see the March 2020 edition. Here’s hoping it inspires you to get out & go! Thank you for reading!
March 2, 2020
181 Great Events ExcerptFrom the Books

181 Great Events Book Sample: Delmarva Heritage Days in Pocomoke City, Md.

The new Secrets of the Eastern Shore book, 181 Great Events on Delmarva, celebrates the annual celebrations of the Delmarva Peninsula. Most chapters are devoted to a single event, like this one. Others combine similar events that happen around the same time into one section. Most chapters (also like this one) included a suggested side trip as well. Publication date: April 2020. Delmarva Heritage Days…
February 29, 2020