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Way Back Machine

Stories about the way things were on the Delmarva Peninsula–the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and Delaware.

First Steamboat on the Chesapeake Featured Image
CharactersWay Back Machine

How Capt. Edward Trippe Came Brought the Steamboat Revolution to the Chesapeake

In tumultuous times, we sometimes miss the forest for the trees. Wartime news ruled the day during the summer of 1813. Nearly 40 British ships prowled the Chesapeake Bay. The bad guys burned a pair of Maryland towns, Fredericktown and Georgetown, and attacked another, St. Michaels. A vessel named Chesapeake dominated newspaper headlines that June--she was a U.S. Navy frigate captured by the bad guys…
June 28, 2020
Colonial Tax Day on Delmarva Hunters Featured Image
Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: In Colonial Times, You Could Pay Your Tax Bill in Squirrels’ Heads

Taxes come due a little later than usual here in 2020. Because of the big pandemic, the government pushed the deadline back to July 15. My condolences to those of you still wading through paperwork. If it's any consolation, taxes were complicated back in colonial times, too--just in a different way, one that might have you donning camo garb and grabbing a gun instead of…
June 24, 2020
John Hunn Featured Image
CharactersWay Back Machine

‘The most remarkable man I had ever seen:’ John Hunn, Delaware’s Warrior for Freedom

If I could commune with the dead of Delmarva, one soul I would definitely want to call out is John Hunn, a great warrior for freedom during the days of slavery. He was a key player—the “superintendent,” as he once described it—along an Underground Railroad line the ran through central and northern Delaware. Precise numbers are impossible to pin down, but it’s likely that Hunn…
June 24, 2020
CharactersWay Back Machine

St. Michaels Character of the Day: The Crazy Life of James Michener, Millionaire & Cheapskate

This is an excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva. At the end of each trip in the book, there is a postscript section that tells a bit of historical or natural lore attached to the trip. This is at the end of the chapter about visiting St. Michaels, Md. By the time Chesapeake was published in June of…
June 10, 2020
Sunset atBlackwater 2013 Featured Image
CharactersDelmarva WisdomWay Back Machine

When Accomac, Va. Put the Baptist in Jail, 1778

This excerpt from Eastern Shore Road Trips #2: 26 MORE One-Day Adventures on Delmarva comes from a trip centered on Accomac, the seat of Accomack County, Va. The town played an important role in the life of the preacher Elijah Baker (1742 to 1798), who helped get the then-fledgling Baptist faith off the ground and spreading through America. The most famous structure on the square…
May 30, 2020
Cecile Steele of Ocean View, Delaware Featured Image
CharactersDelmarva WisdomWay Back Machine

Character of the Day: The Delaware Housewife Who Invented the Modern Chicken Industry

As a deeply religious young woman, Cecile Long Steele probably didn’t let loose with a string of curse words when the delivery truck driver showed up at her farm that day in 1923. Cecile had ordered 50 baby chicks, but the deliveryman had 500 chicks instead. This being 1923, Cecile couldn’t call or text customer service to sort out this mix-up on the spot. The…
May 28, 2020
Dale Wimbrow Whaleyville Featured Photo
CharactersWay Back Machine

A Whaleyville Wonder: How Delmarva’s Dale Wimbrow Made a Difference in the World

What was Dale Wimbrow thinking on the day in 1934 when he put those words on paper? He could not have known in that moment how his words would spread in the decades that followed like inspirational wildfire, giving strength to hundreds, then thousands, and then millions of men and women as they stood up to life’s challenges. Those words are still doing good works…
May 23, 2020
Smallpox Sign for Sussex Spat Story Set in Seaford and Laurel, Delaware
Way Back Machine

SUSSEX COUNTY SPAT: When Seaford Set Up Blockades to Keep Out People From Laurel, 1916

In the spring of 1916, a small smallpox outbreak popped up in Laurel, Del. In the days that followed, health officials in the neighboring town of Seaford came to believe that their colleagues in Laurel weren't doing everything they could to keep the disease at bay. They ordered a halt to all traffic between the two towns. The Wilmington News Journal, May 15: "Guards have…
May 5, 2020
Sam and Emeline Hawkins Underground Railroad Featured Image
From the BooksTubman TravelsWay Back Machine

TUBMAN TRAVELS: The Strangers Who Risked Everything for Sam And Emeline Hawkins

 This is a free excerpt from the Secrets of the Eastern Shore book, Tubman Travels: 32 Underground Railroad Journeys on Delmarva. The book tells true-life stories from the Underground Railroad, and all of those stories are linked to places that you can go visit in your travels on the Eastern Shore and in Delaware. BIG PICTURE: Redemption Song One thing I’ve learned in working on…
May 4, 2020
Thomas Savage Eastern Shore of Virginia Featured Image
CharactersFrom the BooksRoad TripsWay Back Machine

JOURNEYS: The British Teenager Left Behind to Live with the Indians in 1608

Every chapter in my book, Eastern Shore Road Trips 2: 26 More One-Day Adventures on Delmarva, is a mix of fun places to visit and interesting stories from days gone by. This free excerpt is from one of the road trips set on the Eastern Shore of Virginia--the book also includes lots of trips in Delaware and on Maryland's Eastern Shore, of course. Thanks for…
May 3, 2020