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Wicomico County

Dexter Truitt Featured Image
The Quarter Question: Is a Little Piece of Pittsville, Md. in Your Pocket or Purse? Strange & Wondrous

The Quarter Question: Is a Little Piece of Pittsville, Md. in Your Pocket or Purse?

NOTE: This is a rough draft for a chapter in an upcoming book that is (very) tentatively titled: Strange and Wondrous Tales from the Delmarva Peninsula. You can see the other books in my Secrets of the Eastern Shore series here. The next time you fish around in your pocket or purse for some change, give some thought to the humble quarter. Yes, that’s an image…
April 8, 2021
Gilbert Lare of Federalsburg Maryland Featured Image
The Legend of Gilbert Lare, aka “The Del-Mar-Va Bandit” of the 1930s CharactersWay Back Machine

The Legend of Gilbert Lare, aka “The Del-Mar-Va Bandit” of the 1930s

The criminal career of Gilbert Lare, aka "The Del-Mar-Va Bandit,” began with a seemingly minor affair. Wilmington News Journal, Dec. 27, 1926: Gilbert Lare, a young man of , was arrested by Constable Thomas Nichols breaking into store on South Main Street Wednesday night and removing two slot machines. … The machines were found early the following morning along the river shores, broken up, and…
June 30, 2020
Delmarva Oil Craze Featured Photo
BLACK GOLD IN PARSONSBURG! The Delmarva Oil Craze of the Early 1900s Way Back Machine

BLACK GOLD IN PARSONSBURG! The Delmarva Oil Craze of the Early 1900s

If someone ever makes an Eastern Shore version of "The Beverly Hillbillies," the family at the center of things would have to hail from Parsonsburg, Md. That sleepy town of 350ish souls--it's just east of Salisbury, on the way to Ocean City--was the epicenter of the Great Delmarva Oil Craze. Consider, for starters, the advertisement that the Wicomico Oil & Gas Co. took out in…
May 2, 2020
Somerset Steak Knives Featured Image Small
Somerset Journey: The Steak Knife Was Invented in Crisfield, and That Story Begins on Marumsco Creek CharactersWay Back Machine

Somerset Journey: The Steak Knife Was Invented in Crisfield, and That Story Begins on Marumsco Creek

The story behind the creation of the steak knife in your kitchen drawer involves a bit of manufacturing ingenuity, but there is more to it. Think romantic sleigh rides, a devastating fire, steadfast religious faith, and then—a Christmas gift from a friend that changes everything. This Somerset County, Md. tale begins with a farm boy who hated farm work. He much preferred puttering around in…
March 31, 2020
The Wharf in Tyaskin, Md.
ROAD TRIPS 2 EXCERPT: A Tight Fit in Tyaskin, Md. From the BooksQuote of the Day

ROAD TRIPS 2 EXCERPT: A Tight Fit in Tyaskin, Md.

This excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 More One-Day Adventures on Delmarva features a historical nugget that comes as a bonus section at the end of a chapter called "Wicomico Wanderings," set on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. The trip starts at history-laden Pemberton Park outside of Salisbury, Md. and then leads you along backroads and into the Nanticoke River towns of…
August 8, 2017
Marshland in Somerset County on Maryland's Eastern Shore
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Head Over Heels for Somerset County Quote of the Day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Head Over Heels for Somerset County

    Somerset County is celebrating its 350th birthday here in 2016, and that is the sort of occasion that can make grown men get a little emotional and go a little over the top. I would doubt, however, that anyone doing any speechifying nowadays will be able to top the writer Clarence Torrence in the Department of Purple Prose. Here is how Mr. Torrence opens his…
September 15, 2016
Map with Humphrey's Lake in Salisbury on Maryland's Eastern Shore
How a Construction Mishap Back in 1909 Helped Create Modern-Day Salisbury From the BooksWay Back Machine

How a Construction Mishap Back in 1909 Helped Create Modern-Day Salisbury

This excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #1: 27 One-Day Adventures on Delmarva is comes in the midst of a road trip through Salisbury, starting on the east at the Ward Museum and then running through City Park and into downtown and its Riverwalk. Do you see that giant kidney-shaped thing at the top of this old map of downtown Salisbury? That is the 40-acre Humphrey's Lake that…
May 24, 2016
Philadelphia Athletics on field at Shibe Park, 1911 World Series, Home Run Baker is second from left
America’s Pastime on the Eastern Shore: A tour chock full of baseball greatness Road Trips

America’s Pastime on the Eastern Shore: A tour chock full of baseball greatness

NOTES: This is a free excerpt from my book, Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 More One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. Enjoy! More info on the book here. JIMMIE FOX OF SUDLERVILLE Itty bitty Sudlersville is the first of four stops in this tour of the Shore’s rich baseball history. Located off of Route 301 as it heads up from Queenstown toward Delaware, this town with…
March 22, 2015
The Ward Brothers in Crisfield
Salisbury Gems: The Ward Museum and City Park DestinationsRoad Trips

Salisbury Gems: The Ward Museum and City Park

  “Two dumb country boys.” That’s how Lem Ward liked to describe himself and his brother, Steve. They were born in the last years of the 19th century and lived in Crisfield. Both were barbers by trade, just like their father. They shared a shop, in fact. And for fun, they sang in a little barbershop quartet. Darn if those two dumb country boys didn’t end…
February 10, 2015