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Somerset County Archives | Secrets of the Eastern Shore

Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: The Heyday of Garment Factories in Crisfield, Maryland

That old saying about how the more things change, the more they stay the same popped into my head when I went looking for a little background info to go with a cool photo of an old B.V.D. underwear plant, one of several old garment factories in Crisfield, Md. We’ve all heard about modern-day clothing and shoe companies that find their way to far-flung places…
July 23, 2018
Way Back Machine

DELMARVA CLASSIC: The Sweet Strawberry Boom of Days Gone By

The story behind the variety of strawberry we enjoy nowadays is a global affair that stretches across two centuries and three continents. Way back in the 1500s, some French explorer noticed that the wild strawberries of Virginia had bigger fruits and brighter color than their European counterparts. He brought some back to Europe and farmers started playing around with them. But it wasn’t until two…
May 16, 2017
Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Back in the 1920s, Crisfield Was a ‘Sort of Tiny Vulgar Venice’

Back in 1922, the writer Edward Noble Vallandigham penned this ode to Crisfield for his travel guide, Delaware and the Eastern Shore. "Newest of all the large and active communities on the Peninsula is Crisfield, … has grown into an active little city with a busy main street that looks like that of a raw Western mining village. … One forgets on the sea front, with…
April 2, 2017
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
Quote of the Day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Chesapeake Oystermen, 1887: “One of the Most Depraved Bodies of Workmen in the Country”

    This is from a report by the federal government written in 1887, at the height of the craziest and most violent oyster boomtimes that the Eastern Shore has ever seen. And hey, Somerset County, when you get to the end here, I am thinking that the writer is talking about you as the rare "respectable" and "honorable" exception to the rule--congrats! VERY STRICT…
May 30, 2016