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The way things were in days gone by on the Delmarva Peninsual–theEastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and Delaware.

Christmas Poem McKinsey 1919 Featured Photo SIZED
A Poetic Christmas Interlude, 1919 Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

A Poetic Christmas Interlude, 1919

The poet Folger McKinsey was born in Elkton, Md. in 1866 and got his start as a journalist and writer in the Eastern's Shore's Cecil County. Later, he became a newspaperman for the Baltimore Sun. There, he eventually became "staff poet"--yup, the Sun did have have such a position. At Christmastime in 1919, McKinsey published a poem titled “The Hills of Pine.” Most of it…
December 1, 2025
Hoopers Island Christmas 1920 FEATURED Image SIZED
WAY BACK MACHINE: A Hoopers Island Christmas in the 1920s CharactersQuote of the DayWay Back Machine

WAY BACK MACHINE: A Hoopers Island Christmas in the 1920s

The late Tom Flowers, who grew up on Hoopers Island during the 1920s and 1930s, ranks as a legendary figure in Dorchester County, Md. One of the many hats he wore in life was that of storyteller--he would make the rounds of local civic groups and events, sharing tales from days gone by. He collected some of his stories into a book, "Shore Folklore." Here…
December 1, 2025
The One Best Place WC Thurston Poet Featured Photo SIZED
Quote of the Day, 1938: “The Eastern Shore is a most delightful land; the one best place … to live and love and work.” Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

Quote of the Day, 1938: “The Eastern Shore is a most delightful land; the one best place … to live and love and work.”

In 1938 a beloved Salisbury book shop owner and poet named W.C. Thurston served as editor of a book titled The Eastern Shore in Song and Story: A Tribute from its Loyal Sons and Daughters to a Pleasant Peninsula. It's a compilation of essays about and samples from various writers and songwriters whose work sings the praises of our Eastern Shore. I haven't read the…
May 17, 2025
Boom Times Bridgeville Featured Photo
Delaware Quote of the Day: “Boom Times” Come to Bridgeville, 1905 Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

Delaware Quote of the Day: “Boom Times” Come to Bridgeville, 1905

In August of 1905 the Wilmington Morning News sent a reporter down to Sussex County to do a story about big happenings in little Bridgeville. That writer started his article talking about famous booms from recent decades--the various gold rushes out West and oil gushers down in Texas. How could a little crossroads town in the middle of Sussex nowhere compare? The boom which has…
May 8, 2025
Hardest Days Work Saxis Island from Almost an Island FEATURED PHOTO
EASTERN SHORE QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Hardest day’s work I ever did in my life …” Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

EASTERN SHORE QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Hardest day’s work I ever did in my life …”

Ellsworth Linton never forgot "the hardest day's work I ever did in my life." It came in the midst of the Great Depression, 1937. The buyboat J.C. Drewer pulled into Saxis Island one morning with 2,180 bushels of oysters that had been harvested from across the Chesapeake Bay in the James River. He and just one other worker spent that entire day shoveling oysters into…
April 21, 2025
Family Farm Life: Making Cider in Days Gone By Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

Family Farm Life: Making Cider in Days Gone By

This fascinating recollection of cider making on a family farm in autumn days gone by was written by Henry A. Wise. Born in Accomack County in 1877 he grew up to become a schoolteacher and a school administrator. In his retirement years he turned his attention to history and culture of his native Eastern Shore, writing two books, Over on the Eastern Shore and Yesteryears…
October 20, 2024
Betterton Beach 1890s Quote Featured Photo
A Perfect Daytrip to Betterton Beach, 1897–with bonus photos! Quote of the DayWay 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…
July 18, 2024
Choptank River 1930s for Poem The Choptank Is a River FEATURED PHOTO
A POETIC INTERLUDE: “The Choptank Is a River/That Is in My Dreams Today” Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

A POETIC INTERLUDE: “The Choptank Is a River/That Is in My Dreams Today”

The below tribute to our Choptank River was published in 1931 by Folger McKinzey (1866-1950), who grew up on the Eastern Shore in Elkton, Md. and became something of an adolescent prodigy. He became editor of the weekly Shore Gazette newspaper in Ocean Grove, N.J. at age 17 and then, at 20, returned to Elkton as assistant editor of the Cecil Whig. While there, he…
February 8, 2024
Chesapeake Oyster Wars Depraved Workforce FEATURED PHOTO
“Depraved,” “Unscrupulous,” “Vile”–Our Oystermen, 1887 MiscellanyQuote of the DayWay Back Machine

“Depraved,” “Unscrupulous,” “Vile”–Our Oystermen, 1887

Those headline words all come from a federal government report about the state of the oystering on the Chesapeake Bay in 1887. This was, as many regular readers here will know, the height of the “Oyster Wars” in our region. Just in case you need it: Here is a 200-word refresher of an introduction to those wild times. Fear and greed fueled the Chesapeake Oyster…
January 9, 2024
Hog Killing Tradition in Caroline County on Eastern Shore of Maryland
Women’s Work: Memories of an Old-Time Hog Killing in Federalsburg, Md. Quote of the DayWay Back Machine

Women’s Work: Memories of an Old-Time Hog Killing in Federalsburg, Md.

Ellenor Merriken was still brand new to Federalsburg, Md. when her husband's mother (aka "Grandma") called and told her to come on over and pitch in--it was hog-killing time. That longstanding Christmastime tradition on the Delmarva Peninsula worked something like an Amish barn-raising--neighbors would gather to pitch in and help while also enjoying a day of fellowship. This was new to Ellenor. She had found…
December 12, 2023