Category: Uncategorized

December 8, 1963, was a slow night for broadcast journalist Joe Mosbrook, who was working the Sunday evening shift at WDEL-AM in Wilmington. Nothing particularly remarkable filled the Delaware airwaves as Joe ripped network copy off the teletype, made phone calls to get updates on things around New Castle County and read weather reports about…

As decades slip all too quickly by once young soldiers grow old.  While aging the defenders often recall their battles, remembering stirring times until that final voice is silenced.  That time was rapidly approach in 1896 for soldiers of the War of 1812, when the Utica Morning Herald reported that only fourteen pensioners remained. In…

The Port Deposit Chamber of Commerce has entered the high-tech heritage tourism world by piloting a new product, becoming the first Cecil County destination spot to offer walking tours delivered over a wireless network.  Strolling throughout the historic town nestled between granite cliffs and the east bank of the Susquehanna River, the past comes alive…

The Historical Society of Cecil County is holding a remembrance program on Dec 8th 2013, as it will be fifty years since Pan American World Airways Flight 214 crashed outside of Elkton, killing everyone onboard the jet.  As we honor the memory of those on the flight and the first responders who answered the urgent…

Beginning after the Civil War, the Army Corps of Engineers worked to maintain water access to communities located at the head of navigation of many rivers on the Chesapeake. That ongoing struggle, extending well into the 1900s, required constant effort as the Corps mapped waterways, carried out dredging, removed shoals, and built dikes, making the…

H. W. Sherman, one of the assets acquired by the Federal Government with the purchase of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, was retiring from the Army Corps of Engineers in 1953.  The 70-year-old administrative assistant spent 48 years on the waterway, having started with the corporate owner of the route across the Peninsula in 1905….

Trains on the old Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad didn’t go far and they didn’t go fast on the line that twisted and turned its way through some of the most scenic parts of Cecil County.  Beginning on the state line at Sylmar, the rails passed through valleys, alongside creeks, and through granite hills until the junction of mainline, the Columbia and Port Deposit Road, was reached.  On…

Yesterday afternoon, Milford Sprecher kicked off the Historical Society of Cecil County’s popular 2013-14 speakers series with an engaging, photo-illustrated talk, “Elkton in the 1960s.”  On the pleasant Saturday, he vividly captured the spirit of those years locally, providing views and perspective of someone who came of age in the county seat during a pivotal era….

When Dr. James Johnson started practicing medicine in Elkton in the middle of the Great Depression the county’s healthcare system was segregated, just like every other aspect of life in Cecil County.  Union Hospital had a separate ward for African-Americans and the young physician didn’t have admitting privileges.  If one of his patients required hospitalization,…

Cecil County Citizens Kayak & Canoe Club recently established an open Facebook group, a place for those interested in the area’s five rivers.  Once the social media page launched, views of the Upper Elk River (the Kayaker’s perspective) caught my attention, causing me to start digging through old research files in a search of some…