Two journalists from the “Back Story with the American History Guys,” a public radio show, were in Elkton a few weeks ago working on an hour long installment for the weekly production titled “Committed: Marriage in America.” The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and University of Virginia sponsor the shows, which bring “historical perspective to the events happening around us today. On each show, renowned U.S. historians . . . tear a topic from the headlines and plumb its historical depths.” As they explore the roots of what’s going on today, they seek to reveal connections or disconnections between the past and the present.
For this week’s airing the headline under the magnifying glass concerned marriage in America. From the colonial era to the present, they included segments on a range of issues and one involved “the town that was Vegas before Vegas was Vegas.” According to the historians “eloping to Elkton had entered the nation’s lexicon” by the 1930s. While they were here they visited the Historical Society to get background insight, attended a ceremony at the Little Wedding Chapel and talked to local people at restaurants out on Route 40.
It aired last week and here’s a link to the broadcast.