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As speeding vehicles dash across Cecil County on I-95, Our Lady of the Highways watches peacefully over the hectic scene from a tranquil hillside in Childs, MD.  The guardian of travelers, a 14-foot-high white marble statue of the Virgin Mary, was placed there by Oblates after a massive pileup took three lives on a foggy October morning in 1968.

Hearing crash after crash, novices, seminarians, brothers, and priests from the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, who were starting their morning routine, rushed toward the Interstate. (Novices had entered the religious order, but were on probation before taking vows.) The first outside aid to reach victims, they tended to the injured and dying while waiting for emergency crews to make their way through the darkness and fog.

Moved by the sad tragedy that took place on that unforgettable autumn day, the Oblates erected the shrine on the grounds of the novitiate in 1973.  In addition to serving as a memorial for the three victims, the patron of travelers reminds people to drive safely and say a prayer before heading out on a trip.

Here is the story of that dreadful day.  Thick fog made travel hazardous in the pre-dawn hours of October 2, 1968.  As drivers on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway made their way carefully across the top of the Chesapeake, they suddenly encountered treacherous conditions about a mile west of the Elkton exit.  A swath of almost impenetrable, unmoving mist hugged the ground, creating havoc as it cut visibility to 10 to 12 feet, according to Wilmington newspapers.  Vehicles rushing into this dangerous spot suddenly started braking, but one car hit the bridge abutment.  That triggered a chain reaction as 20 vehicles quickly piled up in the northbound lane about where it crosses Blue Ball Road.  Several of the crumpled cars were smashed between tractor-trailers.

Cecil County Fire Headquarters received an urgent call from the Oblates, and the alarm went out on the public safety radio system at 6:20 a.m.  While they waited for fire and rescue services, seminarians and priests comforted the injured and dying. 

The first ambulance crew to arrive on the scene–Singerly Fire Company’s Jack Fears and Hampton Scott–discovered a horrible scene of twisted metal and shattered glass. In the choking fog, they quickly assessed the carnage and asked dispatch for a general alarm, summoning every available Cecil County ambulance and nearby Delaware units.  Fourteen tractor-trailers and at least six cars were strewn across lanes of the toll road, while police found the fog so thick that they had to probe for victims.  With visibility near zero and conditions treacherous, four rescue units and four engines also sped to the wreckage to extricate trapped victims, support EMS crews, and suppress any fire.

When word of the accident was flashed to Union Hospital, Rusty Brandon, the night supervisor, activated the hospital’s disaster plan.  Since this was the era before advanced life support, shock trauma centers, and helicopters, all the injured were routed through the local emergency room. As there wasn’t a physician on duty in the emergency department overnight, she called doctors, and soon extra practitioners and nurses rushed to the medical facility to help the night shift cope with the disaster.  Before the last injured person entered the door at 8:30 a.m., the medical staff treated eight patients.

Three people died on that stretch of the turnpike before the sun came up at 7:03 a.m. that dark Cecil County morning.  It was later reported that discharge from a nearby paper mill contributed to the sudden, sharp drop in visibility.  As for Cecil County Emergency Services, they were ready when the call about an accident on the turnpike required a massive deployment of manpower and equipment from across the county and nearby areas.  The central dispatch system for police, fire, and EMS was just six years old, but it proved vital in coordinating the joint response to such a serious accident.

The Oblates erected the memorial, Our Lady of the Highways, in 1973.  Drivers who happen to glance over toward the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales may wonder about the “stone lady,” as truckers call her.  She is the patron of travelers, the lady of the highway, watching over motorists on I-95.

Christiana and Singerly Fire Company ambulances at the Union Hospital Emergency (Singerly Fire Company Museum)

Front page of Evening Journal, October 3, 1968.

Click here for a related piece on a song about “Our Lady of the Highways/”

For additional photos, visit on Cecil County History page on Facebook by clicking here 

Port Deposit, July 30, 2010 – Over the past few years we’ve carefully watched as Port Deposit has become a Cecil County destination spot for fine dining.  As a result we often head that way to enjoy exceptional meals coupled with the atmosphere of an attractive historic river town that ideal for strolling.  Today was one of those times, especially in light of this pleasant July day as the region finally escaped the oppressive humidity.  When we arrived on Main Street with friends, there were plenty of fine eating spots to consider.  Each of the five establishment has a unique market niche for the discriminating patron, focusing on everything from tavern food to Cecil County’s finest dining spot in our opinion (Back Fin Blues) and several choices in-between.

While we’ve mentioned this before, we haven’t talked about the newest spot, Capello Confections and Gifts. It’s an excellent bakery found right in the center of Port’s downtown restaurant district.

After finishing our enjoyable meals, the attractive little red shop and the sweet smells wafting down Main Street pulled us right in.   Inside we looked at a superb assortment of scones, cookies, cakes and lots of fancier pastries.  After all of us purchased something we settled down on inviting chairs on Capello’s front porch.   While enjoying the ambiance of a historic downtown, we munched on some delightful bakery products.

Be sure to check out the personal touch Capello’s Bakery provides while offering homemade products and old-fashioned small town service, especially if you have a sweet tooth.  You won’t find any of those ingredients in some large commercial bakery in the corner of a big-box store.  These tempting products will meet your expectations This is another Port spot that’s now on our list of places to visit regularly since we’ve discovered such temping products  By-the-way, they also provide items for private parties and other off-premises purposes.

Oh while we were there we talked to an enthusiastic young person who is in the process of opening up a higher end coffee and sandwich shop.  We’re told they’re going to have some of the finest, creative sandwiches around including Cubans, and they hope to open next weekend.  We’ll be there to check it out and give readers a first-hand report.

Be sure to visit Capello’s Bakery and some of the other places.  It’s been great to see the revitalization that is going on in this old Susquehanna River town as new businesses that pull in tourists from a wide region locate here.  It’s certainly caused us to become Port Deposit regulars.

The restoration of Hebron’s Gift, an 18^th century Calvert dwelling, is being documented on a blog that shows the progress of the undertaking and shares interesting findings.  Hebron’s Gift was first owned by John Daye in 1739 and the present kitchen dates from that time, according to the Maryland Historical Trust. John Daye also established a tanyard east of his dwelling that same year. It remained in operation for over 100 years.   The main house was built about 1800.  Readers of a Window on Cecil County’s Past may find this weblog of interest.

Click here to go to the Hebron’s Gift.

Photos Courtesy of Cecil County Dept. of Public Works

On June 24, 2010, Gilpin’s Falls Covered Bridge was dedicated. The County Dept. of Public works took photos of the ceremony and they’ve shared them with us.  So we’ve built a short slide show of the dedication, which we though readers might enjoy.  For the rest of the story, see the links below.

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Gilpin’s Falls Bridge Preservation Effort Honored

You never know what kind of buried treasures might turn up when someone starts digging around older parts of Elkton.  Many of the town’s parking areas, streets, and buildings lots have yielded relics that were tossed aside and buried long ago.      

It’s been that way for centuries as people have been astonished after unearthing Revolutionary War and War of 1812 artifacts.  Beyond projectiles of war, the soil yields up relics of everyday living including old building foundations, bottles, coins, ceramics buttons, and arrow-heads.  One bona-fide archaeological dig produced  Spanish coins, stoneware from prehistoric peoples, and human bones from an aboriginal burial ground.      

Showing up over and over again, those cannonballs grab much of the attention   A decade before the Civil War shattered the nation, “one of those dreaded implements of war, a genuine bombshell, was dug up in the yard of the Elkton Academy [North Street],” the Cecil Democrat reported.  A few years later in 1863, men laying gas lines on Main Street excavated four cannonballs.  Another time in 1877 masons moving earth for a cellar alongside Main Street found an 18-pounder three-feet below the surface.      

These discoveries continued into the 20th century.  When Elkton put in a new storm sewer on Bow Street in 1970,  a backhoe caught on an old mill stone.  Later hundreds of hand-blown bottles were unearthed.  About a half-block south of High Street, they found four cannon balls.  About ten-years ago a contractor uncovered a projectile at the corner of Main and Bow streets while working on the streetscape project.  That sighting generated a buzz as some argued it was just an old bowling ball three-feet under the oyster shell and stone filled colonial-era turnpike.  It was going to stop the Main Street revitalization project others fretted.  Of course that was an unfounded worry and the bowling ball theory was promptly discarded.  At Elk Landing, an untold number of cannon balls have been found over the years.      

Clusters of artifacts such as buckles, bullets, and typical objects discarded by the military were found, along with an occasional cannonball, out on Grey’s Hill in 1885, the Elkton Appeal wrote.  Tradition has it that a British Army unit camped there during the invasion of 1777.  They also found stone from the old turnpike across the Peninsula.      

One of the most important archaeological excavations ever done on the Eastern Shore took place in 1981 on the site of the county detention center, according to George Reynolds.  Those grounds, which were occupied over a 10,000 year period, contained a Native-American village and burial ground.      

As for the question about how all those cannonballs got here, here are a couple of theories.  The major part of a massive, invading British Army occupied Elkton prior to the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, while other military units used this route throughout the war.  In the War of 1812, English barges sailed up the river toward Elkton.  As they approached some accounts say they fired a few bombshells.  Perhaps some of the shot found at Elk Landing came from those blasts or the defender’s stockpiles since the the small, earthen fortificaton had a cannon.  The others some distance away from the waterway were probably simply left as armies passed through the area.      

These archaeological discoveries put the spotlight on a dimly illuminated part of Cecil County’s history.  Our written record here is strong so we know lots about that long period.  But in earlier times, as the manuscripts grow weaker, we have to depend on archeology to help puzzle out the past.  So whenever someone starts digging deep into the earth in some of the oldest parts of the county seat, one has to wonder what’s being unearthed.  Some of those discarded materials might help us solve historical mysteries since our soil is crammed with lots of artifacts that have been buried for centuries.      

Here’s what brought this matter up.  This week, during the full blast of heat and humidity from a Chesapeake Summer, workers dug deep into the ground around the Clayton Building on North Street.  As they moved earth from around that 1860s granite basement wall, one had to wonder what secrets to the past the soil contained.  This attractive brick structure was the Odd fellow’s Hall and before that the lot was about where the 18th century county jail yard stood.  Immediately next door was the  1790s courthouse .  This is a parcel that is connected with some of the municipality’s earliest development. This area has so much history so you never know what types of surprising artifacts are waiting to be found and how they’ll yield insight to the past.  Whatever we come up with when we search for the secrets in the ground, the key is that there is a lot of stuff we don’t know about that’s buried under Elkton soil.

From Baltimore Sun —-

The state has awarded a $125,000 grant to the Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway to complete the final restoration of the Rodgers Tavern in Perryville, a 315-year-old landmark that played a role in the nation’s early history.

The tavern will serve as a modern-day anchor for downtown Perryville revitalization and provide public access to the water and the town in Cecil County. The grant will pay for interior and exterior repairs.

continues on Baltimore Sun

June 24, 2010 – Gilpin’s Falls Covered Bridge, Cecil County’s very own bridge to the past, is prepared for a solid run through the 21st century since master bridgewrights completed restoration work a few months ago. To celebrate that milestone about 75 supporters, politicians, and county officials gathered at the span on June 24th, a hot summer day, to dedicate the structure.  During remarks at the ribbon-cutting it was noted that the American Public Works Association, Virginia/DC/Maryland Chapter, awarded the Historical Restoration the “Project of The Year” for 2010. 

 As links to our past disappear all too fast in the 21st century in Cecil, the old structure that survived the test of the time (the Civil War, the automobile age, floods, and lack of care) is a local preservation success story thanks to the work of a dedicated friend of the span, Earl Simmers. This surviving pre-Civil War relic was at great risk of being lost a few years ago.  But Earl never gave up on the link to our past. He worked tirelessly to ensure that this old structure was not lost to age, neglect or indifference. Spearheading a fund drive that raised private money to help with the cost, he also sought out grants and political support for the old structure.

Thanks Mr. Simmers for making this a Cecil County preservation success story since this aging covered bridge stands as silent proof about our area’s past.  The county puts a lot of effort into marketing Cecil to tourist, relocating BRAC workers, and higher-end corporations. Our natural beauty, historical character, and cultural resources are things these target groups find most appealing here.

As links to our past quickly disappear in the 21st century in the county, historic preservation is a worthy goal.

For more information and many more photos on the span check out the Maryland Covered Bridges website.    Photo courtesy of Maryland Covered Briges web master.